This week's workout will utilize all planes of movement and target each region of your core muscles. the only piece of equipment required for this workout is a TRX Suspension system. However, if you don't have one or have access to one, you can still perform all exercises.
Complete 30 seconds for each exercise and rest 15 seconds between each. Try to complete 2-3 rounds of all exercises and allow 30-60 seconds of rest between rounds.
Inchworms Supine 90* Hip Rotations Front Lunge with Rotation Bob and Weave with Punch TRX Mountain Climber (or regular Mtn. Climbers) Trunk Twists (with or workout a bar/stick, just twist Left then Right. keep knees bent during movement Squat Thrusts Tight Core Rotation (fast) - clasp palms together with arms extended out in front. Move hands side to side fast moving only your shoulders and arms, but NOT the hips.
I have to say that I am very impressed with the Tough Mudder event. Everything from parking, course design, volunteers, to organization they had it dialed. I'm not sure of the exact number of cars in the parking field, but I would guess that there were about 600, so that would mean there was somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 people there to participate.
a wall obstacle to climb over to warm up before the start
Tough Mudder is not a race, so there's lots of camaraderie among everyone along the course, instead of throwing elbows. Instead of sending all 2000 people of at once, they sent about 300-400 people off at different times; just about every hour starting at 10am and the last one at 2pm I believe.
Over the course of 10.5 miles, there was probably 8,000ft of elevation gain. I was amazed by how much steep hills were included in the course. Not to make it any easier, the terrain was almost always off-camber and loaded with rocks. I don't think I was ever able to get into a normal running stride, even though I was jogging. I ran everything except one hill around mile 8.5; which was extremely steep and long and rocky.
giving Jenny (backpack on right) the Mudder pose while running
There were 19 obstacles that we had to navigate, none of which were that difficult, but one on particular, the mud mile, would probably have been impossible to do without the help of someone else. There were about 8 mounds of mud, separated by 3 foot wide troughs of muddy water that we had to jump into and then climb out of. Because the mud was so slippery, the help of your fellow Mudder was needed to get up and over.
I think I underestimated the "Walk the Plank" obstacle. This one involves you to walk up 20 feet to a wooden platform and then plunge into a 12-foot deep pool. I didn't think I would have any problem with this one, but once I got atop the platform, things seemed a bit higher than they looked in You Tube videos. I paused for about 10 sec. and then jumped feet-first into the pool and crawled out using their netting. One girl was so freaked out that she was up there for about 5 min.
The Electric Eel and Electroshock Therapy obstacles involved crawling and running through hanging wires that sent of electrical shocks (all while crawling and running through water of course). The shocks were more potent than I thought they would be, but nothing that left a lasting impression on me.
As I mentioned earlier, I ran most of the course, and roughly 7 miles was with a guy I met from Portland. Lots of people came to the event with a group of 3-6 others as a "Team", I did it solo. I tried to get others from bend to join me but couldn't rally any takers. I think if you had people who were of equal fitness level that it would be pretty damn fun. It's basically a big party going on the whole time.
Here is one video from the event...
And here is another...
With all of the military-style belly crawling and hopping over logs, my stomach, elbows, and knees have a few scratches, and my knees are a little swollen from all of the steep running. The worst thing I take away from the event is a major sunburn on my back. I loaded up the sunscreen but being out in the sun for almost 2 hours I still got burned. can't image those who were out there for 4 hours...ouch!
I can't wait to do my next obstacle course event, the Spartan Race, Aug 3rd, which IS a race and there is prize money to be won.
This weekend's workout will again be pretty simple on paper, but by no means will it be easy to complete. It's a workout that can be completed by all fitness levels, and adding a few more sets will simply make it more challenging.
There are 5 exercises in this workout, 8 reps for each, during each set. Each exercise is to be completed with as minimal rest as needed, moving from one to the next. After finishing the last exercise, allow 1-2 minutes of recovery before starting the next set. Repeat for a total of 5-7 sets.
For the exercises that use weight, select a weight that is challenging to perform the 8 reps with.
For the first time in 10 years, I am not competing this summer as a professional cyclist. Being a competitive athlete, however, I need something to set as a goal to keep me motivated mentally and challenged physically. So I signed up to compete in this years Tough Mudder Oregon, held June 15th in Fossil, OR.
Tough Mudder and many other obstacle course events, have been quite the buzz the past few years. Get muddy, climb over tall walls, and jump into freezing water over a course of 10-12 miles, is pretty common among these military-style workouts.
I have been training specifically for this event the past 8 weeks and it has been a blast. Actually, it has lit the fuse again that I started lacking towards the end of my cycling career. Running up steep hills (numerous times), lifting heavy weights in the gym, doing lots of challenging body weight exercises (burpees, push ups, rock squats and presses) repetitively while running through the trails, and tons of TRX core exercises has me ready to give the Tough Mudder a shot next weekend. The only thing I have not actually done is get muddy before doing all of this training, or jump into a freezing river. I guess I will have a taste of what it's like during the event.
Is anyone else doing the Tough Mudder Oregon event June 15th (Saturday)? Looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about these races. Is it the physical challenge, or is it just running around 1/2 naked and full of mud that excites everyone? Maybe it's both! See you there.
