Obstacle Race Traiing-02/06/13

The weather is nice and many people are leaving the gym for walking and running. This makes a trail crowded, but for obstaletes (obstacle athletes-maybe I’m not the first person to use this, but if I am, please give credit J) it’s a great opportunity. You know why? Because they can be training aids.

Here are great ways to make your run an obstacle course preparation run:

Pretend other runners are zombies and dodge them. Use your fancy footwork to avoid:

• people
• cars (for safety reasons I recommend only dodging parked cars)
• mail boxes
• trash cans

Today’s exercise:

• Run 4-5 miles with lots of hills if possible
• 3 x weight carry for 40 yards example: Carry heavy weight with your arms in front of you (backpack, bucket, rock, etc.)
•           Men-40 pounds
•           Women-20 pounds
•  Low crawl (army crawl) for 15 yards x 2
• Bear crawl for 15 yards x 2
• 5 burpees with pushups
• 5 Jeffreys (burpees with 2 pushups)
• Pull-ups to muscle failure with leg lifts
• Stretch

Obstacle Race Training-02/03/13

I only intended to do a small workout, but was soon overcome by good feelings. So I kept it up and added more to it. I worked out the chest and shoulder muscles for those monkey bar and wall climb events, the abs for endurance and a very hilly sprint laden 3-

4 mile run for that extra boost when needed.

Stretch

Chin-ups to muscle failure

Rest

Pull-ups to muscle failure

Rest

Alternate grip chin-ups to muscle failure

Rest

30 body weight knee bends

Rest

20 body weight knee bends

Rest

Push-ups to muscle failure (close hand)

Rest

Push-ups to muscle failure

Rest

30 leg lifts from chin-up bar (work it in with chin-ups if you can)

Rest

40 crunches

Rest

15 leg lifts with hip elevation (supine)

Rest

15 leg lifts with hip elevation (supine)

Rest

30 scissors kicks

Rest

30 scissors kicks

Rest

20 supine bicycles with alternate knee to elbow touch

Rest

20 supine bicycles with alternate knee to elbow touch

Rest

20 crunches with straight leg lifts

Rest

20 crunches and bring knees to chest

Rest

20 scissors kicks

Rest

40 crunches

Rest

20 leg spreaders

Rest

20 dips on coffee table

Rest

20 dips on coffee table

Run 3-4 miles (if you can, work some hills in there)

Stretch

Obstacle Race Training-01/09/13

Time for some obstacle training. This time we will work endurance and strength. Many obstacle races feature events that may remind veterans of military training. For example, the rock or sand bag carry may remind some of the Army Special Forces, monkey bars may be reminiscent of basic training, while the log carry has a Navy Seal flavor.

It's important to research the type of race you plan to enter. Be it the Spartan Race, Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, Moonshine Mud Run or other obstacle challenge each race features its own brand of obstacle. Visiting race websites and getting the low down on obstacles is a smart move.

In the meantime, here is a pretty general obstacle challenge workout that will help you crush the course.

Stretch

Elliptical for 25 minutes. Set the resistance half way, keep the speed at least 6mph and select a hill workout. When you hit the 15 minute mark, do four or five minutes in the reverse direction, then change direction for the remainder of the workout. Keep it challenging and tough...

While your lungs are screaming and your legs aching:

Farmer carry-Walk 20 feet with single dumbbell hanging from your hand then switch arms and walk 20 feet. (work up to 1/2 of body weight total). This exercise mimics the water can / sandbag / log carry and does incredible core strengthening. Keep in mind that a 5 gallon water can weighs approximately 35 pounds.

10 Jeffreys (named after the author…burpees with two pushups per rep). You need a good exercise to simulate climbing up and over obstacles.

20 sit-ups

Walk 20 feet with dumbbells (try to work up to 1/2 body weight for each dumbbell). This exercise mimics the water can / sandbag / log carry and does incredible core strengthening.

10 Jeffreys (burpees with two pushups per rep). Is a great exercise to simulate climbing up and over obstacles.

20 leg lifts (lay down, lift your legs 90 degrees, then push your feet lifting your hips)

Walk 20 feet with dumbbells (try to get one half of body weight total). This exercise mimics the water can / sandbag / log carry and does incredible core strengthening.

10 Jeffreys (burpees with two pushups per rep). You need a good exercise to simulate climbing up and over obstacles.

20 twisting crunches (bring bent Knee up to meet opposite elbow count of 10 per side)

Stretch

Monkey Bars from Army Physical Readiness Training

Obstacle Race Training-01/08/13

Run 3.5 miles through the trails. If you don’t have a trail, run in a pasture, through the neighborhood or somewhere with grass landscape to get you used to obstacle course running. Of course if there is mud, even better. That’ll help you get ready for the tough mudder, dirty girl, moonshine mudrun, run for your life, warrior dash, Spartan run and other obstacle runs. After your run immediately:

• Push-ups to muscle failure
• Sprint crawl for 20 seconds
• Push-ups to muscle failure
• Sprint crawl for 20 seconds
• Push-ups to muscle failure
• Finger tip pull-ups with leg lifts to muscle failure
• Finger tip chin-ups with leg lifts to muscle failure
• Stretch

Build your own chinup bars from Army Physical ReadinessTraining book. Get yours here

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