Torture

Torture gets a bad rap these days, with the UN generally being wussy girlymen about the issue, there's so much talk about it but very little scientific analysis of the benefits it can bring to your ultimate game.

Recently I've been working long days (12+ hours) and then hitting up club training. For this sort of day, I get up at 5.30am and stay up all day. Last week as I was meandering around the field finding it tough to mark even the most inexperienced of players through the haze in my brain, I realised this feeling was familiar- it's the feeling most players usually experience on day 3 or 4 of Nationals, when the mind is exhausted and mental focus becomes that much more important, and tougher to achieve.

Mental endurance, or focus, is a key skill in ultimate, but most people are vague about how to practice it. While I wouldn't advocate sleep deprivation due to its ill health effects, if you are finding your weekly league games or beach pick up a little too easy, try running sprints beforehand and then staying switched on.