I can honestly say, there is nothing that can really prepare you for the "live" obstacles at Tough Mudder...unless you have been electrocuted before that is!
I personally found Electric Eel to be just as bad/crazy, if not more crazy than Electroshock Therapy. I felt like at least with Electroshock Therapy, if you feel yourself getting zapped, you can try and get the hell out of there faster. On the other hand, Electric Eel forces you to slowly slide along your belly under these live wires, so it is a much 'slower' experience!
When I ran the Tough Mudder Toronto event, this obstacle was not a pool of ice water, rather just a pool of water. To be honest, I think I would've actually preferred ice water, as it may have taken my mind away from the zapping a bit.
When you approach this obstacle, you have to climb into the water, on your belly, and pull yourself under these rows of live wires through the water. I think I must've hit a live wire from every single row, as I got zapped at least 6 or 7 times on this obstacle. Hopefully the folks watching weren't too disappointed with the language spewing from my mouth...
There really isn't anything in particular you can do to train for this event, unless of course you wish to go pee on a cow fence or something. But seriously, this is one of the obstacles on the course to test your mental grit. Sure, the shocks feel 'weird', but I wouldn't necessarily say they are painful, at least not painful in the same way it would feel getting kicked in the face.
The sensation you get is unlike anything I have ever experienced. You just get this instant 'pulse' from your inside, out. Actually, the very first shock I received, I remember thinking, "Oh, so that's what that feels like!"
Jump in the water and embrace the electricity, you'll feel like one badass tough guy/girl once you are done!
Quote of the day:
"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog."
There are new phrases or 'buzz words' coming out regarding our poor state of health again. Phrases like "Type 3 Diabetes" and "Brain Diabetes" will soon be making their way into the mass media I'm sure. Although, I guess it is entirely possible for these phrases to be passed over and not used, as they come with a pretty frightening outlook.
Scary premise isn't it? Not only is an aging global population hurtling its way towards a potentially catastrophic epidemic of type-2 diabetes, but we could be facing an even greater threat known as Alzheimer's Disease.
The potential personal and societal suffering caused by this two epidemics (I guess you could classify them as 1 epidemic still, as they essentially have the same cause) is astronomical, yet there seems to be very little being done about it.
I have thought this one over on both sides of the political spectrum, as with any other topic that arises regarding diet and exercise.
Yes, everyone in the free world should have the right to do as they please. You should have the right to eat what you want, do what you want with your free time, obey the rules and laws, etc. What right does the government have to tell you what you can or cannot do, correct?
Sure, but think about things from another perspective. I believe that we have structured a society that has allowed companies and corporations to take many 'liberties' with these rights and freedoms, and choose to sell whatever products they wish, even if that comes with a health risk to their customers.
Then flip that coin over again. Everyone has a choice to make with what they put in their mouths right? It is up to each and every individual to decide what they should or shouldn't be eating. It's kind of like wearing your seat belt in a car. Whether you wear it or not is at your discretion (for the most part). If you choose to not wear your seat belt, you are doing so at your own risk.
Yes, but what if there are actually some companies and products out there who mislead you into thinking that you are perfectly safe not wearing that seat belt? There are many individuals who choose to believe nearly everything they are told.
At the end of the day, there are always going to be arguments from both sides of this fence. Some folks believe that they should be able to do as they please, without any 'government figure' telling them what they can or cannot do. There are also folks who believe that it is the responsibility of a governing body to help us make smart, educated decisions.
I feel I am actually somewhere in the middle, sitting on the fence I guess. I think there is a definite need for a lot of folks out there to get the proper guidance to make smart, informed decisions. Having said that, the final decision as to what you consume comes down to you.
Type-2, and now 'type-3 diabetes' are real and pose a very potential threat to hundreds of millions, if not billions of people worldwide. Try and take precautions to help yourself by leading a healthy lifestyle filled with regular exercise and a healthy diet.
Quote of the day: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
Some folks may find the bars slippery, especially if this obstacle comes soon enough after a muddy one. Having said that, I didn't really have any problems getting through this one at all.
Upper body strength, along with a good amount of core strength are the keys here. If you can, practice your pullups and chinups to build some upper body and grip strength. If you can't do pullups, that isn't necessarily a deal-breaker here, but I would work on your grip strength by doing exercises like "Farmer's Walks"as well as practice some monkey bar work at your local playground.
Also, if you feel like you may fall from the bars while doing this obstacle, have your wits about you, you do not want to land funny in the pool below. I overheard some folks talking about the broken/sprained ankles that occurred from folks landing funny in the water.
Quote of the day: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great makes you feel that you, too, can become great."
Boa Constrictor in my opinion is one of the least physically-demanding obstacles on the course, but that does not mean that it does not require a bit of strategy.
The description sums things up fairly well. The obstacle is set up to get your wet and muddy. First, you slide down a narrow tube (go head first). As you exit the tube, you enter a pool of muddy water. Now the temperature of this water will be entirely dependent on the climate you are competing in (obviously).
I ran the Tough Mudder Toronto event which took place in August, so the water was quite warm. If you are participating in New Jersey in October, however, you may be entering some pretty cold water!
Once you enter the water, you will want to keep you head and body low, as you will have barb wire directly above you. This forces you to stay low in the water and get nice and dirty!
The toughest part of this obstacle, in my opinion, is the tube leading up and out of the water. The inside of the tubes are smooth. So, trying to climb up the inside of a smooth tube while you are wet and muddy makes for a challenging time.
For most folks, I am going to guess that you will not be able to get on all-fours, due to the narrow tube, so you will have to try and get your grip the best you can and pull yourself up with your upper body. I would be completely guessing here, but I would say the incline to climb inside the tube would be about 15-20 degrees.
To train for this event, and similar to other obstacles in Tough Mudder, you will need a good combination of core and upper body strength.
Quote of the day:
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Last year was my first time doing a Birthday Challenge. Inspired by Jack Lalanne, I have read about, and thought about doing a Birthday Challenge for a few years now, but finally got around to doing one last year.
I remember the day fondly. I had turned 27 on Friday, November 25th 2011, and decided to celebrate my birthday Saturday morning with a long, drawn-out workout hitting goals that I set out for myself with a '27' theme.
After a few hours' worth of work, I completed my last set up pullups and was astonished at how well I did. Some of my goals were relatively easy to reach, but I have to admit that the pullups/chinups were the one category that scared me the most.
In the end, however, I felt incredibly proud of what I had accomplished. For those out there looking for something to do to make your birthday memorable, I highly recommend doing a Birthday Challenge for yourself.
Choose something that will challenge you, and work hard to achieve it! Sure, it doesn't necessarily have to be something physical, you could watch 30 hours of tv in a row to celebrate your 30th, for example. I figured that a birthday challenge, for me at least, should be something that I do to challenge my mental grit and physical strength/stamina in a way to thank my body for getting me to this age.
You only have one mind and one body. Together, they get you to where you want to go, so why not 'thank' it by challenging both. You may find that you will end up with a pretty rewarding feeling in the end.
Which leads me to this year...
I remember finishing my challenge last year, immediately thinking, "How can I top this next year?" What are some other goals/aspirations I have in mind that I would like to do to challenge myself? I remember wanting to add some distance running to the mix, but figured it may be a bit too cold and/or snowy in November to add some outdoor endurance work. Well, bring on the World's Toughest Mudder!
Suddenly, I am looking at quite the event to challenge myself. Sure, it is a week early, but competing in the World's Toughest Mudder this year is most certainly going to be the way I celebrate another year on this planet!
I guess the only problem I will have after this event is trying to figure out what to do next year...
Quote of the day: "Remember this: your body is your slave; it works for you." ~ Jack LaLanne
Needless to say, I have put a lot of thought into this training schedule, and although it may still change, this at least gives me a starting point.
You can refer back to the training I did for Tough Mudder Toronto, although this schedule will be remarkably different. Regular Tough Mudder events run anywhere between 10-12 miles, and generally have around 20-25 obstacles. The goal in that event was to essentially get through the course as quickly as possible.
Now, I really do not want to brag, but I spent a lot of time strength training my entire body, so I really had no issues whatsoever with the obstacles at Tough Mudder Toronto. I completed every single obstacle, and did every single one on my own.
Having said that...
World's Toughest Mudder 2011, was an 8-mile course, with 40 obstacles. One of my first and foremost points of focus will be overall total-body strength. Although Tough Mudder is keeping the event a secret until event day, I think it will be fairly safe to assume things will be at least somewhat similar.
This means that since the goal is to complete as many laps in 24 hours as possible, combined with the fact that there are so many obstacles, increased in difficulty, I will be training 2 main energy systems.
Total-body strength will be needed to complete the numerous obstacles on the course. Not only that, but there will be endurance running involved...potentially lots of it. Sure, the course is only 8 miles, with plenty of obstacles along the way, making the course much more segmented, but I don't plan on doing just one lap, so I will want my endurance and stamina levels to be high so that I can compete well into the competition.
Finally, it is one thing to be strong, but it is something completely different to be functionally strong. What I mean by this is that, although you may be able to bench press a bunch of weight, or hurl weight up and over your head, unless your joints, ligaments, and tissues are ready for a number of variables, you increase your risk of injury.
For that reason, I am including many of the P90X2 workouts into my training schedule. P90X2, for those of you who are not familiar, takes basic resistance training to the next level, by introducing many new variables to challenge the body.
For example, pushups done on medicine balls create destabilized surfaces for your joints, forcing your body to adapt and stabilize best it can. This improves the overall athleticism, while also decreasing risk of injury.
Finally, I am currently in, and completing, my own strength phase, acting as both a bit of a recovery period from my training all year, but also maintaining/increasing my strength. I am not doing a lot of cardio right now, with more strength training to improve my overall total-body strength.
Once I then move into more functional training with P90X2, I will also increase my endurance training, and then the final push will be to tie everything together and really up my endurance.
From what I have seen of the course in New Jersey, where World's Toughest Mudder is being held, there shouldn't be hills like there were at the Tough Mudder Toronto event. I am sure there will be changes in elevation, but I don't believe they will have numerous Black Diamond ski hills to traverse like TM Toronto's course did.
Despite that, and adding to what I was discussing before, I will be adding in more endurance distance running this time around. LSD running (Long, Slow, Distance) is great for improving the body's aerobic metabolism efficiency. What this means, and may be especially important for an event like this, is that the longer my body burns stores of body fat, the less likely I will be to 'bonk' and run out of energy.
Also, the more efficient I can run through the course and not exhaust myself with the running alone, the more energy stores I will have available to me to complete the obstacles.
I actually found a blog post created by the winner of 2011's WTM. His blog has prompted me to consider a few variables while creating my schedule. Firstly, distance running will be key. As I said before, the greater my running efficiency is, running between obstacles, the more strength/energy I will have available to me to complete each obstacle. The winner from last year has competed in the Boston Marathon a number of times, so he is no stranger to distance running.
Secondly, recovery is also key. Rather than trying to cram a long workout into every single day of the week, I am going to intensify each workout yet also take scheduled days of recovery to allow my body to heal correctly. Remember, the growth, change, repair, and improvement of the body happens during the recovery periods.
Finally, one cannot discount the involvement the core has in an event like this. The winner from last year explicitly said that core strength is crucial to succeeding in this event. So, you will see my schedule is essentially broken up into three types of training days. Running, total-body resistance, and recovery.
So without further ado, here is the schedule:
September
9 - Chest & Back
10 - Plyo Legs
11 - Shoulders & Arms
12 - Core/Recovery
13 - Chest & Shoulders
14 - 5.5km run
15 - Off
16 - 7km run
17 - Yoga/Recovery
18 - 7km run
19 - Yoga/Recovery
20 - 7km run
21 - Yoga/Recovery
Functional Strength Phase 1 (September 22nd - October 12th)
Emphasis on functional, strength-based movements. Some plyometric leg work. Ramping up endurance work.
Day 1 - P90X2 V Sculpt and X2 Core
Day 2 - 8km run (week 1), 10km run (week 2), 12km run (week 3)
Day 3 - UBX (Chest, Shoulders & Triceps) and P90X+ Abs/Core+
Day 4 - Yoga/Recovery
Day 5 - 8km run (week 1), 10km run (week 2), 12km run (week 3)
Day 6 - P90X2 Base & Back and X2 Ab Ripper
Day 7 - Off
Recovery Week (October 13th - 19th)
Recovery week will consist of some light cardio training, along with some light resistance training.
Functional Strength Phase 2 (October 20th - November 9th)
Emphasis on functional, strength-based movements. No more lower-body plyometrics, but more endurance training.
Day 1 - Run: October 20 - 12km, October 27 - 13km, November 3 - 14km
Day 2 - P90X2 Chest, Back and Balance and P90X2 X2 Core
Day 3 - Run: October 22 - 14km, October 29 - 16km, November 5 - 18km
Day 4 - Shoulders & Arms and P90X2 X2 Ab Ripper
Day 5 - Yoga/Recovery
Day 6 - Run: October 25 - 12km, November 1 - 14km, November 8 - 10km
Day 7 - Off
Quote of the day: "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."
~ Robert Collier
