Peaking (or Not) for Competition

Reader llimllib asks:

With the series coming up in a month or so, how are you going to work out to try and peak at the right time?

A teammate has borrowed my Ross Enamait books, so I can't really give as detailed an answer as I'd like (at least not terminology-wise), but it boils down to this: there are several models of periodization (how you time and vary workouts to improve over time), and the one I follow doesn't really emphasize peaking.

What I don't do is follow the periodization model where you spend a certain number of weeks emphasizing strength, then more weeks emphasizing speed, then more where you start putting it together, etc. in the hopes that it will all be in optimal for your event of choice. Don't get me wrong, this can can be a successful model, it just doesn't have much appeal for me. I like to be able to feel like I can play tourneys throughout the season without shortchanging them because I haven't peaked yet.

In his books, Ross favors a model geared towards fighters. There's no well-defined season, fights may occur year round, and schedule changes/opportunties mean you may have to fight on relatively short notice. I'm no fighter, but I like this model for myself as well. I like doing lots of varied routines, working on many different fitness qualities throughout the week. In a given week I try to fit in the following:

• 1-2 sessions Tabatas, with at least one being sprints (emphasis on max. fatigue).
• 1 session hill sprints and/or acceleration work (emphasis on max. effort/power, not fatigue).
• 1 session GPP (fairly grueling bodyweight circuits).
• 2 sessions pick-up Ultimate.
• 1 session max. strength.
• 1 session explosive strength.
• 2-3 core workouts interspersed with the other stuff throughout the week.
• 1-2 rest days/week.

It's pretty easy to fit all that in during the off-season, but adding in the 2 days of pickup makes it hard. At this point in the season, if anything falls off my plate it's the strength work, but I try not to let it.

Anyway, by mixing up the stuff I work on throughout the week, I don't overtrain any one given quality, so I can keep progressing (the rest day(s) are essential, however).

I'll do this pretty hard for three or four weeks, then take a back-off week, where I might just do bodyweight exercise, jump rope for the Tabatas, etc. I stay active, but I don't kill myself like I do in the hard weeks. The back-off week allows supercompentation to kick in, where your body adjusts to the strains of the preceding weeks, and allows you to start again the next week from an incrementally higher level. I think I've got the gist of the theory here, but again, no books to refer to at the moment.

And that's pretty much it. I repeat that cycle year round, varying what I Tabata, what strength exercises I do, etc. to keep it fresh. This has allowed me (I hope/think) to improve my strength and conditioning evenly and steadily. Again, this worked better in the off-season, as pickup kinda messes things up, but I still think I've gotten stronger as the season has progressed.

As for the implications as the fall series approaches, I'm basically going to keep doing what I'm doing, but will time it such that my back-off week is the week before Regionals. I'll probably skip pickup that Thursday, but will otherwise break a sweat a few times that week to stay active and fresh.

I gotta say though, I pretty much adopted this model as one I wanted for life, not for Ultimate. It seems to fit well and work for me, but a more traditional periodization model (build over months and peak for Nationals) might be superior.

Anyway, hope that answers your question!