Obstacle Race Training-12/27/12

Run 3 miles or go 25 minutes on the elliptical machine. I’ve been using the elliptical to recover from a minor injury and want to keep up with my strength, endurance and cardio. I use the Life Cycle elliptical set at random and with the resistance at a 15 out of 25 . I try to keep it above 6.5 on the speed setting.

If doing elliptical, try the following workout:

• 12 minutes going backward
• 8 minutes reverse direction
• 2 minutes going backward
• 3 minutes reverse direction
• Rest for 1 minute

Daily workouts should include a push-up and chin-up based fundamental exercise. This is critical to successfully negotiating obstacles like walls, monkey bars, rope climbs, cargo nets, burpees and more. You'll need the strenght for obstacle races, zombie runs, spartan, warrior, tough mudder and other races

• 20 close hand push-ups
• 20 sit-ups
• 20 body weight squats
• 20 push-ups with hands shoulder width apart
• 20 sit-ups
• 20 body weight squats
• 20 wide-arm push-ups
• 20 sit-ups
• 20 body weight squats
• Rest

Next is the chin-up routine with various grips. Do as many sets as needed. For example, you might not be able to do a set of 11 chin-ups, so either do as many as you can or break it up into multiple sets of smaller amounts.

• 11 x pull-ups with leg lifts
• Rest
• 11 x chin-ups with leg lifts
• Rest
• 11 x alternate grip chin-ups with leg lifts

Here are some motivating obstacles:

Fun Obstacles from Basic Training Army Physical Readiness