Making the Most of Your Offseason Nutrition

The most common questions we get about nutrition in ultimate revolve around playing the game. What should I eat before I play? Should I carbo-load? How do I recover effectively after a tournament day?

That's all for good reason. Ultimate tournaments are very taxing on the body and require a lot of fuel to maintain a high level of performance throughout a weekend.

But, in many ways, the diet you maintain on a regular basis is even more important. So, today, let's talk about some general nutritional guidelines for the offseason, a time when you may be thinking about body composition changes: putting on muscle, lowering body fat, or simply developing a stronger athletic base.

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The B-Side: A Conversation with Jonny Malks [Ep. 6]

The B-Side is Breakside Strength & Conditioning’s podcast about training, performance, and nutrition in ultimate frisbee.

Breakside coaches Charlie Eisenhood and Pat Kelsey welcome in DC Breeze and Washington DC Space Heater star (and William & Mary alum) Jonny Malks for a conversation about his rise in ultimate, how training impacts his game, overcoming injury, and more. Plus: some Q&A on topics like favorite unilateral v. bilateral exercises, and do compression garments really work?

You can also find the The B-Side podcast on iTunes, SpotifyStitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, DeezerRSSGoogle Play, and your other favorite podcasting apps.

Research Review: The Effect of Playing Ultimate with a Mask

As ultimate players continue to return to the field and the 2021 club season approaches quickly, we’d like to tackle a topic that, for now, is important for athletes: competing with a mask on.

Current USA Ultimate Return to Play guidance requires the use of face masks during competition at all sanctioned events. Whether that will remain the standard for competitive play throughout 2021 is difficult to assess: most other sports, particularly outdoor sports, do not require wearing masks during play, and vaccination progress continues to reduce COVID risk to both individuals and the community.

But, as it stands today, you have to prepare to wear a mask during ultimate competition.

Let’s explore some key questions. Continue reading “Research Review: The Effect of Playing Ultimate with a Mask”

Why You Need to Time Your Sprints

© Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 3.0

When you go to practice and you need to throw 10 backhands and 10 forehands in warmups, you count them. When you go to the gym, you use Breakside’s Teambuildr app to get your workout and write down your weights, sets, and reps. At home, you might even log your sleep habits or your diet.

So why would you skip tracking your speed workouts? You keep track of your progress towards a 300 pound deadlift, but it’s even more important to your on-field performance to see if you’re getting faster!

It’s often said that what gets measured gets improved. Too many athletes fail to measure one of the most important parts of their training and consequently don’t get the most out of their speed work.

I can hear the excuses now: it’s hard! It’s annoying! It’s expensive! Does it even matter?

It does matter. Let’s discuss why — and how to time your sprinting without breaking the bank. Continue reading “Why You Need to Time Your Sprints”

New in 2021: Return to Lifting, New Speed Development, Olympic Lifting

Whether you’re somewhere where ultimate has returned to action or you’re eagerly awaiting its restart in the coming months, you’ll need to make sure that you are physically prepared to get back on the field.

To that end, Breakside Strength and Conditioning’s coaches have been hard at work to develop revamped programs that get players ready to compete.

Here’s what’s new in 2021. Continue reading “New in 2021: Return to Lifting, New Speed Development, Olympic Lifting”

The B-Side: Training in a Time of No Ultimate [Ep. 4]

The B-Side is Breakside Strength & Conditioning’s podcast about training, performance, and nutrition in ultimate frisbee.

Charlie Eisenhood and Patrick Kelsey talk about how to get back to training, even though there’s no competitive ultimate happening in the near future, including thoughts on the safe way to return to the gym, how to mix things up, and how to think about training as a lifelong endeavor.

You can also find the The B-Side podcast on iTunes, SpotifyStitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, DeezerRSSGoogle Play, and your other favorite podcasting apps.

How to Safely Return to Training in the Gym or on the Field

The coronavirus pandemic has kept us away from the gym for almost three months. Many of us have also had our seasons truncated or outright cancelled. With an extended period of detraining behind us and a potentially long training timeline in front of us, there are many questions about how to best return to the gym both effectively and safely.

Below, we address how to safely return to the gym — or playing ultimate, for those able to do so! Continue reading “How to Safely Return to Training in the Gym or on the Field”

Eating Healthy During Coronavirus Lockdown (And Three Recipes)

I wasn't exactly expecting to be writing about nutrition amidst stay-at-home orders. However, besides work and school routines, food habits may be one of the most heavily affected parts of daily life during the coronavirus lockdowns.

Restaurants are shutting down. Grocery stores are running out of weird things. Everyone is home all the time so normal food routines are out of wack, and you may find that you're eating at weird hours, snacking too much, or simply struggling to figure out what to eat at all.

On top of all that, your overall physical activity is probably way down.

So let's talk about some things that can help keep your diet in good shape even as you're stuck at home.

Only Available to Breakside Subscribers

Get access to the rest of this blog post and all the quality, in-depth fitness content at Breakside Strength & Conditioning with a subscription! No ads, no tiers, no hidden fees - just a smart, all-in-one training solution.

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The B-Side: Training at Home, Stretching & Foam Rolling [Ep. 3]

The B-Side is Breakside Strength & Conditioning’s podcast about training, performance, and nutrition in ultimate frisbee.

Breakside coaches Charlie Eisenhood and Patrick Kelsey talk about training at home — the challenges and silver linings, the best exercises, and more. Later in the show, they talk about some of the basics around static stretching, dynamic stretching, and foam rolling (24:05).

You can also find the The B-Side podcast on iTunes, SpotifyStitcher, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, DeezerRSSGoogle Play, and your other favorite podcasting apps.