Introduction: By now, most of you who follow Hulk regularly know that a branch stemming from Team Hulk is our Tough Mudder crew. Team Hulk has taken over a couple Tough Mudder mountains twice now. The 1st time was at Squaw Valley in Tahoe, California. The second time was in Temecula, California. Well, atfer 2 Tough Mudders in roughly 4 and a half months, Team Hulk is ready to head back to Tahoe for the most ultimate Tough Mudder we’ve ever run. This time, it’s at Northstar. Like last time, we STILL mean business. With the largest number of people we’ve ever accumulated set and ready to run Tough Mudder via Hulk this coming September, I felt it not only appropriate but extremely necessary to give a very insightful view on what we ALL need to focus on to train for this. First and foremost, I feel the need to remind everyone HOW we are running this:
We run Tough Mudder as a team by these standards to the very last punctuated sentence.
Get that ingrained in your beautiful brains bros and bras, because we “one team, one dream” this thing to the maximus. Primadonnas and Divas need not apply. If you’re all good with that then let’s make like a chicago tumbleweed and roll! What exactly IS Tough Mudder?: “Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. As the leading company in the booming obstacle course industry, Tough Mudder has already challenged half a million inspiring participants worldwide and raised more than $2 million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project. But Tough Mudder is more than an event, it’s a way of thinking. By running a Tough Mudder challenge, you’ll unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover a camaraderie with your fellow participants that’s experienced all too rarely these days.” – Toughmudder.com For those of you who read that but are unfamiliar with what the Wounded Warrior Project is, let me digress… The Wounded Warrior Project is an organization devoted to honoring and empowering our Nation’s wounded military service members by raising awareness and enlisting the aid of the public. Their core values are:
- Fun
- Integrity
- Loyalty
- Innovation
- Service
Couple that with a Dos Equis and it's my kinda party!
What to Expect:
Dates: September 22nd & 23rd (Saturday and Sunday)
The course at Northstar this year is approximately 11 miles long. It’s rich in obstacles totaling out at 28. Elevation is 8,600 ft at its highest point. Given these facts, the name of the game is not JUST in the gym training. Terrain training is the real winner here. In the gym resistance style training will only take you so far… Know how many weights you’re lifting on that mountain? Aside from a few logs and potential collapsed teammates… Not many at all my friends. In fact, if you had to choose one or the other, I would choose Terrain training hands down. Reason being is most of the injuries and aches stem from the bodies joints, tendons, ligaments, and tissue simply not being acclimated to being stressed and stretched in every which way possible for 11 straight miles, every degree of uphill and downhill imaginable, temperature changes, battering, and the test of sheer will verses comfort.In essence, expect to go through an endurance challenge. Not in the sense of running a marathon, but more in the sense of how do you react when everything in your body and brain says you’re tired, hungry, cold, bruised, achy, and only halfway done with a steep stretch of summit staring down at you like the eye of Sauron but angrier. Do you endure and move forward? You’re on Team Hulk, of course you do… In order to give you an idea of how to train for Tough Mudder, I will break down what to focus on, some example workouts, and give you a calendar of workouts we hold so you can join up with your team before you beat a mountain down with them!
First, this is basic physical requirements straight from Tough Mudder themselves that will put in perspective what is expected on their end:
“Tough Mudder will punish you, no matter your shape, size, or current level of fitness. As such, we encourage all Mudders to increase their physical training in anticipation of the event. That said, the event is as much about mental toughness, grit, and camaraderie (and having a great time) as anything exclusively physical. In terms of what you are looking at: each Tough Mudder course will have 10-12 miles of hills, mud, water, ropes, walls, electric shocks, and fire. Check out the course map for the specific event(s) in which you’re enlisted to learn more. How fit do you need to be? Basically, you should be in good physical condition – complete slackers need not apply. At a minimum we recommend that you are running regularly (2+ times a week, working up to 5 miles per run), able to do 15-25 push-ups in a row, able to bang out 6 pull-ups in a row (especially the dudes), and able to swim 50 yards without stopping (although you can skip the water obstacles). It certainly helps to be a strong runner, and like we said you should be running regularly as part of your TM training, but a large share of our participants have never run 10 miles straight before. It’s not necessary to be a marathoner or half-marathoner (bor-ing) as your lungs will get a break when you do each obstacle. We mix up the drudgery with belly-crawling, wall-climbing, mud-slogging, ice-water dunking, monkey-bar traversing, huge slip n’ slides, etc. As we like to say, Tough Mudder is about completing a fearsome challenge and discovering a new sense of accomplishment, not about running your knees into the ground or testing your maximum lung capacity. So while some Mudders are ultra-marathoners and others are super-jacked Rambo clones, most are regular people who take care of themselves and are looking for a true all around challenge, a super fun day with friends, and a goal on the calendar that will force them to step up their workouts.” – ToughMudder.com
MENTAL GRIT
Make sure you understand the meaning of this paragraph. It helps you appreciate the undertaking you're about to head through.
It needs to be said that the most important muscle that needs to be best prepared for Tough Mudder… Is your heart. Yes, it’s a physically demanding event. That much is made very clear. While the physical side is daunting, it’s NEVER an issue of CAN you complete Tough Mudder… It’s an issue of do you KNOW that you can or not. Do you BELIEVE? I guarantee you the ability to finish this course lies within your heart and soul. Your emotional tenacity. Your mental grit. Motivation and preparation are the keys to success. You’re motivated or you wouldn’t be here… This is the best form of preparation! Physically being ready helps the heart and helps the mind… But be clear that this in no way, shape, or form is going to be easy. There will be moments where it feels like you can’t physically go uphill any longer, but you will. Remember that. There will be moments that you’re so cold you couldn’t POSSIBLY imagine dunking yourself in another water obstacle, but you will. Remember that. There will be times your legs start to cramp up involuntarily with the severity increasing at the most inopportune times, but that’s ok. You stretch, you get some teammates to help you out, and you carry on. Remember that.
Every “I can’t” moment is an opportunity to impress yourself. To give yourself your own motivational fodder. To proof the guy in red wrong and the one in white, right. To no longer succumb to what you thought mediocrity could be, but rising to the occasion and leading the adventure you should be. If you take anything away from what I’m saying about the important of having mental grit, know this… It’s ok to be nervous. It’s ok to be scared and anxious. It’s ok to have fears of the cold, or the electricity, or the heights, or the walls, or the length, or all of the above… It’s ok to be intimidated! Know why? Because you’re not the only one… So much so that I wrote this! This all is for the mental side of Tough Mudder more than anything! To help put your mind at ease so your self doubts don’t hinder the rockstar you were meant to be. Stepping out of your comfort zone is a GOOD thing! That’s where all the magic happens… So, even with the intimidation, anxiety, and nerves running like a roller coaster in your gut, just remember that you’re in good hands, you CAN do this, failure is impossible if it’s not an option, and that I nor anyone else on the team is going to let you fail.
About 60% of all Tough Mudders pass the course. So far, Hulk is at about the 97% pass percentage. What does Hulk focus on primarily? Mental grit… See the correlation?
I'm goin' right... Who's comin' with me?
Upright Terrain training:First and foremost, this should be at the top of your training list. It doesn’t mean to put some rocks in your shoes and start walking the trouble twice a month, it means getting out on TERRAIN! The salt of the Earth! Like I previously stated, the biggest injuries I’ve seen have come from not being adequately adapted to the volume of usage, extreme angles, varied texture of the ground you’re walking on (Mud, grass, sand, water, wood… Just about anything you can dream up, you’ll be getting jiggy on it). The following is a MINIMUM recommended training setting TRUST for the terrain training aspect of it all. Anything extra is awesome icing on fantastic cake. The point is to optimize the efficiency of all the small working bits that don’t get targeted in a standard gym setting.
Number of terrain training days: 2 minimum
Amount of time spent terrain training on training day?:1 Hour minimum. The longer, the better.
What constitutes terrain training?: Outdoor movement in various types of ground. Running on sand at the beach, trail running at your local parks and trails, jogging on grass, hiking hill and mountain sides… ANYTHING that will make the small tendons, ligaments, muscles, and tissue in your ankles, knees, hips, and feet work harder than just walking on a treadmill. Sand and trail running would be optimal. Include a good mix of uphill AND downhill. Both angles work different parts of your body and BOTH are going to be tested at Tough Mudder. For you locals, I recommend Schoolhouse beach and Annadel park/Spring lake.
Bonus: Jogging Spring Lake allows you to stop and do all the exercise stations along your route. To up the ante, whatever the “Champion” level rep count is, double it. You are Hulk. You are twice the champion. AhhhOOOOOOO!
Example workout(You need some form of mile marker for this. Smart phones and various iPods work wonderfully. If nothing available, then just go by feel):
- Run a half mile as fast as you can.
- At the end of each half mile do 25 push ups, 25 squats, 25 burpees, and 50 bicycle crunches (lay down on the ground! YOU’RE TOUGH MUDDER TRAINING!!!).
- Continue to run another half mile as fast as you can until you have completed 5-10 rounds of this.
The above example workout can be done ANYWHERE. Beach, trail, street… Go get it!
Resistance Training: Resistance training is a tad bit tricky… With the viewpoint of addressing every different skill set under the sun comes with the realization that everyone is going to have extremely varied experience levels as well as likes and dislikes. In THAT spirit, what I am going to go over is body weight resistance training with examples that people can tweak if they’d like. Rest assured these examples will be simple yet efficient. Regarding the IMPORTANCE of resistance training for Tough Mudder, it ranks second on the priority list but for differing reasons than people initially think. It’s not necessarily the fact that you want to be able to bench press 300 lbs so you can lift a log on your shoulder and hike with it… You want to be strong enough to lift a log on your shoulder and hike with it WITHOUT HURTING YOURSELF. Resistance training, by default, is like adding armor to your infrastructure. By putting your body in a position where its tendons, muscle fibers, joints, soft tissue, and bone structure are tested to their limitations and a bit beyond through motions and weight bearing movements that force your body into a point of failure you enhance your “armor plates” and increase the ability to withstand more and more resistance.
In other words, working out not just in a cardio format but in a way that works your muscles where they can no longer work anymore makes you stronger and more durable to wihstand a beating.
The following are a list of example exercise routines that are simple, can be done anywhere, and are highly effective at making sure you have the strong baseline foundations to destroy Tough Mudder this September safely and efficiently. For more advanced work, refer to the calendar I’m going to have posted below to see where you can get in on some in person group work! Be sure to click on the picture to enhance it and see all the fun stuff!
Lower Body Circuit. For the first exercise, if a BOSU is not at your disposal, then do squats on flat ground instead.
Core Circuit. For the first exercise, if an incline bench is not available, do flutter kicks for 30 seconds instead.
The 1st of a 2 parter. If you don't have a gym to use, I recommend getting some bands from any where that sells sports equipment (Target is a great spot) and giving my travel guide a go posted below this workout.
Part 2 of Upper Body Circuit
I also have a guide I give to clients who travel a lot or need something quick when time is limited. All it requires is getting resistance bands of preferred resistance at any sports goods dealer (Target has great prices).
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Once you feel comfortable with the basics listed above, Tough Mudder has their own brand of circuit training very similar to what we do every Friday morning at Anytime Fitness off Santa Rosa Ave (I’m sure you’ve heard about the epic difficulty of this workout!). You can find these circuits right on Toughmudder.com.
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Lastly, here is a calendar of the days and times groups of Hulksters are getting together to train as a team. Feel free to join any of them Mudders! If you have any questions or would like to sign up to run Tough Mudder with Team Hulk, please e-mail me at AllLevelsTraining@gmail.com.
Happy training!
Come one, come all! Beach workouts we meet at Anytime Fitness off Santa Rosa Ave. starting May 6th!
For good measure…
iamhulk 