How to train the body for an Obstacle Course Race

An obstacle course race, slightly different from a mud run, requires you to work at near max anaerobic capacity during the entire event.  What this translates to is merely working at a very hard effort (85-95%), followed by a short recovery and repeating this several times.

I have shared a video of myself performing a working  I do pretty regularly when training for an obstacle course race.  Normally I would include a 1 mile run (at tempo pace) after the 3 sets of burpees and again at the end after the bear crawls.  However, I do not include the running segments in this video.  If you plan to do a similar workout such as this, you could easily shorten the run to only 400 or 800m, that is unless you are fit and healthy and have been regularly running, then go ahead and run for the 1 mile.

This type of training is great for building your endurance (unlike going out for a long steady run), and for building the relative strength needed to overcome the obstacles in a race.

Here is the breakdown of the workout in this video...featured in the BendOr magazine

2 sets with no rest

10 TRX Inverted Rows

15 Pushups

20 Squats

Rest 30 sec

500m Row as fast as you can

Rest 30 sec

3 sets with 30 sec rest b/w sets

20 burpees (for an added challenge I use a 20lb weighted vest for 2 sets)

Run 1 mile

Rest 30 sec

2 sets with no rest

50 Jump Rope 

50 Bicycle Crunches

Rest 30 sec

2 sets with 30 sec rest b/w sets

30 KB Swings (50 lbs)

20 yards bear crawl

Run 1 mile