Any Spartan, Tough Mudder folks ?

Hi,
As part of my fitness goals I am working toward running a Spartan Race and/or Tough Mudder late 2014 or early 2015. Are any other folks doing these?

other than running and doing burpees what are you doing for training? How do you train for the obstacles?

Thanks in advance....

Replies

  • Poofy_Goodness
    Poofy_Goodness Posts: 229 Member
    Weight lifting. There are lots of walls to pull yourself up over, and the Spartans are usually on mountains with steep inclines so you will need to build both upperbody and lower body strength.
  • jolson120499
    jolson120499 Posts: 2 Member
    Tough mudder is a blast. Make sure you get in some longer cardio and go old school burpees, pushups, pullups, situps, etc.
    Honestly programs like p90x, XFB, insanity, crossfit are great training series for tough mudder.

    THe best part of race is 20 obstacles in 12-13 miles....you are not doing a half marathon,,,it is 1/2 mile runs with an event at the end which is very team focused.

    Oh - you may want to mix in a run or two with muddy feet....it is very different running with heavy shoes

    Lot of FUN
  • bltrexler
    bltrexler Posts: 180 Member
    Check this out, I always start this program to get back in the swing of things. I do all spartan, tough mudder and fews others that just plain fun!


    http://www.ruggedmaniac.com/tl_files/documents/The_Rugged_Regimen.pdf
  • amylb0822
    amylb0822 Posts: 69 Member
    THanks for the pointers so far folks!

    I hadn't even thought about running with heavy feet... maybe I will do some ankle weight running toward the end of my training lead up to this!

    I am really stoked to be doing this!
  • EmmieBaby
    EmmieBaby Posts: 1,235 Member
    I have my Spartan Sprint in May (first one) and I am so nervous and excited at the same time

    also have another race in June called Mud Hero...then the color run in August.....jeebus thats alot to do this year!
  • Escloflowne
    Escloflowne Posts: 2,038 Member
    I found the elliptical set on a high resistance helped a lot!
  • LaurDavies
    LaurDavies Posts: 77 Member
    I'm doing my first Tough Mudder in June 2014! Feel free to add for mutual motivation :)

    I'm focusing on circuit training, intervals, and some distance running - the Tough Mudder website has some great tips for training, but I found that the circuit training they suggest is very similar to most exercises across the levels of 30 Day Shred, so I will be incorporating that also!

    Best of luck.
  • megachoy
    megachoy Posts: 5 Member
    Tough Mudder was the hardest thing I have ever done! But i am so proud of myself for having accomplished it. Because you will be waiting to do certain obstacles, you get breaks from running. Endurance is still key though!

    I did some long runs, but about 6-8 miles easy. Burpees, weights, push ups, and pull ups. All of those things are important to do. The other people and teams are also awesome! Everyone is helping everyone out and no one is left behind :)

    Oh-work on balance. There are some balance beam obstacles, or at last there were some in the one I did. Have fun!!!

    ps- DUCT TAPE! I duct taped my shoes to my running tights! The last thing you want is to lose your shoes because of the mud!
  • mjudd1990
    mjudd1990 Posts: 219 Member
    Just finishing a tough mudder isn't all that difficult as long as you can run about 5 miles without stopping. Finishing fast and crushing all the obstacles are what takes intense training. I did normal lifting and light cardio 4x/week and maybe 2 long runs of 6-10 miles a week and then every week or two I would do a sort of fitness test I came up where I would run half a mile on the treadmill and then get off and do a resistance exercise (50 push ups, 100 sit ups, 25 pull ups, 20 hang cleans, 2 min plank are just a few examples) and would do that to a total of like 5-7 miles. Investing in something like Fat Gripz or just doing a lot of forearm/grip work/climbing will also help on a lot of the obstacles like the Funkey monkey
  • DWW529
    DWW529 Posts: 42 Member
    If you look at the Spartan Website they have a Workout of the Day every day. They vary on what aspect they stress (strength, endurance, etc. Look at those and find some that work for you. Some are fairly basic, some are more advanced. Have fun in the mud!!!
  • I just signed up for the Las Vegas Spartan in April. Is there anyone out there that is also signed up?
  • Did Tough Mudder two years ago when I was probably pounds heavy and was not fit to do it. My legs were literally cramped up to the point I couldn't walk but I told myself I would make it through every obstacle! And I was able to finish it....5 hours later :D lol
  • I have signed up for my first Mudder on the 23rd of Feb. Never done anything like this before but part of a team so fingers crossed. I've added in 2/3 2 mile muddy runs a week to my normal cross fit routine and get outside regardless of weather conditions as I won't have that choice on the day. Love the duct taping trainers on, will definatly have to do that.
  • ivannabskinny
    ivannabskinny Posts: 10 Member
    Doing my first Spartan in Vegas April 5th @ 9am. Found a Groupon for 2 months of Crossfit which I KNOW has been super helpful building my puny arms into arms of steel with the ability to now rock the 8 foot wall. The last month I bought a groupon for Bootcamp which is outdoors and mostly cardio and body weight excercises, with ropes and tire pulling. Bish on a Budget. The last month I will be training on hills which I heard is the hardest thing. >_<
  • First 10k mud run complete. Loved it. Tips if doing it in cold weather have a stash off easy to put on warm clothes for after the race -think putting on clothes after a quick dry after swimming. Can of coke if going through water, recommended to drink as soon as you finish to make sure you don't get stomach upsets! Wear trainers with most grip. Make sure you warm up before hand and after especially your back because you twist and turn when ploughing through the mud.
    Enjoy it was great fun :happy:
  • Of_Monsters_and_Meat
    Of_Monsters_and_Meat Posts: 1,022 Member
    Don't do ankle weights, that's just going to put strain on places you don't want too.

    I did spartan sprint and tough mudder last year.

    I wish I had done more hill runs. This year I started heavy lifting and getting in push-ups and pull-ups.
    I'm starting to train to get back up to 1/2 marathon distances, and will be incorporating a lot of hills. I also have a sandbag, I want to try to get some running in with sandbag training, but that won't be for a while/ warmer.

    Just remember people can help you with any of the obstacles. So don't sweat those.
  • Nu_Primal_Me
    Nu_Primal_Me Posts: 36 Member
    I am doing my second Tough Mudder in August...it is such a blast!

    If you go onto the Tough Mudder website, they have training programs on there to get you going...here...

    http://toughmudder.com/tough-mudder-boot-camp-training/

    These have been very helpful...
  • centaurizoe
    centaurizoe Posts: 115 Member
    I'm doing my first in June in whistler. Any advice?