Incorporating Calisthenics into Running and Obstacle Course Training

We spoke with Alex Leviton of kengurupro.us about calisthenics and body weight exercise that you should incorporate into your running and obstacle race training. I met Alex last year when I was looking towards building a calisthenics park community. After securing funding I looked high and low for someone to provide fitness equipment for our park. I quickly discovered the park building was not intuitive and I needed a lot of help.  I started with Internet research, asked lots of questions but just could not find who to buy this equipment from. So finally I contacted a company called KenguruPro and an email from Alex. 

KenguruPro is not a US company, but Alex is the distributor for the United States. And after speaking with him, he helped us get set up with our park. Once we received our equipment, he came down over Memorial Day weekend with his crew of three other people and we installed the park and did the good work to get this equipment established in our community. And we are so happy it's finally here. And thank you Alex for making that possible in Jimmy, for helping with installation.

We also discussed practical application of calisthenics and body weight training for OCR.
The first thing that comes to mind is grip strength, but there is so much more. There's the false gripC regular grip,  reverse grip, and neutral grip; a lot of different grips that we have. Different movements require different grips.

In Ninja competition or obstacle racing, you're kind of jumping between the isometric and the plyometric movement. What really kills you in between is not getting the plyometric. The issue seems to be once we've done the plyometric and now we have to hold on to the next hold to prepare the body for the next explosive movement. Well, this is going to do is condition the body to build up less lactic acid during those static movements . So it should make those static holds feel a lot more like butter.

So this is very applicable to OCR where we perform these movements with our hearts racing at 180 beats per minute. So, does this mean that we learn to run faster in these obstacle races or do you need to grip better these obstacle races? Either way, we end up doing grip strengthening in training with after a run to replicate 180 beats per minute. Just walking up fresh to the bar and doing pullups is not the answer.  In OCR we have to be ready to grip in any environment.

We also discussed various exercises to strenthen the soft tissues around the shoulders, elbows and hands.

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Join us at the podcast Running and OCR Training

Race Directing, OCR and Ultrarunning

Run in Mud recently interviewed Claire Sherling, the race director of the Marion Made Challenge (MMC). The MMC is a 5k race that takes place at beautiful Marion Military Institute, in Marion, Alabama. This course incorporates military and traditional Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) obstacles winding through golf courses, courtyards, woods and trails before finally finishing with the most grueling 1/10 miles that I have ever experienced.  

Claire has directed all three 3 MMC events all within about 12 months. Having experienced the last two events, I can attest that they get even more challenging and better after each next event. The last event in March had more competition that ever including international participation, more talented and competitive OCR athletes and now is a North American and World Championships qualification; congratulations for that. 

Now let's learn more about Claire, MMC and what her goals are.

The following is a synopsis of the Podcast:

Claire has always been athletic competing in numerous sports each season including soccer. Soccer was the sport that she considers had the biggest impact on her OCR ability. The miles of running, endurance building, and speed work fit nicely with the challenges of a new sport, but the mental toughness she learned through soccer outweighed all of the physical benefits.

After breaking into OCR, Claire convinced the leadership at MMI that an OCR event would be a great way to raise money for the cadets. It wasn't long before the leadership bought into the idea and the entire campus and cadre became strong supporters and resources.

After running the three events simultaneously, MMI has now landed on an annual spring event, so add this event to your race schedule.

Claire is currently maintaining her OCR and physical training, but is stepping into endurance or ultra marathon running. The appeal is running trails, which is in her opinion more pleasurable than road running. She shares that she believes OCR runners may have some advantages over traditional trail runners during some segments to include steep climbs. 

Her podcast interview is here: