Without a doubt, this is one of the hardest Beachbody workout routines I have ever done. The pace is really fast and you don't have much rest in between sets. Unlike P90X Legs & Back where you have back routines to allow your legs to recover, Body Beast - Build Legs is continuous pounding of the legs with lots of squats and lunges. I can feel the leg fatigue big time after doing this routine. So please go easy on yourself the first time around and keep your ego in check. You do want to be able to walk without crutches the next day, don't you?
Total Time: 37 minutes
Equipment Needed: Dumbells, EZ curl bar, & chair. I have a weight vest that I use. It helps me stay more balanced, but it's definately optional.
Workout:
Round 1 (Single set)
Sumo Squats (15 reps)
Sumo Squats (12 reps)
Sumo Squats (8 reps)
Sumo Squats (8 reps....this is a drop set. This means you do the first set of 8 reps, then immediately drop the weights and do another set of 8 reps at a lower weight)
Round 2 (Super Set. You do the following moves back to back with no rest. The only time you rest is between sets. You do a set of 15 reps of each move on each leg, then 12 reps, and finally 8 reps)
Alternating lunge
Step up Reverse lunge
Round 3 (Giant Set. You do the following moves back to back to back with no rest. The only time you rest is between sets. You do a set of 15 reps of each move on each leg, then 12 reps, and finally 8 reps)
Parallel Squats
Bulgarian Squats
Straight Leg Deadlift
Round 4 (Giant Set. You do the following moves back to back to back with no rest. The only time you rest is between sets. You do a set of each move for 30 seconds)
Single leg calf raise
Seated calf raise
In and Outs (an abdominal move. Yeah! Legs get a break!!!)
When searching the web, I see a lot of different opinions when it comes to how to train for a mud race. While my experience is limited (completed in two races so far), I think the number one thing to work on is your long distance running capacity. And while I'm working on that as we speak, I'm also a big fan of Beachbody routines like P90X, Insanity, Asylum, and their new routine Body Beast. So my goal is to come up with a training program using Beachbody routines while incorporating long distance running. Currently my routine is as follows:
Day 1 - Body Beast & 5k speed run
Day 2 - Insanity
Day 3 - Body Beast & 5k speed run
Day 4 - Insanity
Day 5 - Body Beast & Long run
Day 6 - Insanity
Day 7 - Rest
Now I didn't include the specific routines in the above schedule. Instead, I just follow the wall calendars that comes with the programs and cross the days off as I complete them. So I still complete the routines, but it takes me twice as long because I'm doing two routines at the same time. For those who don't have the above routines, you can substitute Body Beast with P90x or Tony Horton One on Ones & you can substitute Insanity with Asylum.
The mud races have a lot of obstacles that requires upper body strength, so that's where the benefit of doing a strength based program like Body Beast or P90X comes into play.
But the mud races also have obstacles that are high intensity in nature. A lot of people do Crossfit & the Spartan Workout of the Days have a lot of Crossfit principles to them. While Insanity is not Crossfit, it's the closest Beachbody program available. I find the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) in Insanity routines helps on obstacles that you need a burst of energy to get through.
I'm real excited about my training program and I'm glad I didn't have to leave my home gym & Beachbody progams (which I love).
When I ran my first Spartan Race, the first section of the race was running up hill for about 1 mile. I ran hills before but not that long of a duration. As expected, my legs burnt out before I could reach the top and I was forced to walk the rest of the way. This was very dissapointing for me because I really wanted to have a competitive time. I did very well on a majority of the obstacles, but looked back at the beginning hill climb as my downfall.
But instead of sulking, I took it as motivation. The first thing I had to do was put some external pressure on myself, so I registered for 3 more Spartan Races in 2013. Now with the pressure on, I have to train harder. I have to train smarter. And one of the things I needed to do was build up my leg strength and endurance. Running stairs is a great way to do that. And even better it's free! Many people can go to their local high school and find a set of stadium stairs. Since I wanted to build up my endurance similiar to the one mile ascent up hill, I found a set of stairs in my neighborhood that's 176 stairs high!!! I'm telling you, just after 2 sets my legs were absolute toast. The goal is to be able to work up to 8 sets without stopping. And once I get to that level, I plan on adding weight with my weight vest.
I believe this will be a great compliment to your strength training, endurance runs, and practing getting better at the obstacles. Good Luck!
Caution: This is a very tough workout and it can be stressful on the knees. I know my knees were a little bit sore after I completed my reps.
A very short routine, but covers all areas of the shoulders. Just 6 rounds of 3 moves and you're done! (no bonus moves!!!! For those wondering why I added the extra exclamations, Tony is a huge fan of adding bonus moves at the end when you're body is already wasted). Some people like to combine this disc with Tony's Just Arms to make it a full shoulders and arms routine. I hope you like doing Pike Presses because there are a lot of them. A pike press is an exercise where your body is in a V position with your feet and hands touching the floor. As your fingers point in towards each other, you lower your head to the ground and push yourself back up. It's important to go straight up and down. If you move too far forward, it becomes more of a chest routine and less of a shoulder routine. In this disc, Tony will play around with the height of your feet which increases the degree of difficulty. Another reason I like this routine is that I can take it on the road. All I needed was a strong resistence band and I was able to complete the entire routine with very few modifications. An overall great routine and something I think you'll enjoy.
Total Time: 37
minutes
Equipment Needed: Dumbells or resistence bands and a chair. Push up stands are optional.
I know. Strange title for a workout. It's refering to 100 jump ropes, 30 ab moves, and 20 push-ups. You do 8 rounds with a bonus jump rope round at the end. I haven't done jump roping in a very long time, so it took me some time to get my rhythm. Also Tony does his jump roping very fast and then goes straight into the next ab move. I like to start ahead of him, so I don't feel panicked when I trip over the jump rope multiple times and feel I need to rush to play catch-up. The first time you do this workout, you're calves are going to be fatigued and a little sore the next day. But over time, you're techinique will get better and calf endurance will improve. For those who travel a lot will love this routine. All you need to do is throw a jump rope in your back pack/suitcase and you have full workout routine for the road. I did this routine the morning of an out of town wedding and got a serious sweat from it. As mention before, Tony challenges himself to do 100 jump ropes in a row without messing up. It took him 8 attempts! Try it yourself. How many attempts will it take you?
Total Time: 46
minutes
Equipment Needed: Jump rope. Power stands and mat are optional
This was the first Insanity workout I ever did and I just remember saying to myself, "What did I get myself into?!?". They actually give this workout as a sneak preview when you purchase other Beachbody Programs. The marketing team must know how to recruit cardiomaniacs by introducing them to such a tough routine that they want to come back for more, or they're a bunch of idiots for scaring off potential customers. Either way, it doesn't take away the fact that this routine is a killer and I've yet to be able to finish without taking at least a couple of breaks. You will have nightmares of Shaun T yelling "In! Out! In! Out!" Don't know what that means? Try this routine out and trust me, you will! Here's a break down of Plyometric Cardio Circuit:
Time:43 minutes
Breakdown:
1.Warm-up (10 ½ minutes)
·3
rounds of about 3 ½ minutes each of
(a)Jog
(b)Jumping Jacks
(c)Heisman
(d)123 Heisman
(e)Butt Kicks
(f)High Knees
(g)Mummy Kicks
2.Stretch (7 minutes)
3.Workout (20 minutes)
·Circuit
One (3 rounds of each exercise 30 seconds in length with a 30 second rest in
between rounds)
(a)Suicide (side to side touching the
floor)
(b)Power Squats
(c)Mountain Climbers
(d)Ski Down (jump side to side as if
skiing)
Moves added to the end of Round 3
(a)Switch Feet
(b)Football Sprints
·Circuit
Two (3 rounds of each exercise 30 seconds in length with a 30 second rest in
between rounds)
Last Saturday, I just completed the Spartan Sprint on June 16th, 2012 at Washougal Motocross Park (Pacific Northwest). The length of the race was about 4 miles of hills, obstacles, and lots & lots of mud. We formed a team of 10 guys and attacked this course. Being a competitive group, we trained pretty hard for the event. None of us have ever done an obstacle course race before so we really didn't know the appropriate way to train. Now that I've completed the race, I want to give a recap of the race and some tips I've learned from this experience.
Pre-Race Team Photo
First thing I suggest is to get to the start line early. The race heats have as many as 250 - 300 people and you don't want to get stuck behind the pack if you're goal is to get a competitive time. The first part of the race was tough. We ran 3/4th of a mile uphill. A lot of my training consisted of running, but most of it was street running. Trail running is an entirely different beast. And while I ran hills, I never ran hills for that length of distance before. After the uphill climb, we ran through some forest trails and started to make our descent down the hill we just climbed. Running down hill is equally as tough. Some psychos full sprinted down the hill with no fear. Getting comfortable with that aspect can really improve your time.
The first obstacle we encountered was a vertical rope pull. At this obstacle, you pull a rope with a 75 pound cement block attached up 30 feet in the air and need to control the block on the way down as well. If you're unable to complete an obstacle, the penatly is 30 burpees. One of the keys to getting a good race time is to not do burpees. I did really well on this. Pulling up the cement block was a lot easier than controlling the weight down. I just leaned back, bent my knees and went to work.
After the vertical rope pull, I did some more trail running until I encountered a set of four foot walls that you either and to go over, under, or through. Not too hard but I was a little tired from all the running. So I found these obstacles zapped a good amount of energy for not being that difficult.
Now something you need to know about me. I don't know how to swim. So the next obstacle raised my blood pressure quite a bit. It was a giant water slide! I saw a pool of water at the end, but was unsure of how deep it was. No time to think. Just crossed my fingers I wouldn't drown! "Please don't die...please don't die" were the words coming from my mouth as my body flew down the slide. I started picking up some serious speed prior to hitting the water. Once I hit the pool, I was fully submerged but was able to stand up with the water being higher than waist deep. Scratched off one of my nine lives, climbed out of the water, and raced off.
The next obstacle was a strength & endurance challenge as we had to carry 60 pound sandbags for about 100 yards. The placement of these sandbags was very strategic. I started to let it rest on my shoulder, but that shifted my weight to one side and made it tough on my core. So I just rested the sandbag on my head and used my arms to balance it. This was soooo much easier and gave me a chance to rest.
I thought they said this race was suppose to be muddy??? Opened my mouth too soon because the next obstacle was a 150 yard mud crawl under barb wire. You really have to embrace the mud to do well in this challenge. I made up a lot of time finding my spots to pass others. They told us at the beginning to not log roll through the mud pits, but lots of people were doing it anyways. I stuck with the standard crawl since it was working for me pretty well.
After the mud crawl, you a hit a series of 6 feet walls and 8 feet walls. Some people used the teamwork method of getting up and over these walls. I just jumped up, got my elbows over the wall, and lifted myself over. The 8 foot walls had a couple steps on the side to help get you closer to the top. I utilized these steps as I found trying to use another individual for leverage was unreliable. I got some nice scrapes under my armpit with this way of attacking the walls. But I also cleared these walls in just a couple of seconds which really helped out my overall time.
The next obstacle was a cinder block drag up a hill for about 25 yards and then down a hill for another 25 yards. The cinder block probably weighed about 50 pounds. I felt the best strategy was to face forward and drag the block behind my butt. At this point, my legs were fatigued so I just walked up the hill with the block. Gripping the chain was a little challenging because of the wet mud still on my hands from the mud crawl.
For those who love getting muddy, this next obstacle was just for you. We had to clear 3 big mud puddles that went up past your waist. Again with my fear of water, I entered these mud puddles cautiously. Some dudes tried to clear the puddle quickly by jumping in as far as they could. That's a great strategy to save time, but I'm not a mutant so I took my time. Probably cost me a extra minute or two for being such a nancy.
The Spartan Race has a military presense to it and at the next obstacle, military personnel were volunteering with the tractor tire flips. I had a lot of difficulty being able to lift these tires by myself. You were given the option of lifting the big tires in teams of two or lift a smaller tire by yourself. After not being able to budge the big tire, I went over to the smaller tire and flipped that over twice. Took a little shot in the manhood, but after talking with others after the race...it looks like a lot of men had the same "weakling" issues. But give us a break. Look how much distance and obstacles we've convered so far before reaching this point.
Next was a 25 foot rope climb with a huge mud puddle at the bottom. Thankfully the rope had knots in it so I was able to rest my feet as I ascended up the rope. But it was still pretty difficult because the rope was swaying so much. At the top of the rope, you had to ring a bell. I'm almost 6 feet tall, so I didn't have to reach far to ring the bell. I feel sorry for the little people. Like the rope pull at the beginning, climbing down the rope was a lot harder. I just didn't want to get a rope burn. That would of ended my race real quick. Luckily my hands were saved and I made quite a big splash at the bottom. Funny thing is that I had a hell of a time getting out of that mud puddle. Took me longer than the rope climb itself...lol.
Ever throw a spear before? No? Well guess what...neither have I. You're about 10 yards away and you have one chance to stick this spear in a hay bail about 8 feet off the ground. The guy right before me stuck that spear in the hay bail with ease. What a show off! Now the pressure was on me. I hit the hail bail too....with the side of the spear! I suck at throwing! So this was the first time I had to do burpees. Not too bad. Probably did 30 burpees in 2 1/2 minutes. Didn't have high hopes coming into this obstacle. Don't have any spears and hay bails lying around at home for me to practice on. I live in the burbs!
Immediately after the spear throw is a horizontal wall climb. I kept on being tempted to grab the top of the wall but that was against the rules. At one point, I caught up with the guy who went ahead of me. I was losing my grip position and had to put my hand on top of the same grip hold he was using. Kind of an ackward moment. But when it comes to holding hands with a complete stranger from the same sex or doing 30 burpees (after just completing a set of 30 burpees from that stupid spear toss), well I'm going to get friendly! The wall was probably 15 yards in length and you ring a bell at the end once you're finished.
Now here is where the real nightmare of the course begins. 300 yard mud crawl under barb wire....all up hill!!! It was so slippery that I had to gravitate toward the edges. Well so did everyone else. I hit a major traffic jam and lost tons of time here. In hindsight, I needed to get over into one of the middle lanes but couldn't find my opening. Also my elbows and knees took a beating from this obstacle. I have major cuts, abraisions, and scabs from the rocks and gravel mixed in with the mud. If I do this again, I'm wearing elbow and knee pads. I like being able to walk the next day!
After at least 15 minutes...seriously....I made it to the top. At the bottom of the hill with wet slippery mud all over my hands was....monkey bars. I tried to dry my hands off the best I could, but to no avail. I slipped off those bars immediately. Oh well, another set of 30 burpees. I later saw a technique of a guy using his legs as well as his arms to get across the bars. Very smart. Something to remember for next time.
Surprising after the long mud crawl and the monkey bars, my cardiovascular endurance tank was full again. So I started sprinting toward the next obstacle. Up a small hill then quickly down awaiting me was a 20 foot high cargo net. I used a reverse grip (like doing a chin up) to get up this net. The technique was quite effective. Getting over the net was a little challenging and I racked my groin pretty good. But since the rest of my body was numb, I didn't feel it (then).
I was nervous when I saw the next obstacle. It was a ten foot slippery wall that was slanted at an angle with a rope to help climb yourself up on. I thought this was going to be pretty hard, but it was probably the easiest obstacle of the entire course. I scaled it with minimal effort.
Shortly after the slippery wall, I encountered a balance walk on posts. I do a decent amount of Yoga and other balance strength routines so I thought this would be pretty easy for me. Thought wrong. About half way through, my leg starting chicken winging it to the right and only a miracle Karate Kid crane kick could of saved me from falling. Well I trained hard, but not with Mr. Miagi...so I fell down and had to do a final set of 30 burpees.
Home stretch was in sight. I had to jump over a set of burning logs and take on some gladiators to cross the finish line. There are 3 gladiators equipped with padded jousts waiting to beat on spartan racers as they race to the finish. At this point, I was just by myself with no other spartan racers in shouting distance. I'm saying to myself "Great, no one else to pound on but me. Here comes the pain". Well maybe they felt sorry for me or one of the gladiators took it as a personal challenge but the other 2 sat down. And the showdown began. One on one. Like in "Thunderdome", two men enter, one man leaves. As I was sprinting down the gravel road, the gladiator squated down in his athletic stance ready to smack me with his joust. I juked left, he slid over. I juked right, he mirrored me the other way. Screw it. I just hit him head on. As we collided, I grabbed his weapon and spun off to the finish line. Victory is mine!!!
I finished the race in 1:03:07 (1 hour, 3 minutes, 7 seconds). 67 out of 429 in my age brackett (16%). 494 out of 2800 out of all males (18%). 534 out of 4036 overall (13%). Not bad for my first time.
Our team did even better. Team Achieve finished 15 out of 249 teams (6%). Proud of what I did and proud of my boys. Can't wait to do it again and improve on our time. If you have questions about the Spartan Race, comment below.
Post Race Photo
Youtube video of the race we ran (different team though)
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