Thoughts.

Do you like working out? Are you the sort who prides himself on out-working your teammates (and especially your opponents)? Is the main thing for you how HARD you work?

Are you more of a “work smarter, not harder” type? Do you prefer the newest training modalities and exercises? Are you concerned more with efficiency (perhaps you have time constraints) than brute force of volume of work?

Do you simply like the idea of training, but struggle to put it into practice? Do you strive to be the second type I’ve described, but lack even a modicum of the motivation of the first?

Motivation is key. There are definitely goods and betters with training (and bads, too, but generally speaking, you’re better off doing something than nothing at all), but none of it matters if you’re not properly motivated to train and improve yourself (or inspire the same motivation in others).

My motivation took me a few routes. I certainly have worked hard in my time, putting in the time and the intensity of work, to get into the shape I’m in (or was in–I’m definitely falling out of shape now that I’ve stopped training regularly for ultimate). But I’ve also spent countless hours looking at resources on the internet, as well as simply trying out new routines and structures.

If you’re interested in following the same path, I have some recommendations for you. Much of my fitness knowledge has come from time spent perusing the following sites:

• Lean & Hungry Fitness. Through Jim’s site I found links to a couple other sites that have been invaluable. Take the time to go back through the archives and you can find a lot of really useful links.
• Crossfit. A wonderful, wonderful resource on fitness. Focused on general physical preparedness, you can do a LOT worse than crossfit for workout ideas and a general notion of fitness (see “What is CrossFit?” and click on “What is Fitness?” on the right for a nice, succinct summary). My sophomore summer (summer ’06) I started getting into crossfit proper, and it made a huge difference in my health and fitness. Between the workouts and some of their nutritional advice I started incorporating (check out the forums to find a lot of good resources and discussion–they even have a search function to help you save time), I saw a big difference in my body composition, putting on a bit of muscle, and found the inclusion of deadlifts and other posterior chain work to be a huge boon to my overall athleticism. Between crossfit and T-Nation, I had a wealth of resources which inspired my training and spurred my improvement and continue to do so to this day.
• T-Nation. Be very careful not to judge a book by its cover here–pictures of half-naked men and scantily-clad women harken to the bodybuilding resources. While there is definitely a large bodybuilding tilt to the resources here, there are some very knowledgeable writers who note with some frequency that the best bodybuilders are strong, and gear their writing and advice towards making you strong and athletic instead of simply focusing on muscle size (though there are copious resources focused on that too, if you’re so inclined). Authors you might want to look into to start include: Eric Cressey, Michael Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, Dan John, Mike Robertson, and perhaps Chad Waterbury. Dig up information on Stuart McGill, too.
• Functional Path Training. Often linked to by Frostillicus, Vern has the right idea when it comes to training Athletes. Don’t think that bodybuilding will make you fit, and don’t think that simply being fit means you’ll be fit for ultimate, fit for a tournament. Vern is less of a resource and more of a guide–use his blog to point you in the right direction for your thoughts and structuring your plans for your specific needs.
• EDIT: Jim of Lean and Hungry Fitness points out that Ross Enamait’s Site is also a wonderful fitness resource–and indeed he is. I drew heavily upon Ross’s Infinite Intensity when I was designing my summer training program last year, and it definitely paid dividends. You’d be hard pressed to find a better resource for conditioning–Ross will have you kicking your own ass and then some.
• In addition to the above links, check out the “links” tag–I linked several other resources a while back which you might also find useful.