We’re Goin’ Bananas for these 5 Monkey Bar Workouts

When it comes to our Ruckus obstacle course, don’t play around about playing around! We take having fun while staying fit seriously, which is why we’ve designed one of the most engaging, entertaining and challenging mud run courses in the nation.

One thing that makes our course so unique is our Gorilla Bars, which are monkey bars all grown up! Although the Gorilla Bars are one of the most popular features of our obstacle course, people often comment about how it’s also one of the most difficult parts of Ruckus run.

Crossing the Gorilla Bars requires a lot of upper body and abdominal strength, and it’s best to train for the day you encounter them. But what’s the best way to train to tackle the Gorilla Bars?  Just head to your local playground! Next time you’re near a playground, head for the monkey bars and go bananas with these 5 monkey bar workouts:  

1. The Hold

Odds are that at some point in your life, you and some friends have had a competition to see who can hold themselves up the longest on the monkey bars. This is excellent training for Ruckus Gorilla Bars! All you need to do is hold your head above the bars for as long as you can. Try making a new record to brag about.

2. The Dip

Dips are a great, albeit challenging training exercise. Cross your legs at the ankle, hoist yourself up until your arms are straight, then slowly lower yourself down and repeat. You’ll find that the slower you go, the more you feel the burn. If you do multiple reps, you’ll definitely be preparing yourself for Ruckus domination.

3. Legs to Chest

Remember—monkey bar exercises aren’t just for your arms!  They’re for your core too.  While holding onto the monkey bars in a parallel position, slowly draw your knees toward your chest and back, repeating as necessary. This is perhaps one of the most challenging monkey bar exercises around, but with repeated reps, you’ll be ready for Gorilla Bars in no time!

4. The Spread Eagle

Starting with your legs dangling down toward the ground, slowly raise them up into a spread eagle position, lifting them as high as you can go or until parallel with the ground. A real leg and abdomen burner!

5. The Good Ol’ Pull-up

The pull-up is one of the most tried-and-true, time-tested exercises for training for the Gorilla Bars. See how many reps you can do, and within no time you will start to feel your arms getting stronger.  Don’t be frustrated if you can do only 1 or 2 at first.  Pull-ups take time to master.  Try to increase by 1 pull-up every week or so. 

With these awesome monkey bar exercises, you’ll have an edge over the competition in no time! And with all this training under your belt, odds are you have a higher chance of making it into the Champion’s Heat of Ruckus. We can’t wait to see you there!

We’re Boston-bound next!  Sign up for Ruckus Boston to test your mud run abilities.  Sign up here!

5 Surprising Activities That Will Help You Train for a Mud Run

Our Ruckus mud run includes just a little bit of everything, and you will use just about every muscle in your body to finish the race.  In order to properly prepare, we suggest your training includes several activities that mimic the challenging obstacles throughout the course.  Some of these activities may, in fact, surprise you! 

1. Rock Climbing

When taking on the course’s Barricade Boulevard and Gr8 Walls of Ruckus, you’ll want to have that extra upper-body strength developed from one of our favorite outdoor (or indoor!) activities—rock climbing!  Of course, you don’t have to go to the closest mountain or peak and free climb like in the movies.  Many recreation centers and outdoor facilities offer climbing walls that are great practice. 

2.      Rope courses    

Both high and low rope courses are often used for both personal development and team building activities.  We love to see the same goals met on the Ruckus course (as some competitors choose to participate alone and some as a team).  Training at a rope course will come in handy for the Air Loops and Nose Bleed nets, which require you to swing from rope to rope á la Tarzan and race to the top of a daunting cargo net.

3. Hiking

This kind of training is great because it doesn’t require any special equipment (plus anyone can do it!). Just head off to your nearest trail or park and start trekking.  The constant uphill and downhill terrain is a great calf workout, perfect for the ever-changing ground on the Ruckus course.  Hiking is a fun, rewarding and cheap way to train, and you might even stumble upon your new favorite place to go and have some alone time.

4. Military Obstacle Course

For the serious competitor with eyes on the most demanding 4-mile Challenge division, a military obstacle course may be a great option for training.  Designed to train some of the most physically fit individuals, military obstacle courses offer many of the same obstacles as Ruckus.  You will be forced to climb, crawl, swing and everything in between through barriers.  The biggest difference is that at Ruckus, there won’t be a drill sergeant screaming at you to go faster (although there may be some cheering spectators!).  At Ruckus, you go at your own pace.

5. Local Playground

Playgrounds aren’t just for kids anymore.  Although sitting on a swing and pumping your legs won’t train you for a mud run, other playground activities will.  Swing across monkey bars, walk across balance beams and climb up ladders to train for obstacles like the Gorilla Bars and Normandy Spikes.  For more upper body strength, attempt some sets of dips on parallel bars or pull ups on whatever you can find. 

Instead of just running at your local park everyday (although that’s still very productive!), we suggest you consider training by doing some of these other activities.  Trust us when we say that you will be ready to shine when your mud run day comes!  

How CrossFit Can Help You Train for a Mud Run

There are many different fitness crazes and fads that are constantly coming and going. Everybody has their own sort of routine whether it be running, pumping iron in the gym, or even utilizing the newest infomercial fitness gadget.  But which fitness routine will get you in the best possible shape for a mud run or obstacle course?  CrossFit!   

What is CrossFit? 

If you’re not familiar with CrossFit, it is most easily described as the sport of fitness. The workouts are constantly changing and challenging. CrossFit consists of many different pulling movements from a plethora of different sports and exercises to test your strength, cardiovascular system and flexibility (known as “mobility” in CrossFit lingo).  Overall, CrossFit focuses on improving an athlete’s overall level of fitness. A general CrossFit WOD (Workout of the Day) is no longer than 20 minutes. Twenty minutes may seem like a cakewalk, but the workouts are highly intense and physically exhausting. Daily WODs are available on the CrossFit website for free; all you need is the equipment.

Is CrossFit Popular? 

The intense and efficient workout program known as CrossFit has been widely adopted by people from all walks of life who have the desire to push themselves to the peak of their physical ability. In addition to over 5000 boxes (affiliate gyms), CrossFit WODs have been implemented by many fire department and first responders, law enforcement agencies, military and professional/university athletic programs.

How Serious Does Crossfit Get? 

For some CrossFitters, the WODs are just a way to stay in shape and get healthy. Then there is another level of CrossFitters known as elite level or “games” athletes.  The athletes train according to a rigorous schedule, often 2-3 times a day, in preparation of the CrossFit Games. The CrossFit Games were created in 2007 to find the “fittest athletes on earth”.  The games incorporate the mainstay movements of CrossFit along with plenty of curveballs so the athletes must be prepared for anything.

How Will Crossfit Help Me Train for a Mud Run?

Quite well, in fact.  Many of the movements in CrossFit are akin to obstacles in our course. With that in mind, it only makes sense that CrossFit is the premier way to get in Ruckus shape.

To help you prepare to dominate your next Ruckus race (or any other mud run!), we’ve broken down our obstacles to find the CrossFit movement that will be help you train: 

• Barricade Boulevard:  For this obstacle, your upper body strength will be tested.  Train by using CrossFit movements like muscle ups to help get you up and over the barricades.
• Air Loops: Swinging from rope to rope can take its toll on your forearms. Heavy kettlebell swings will give you lumberjack forearms to get you through this tough obstacle.
• Gorilla Bars: Another upper body gasser! As long as you train with a few kipping pull ups, you’ll be eating bananas at the finish line in no time.
• The Gr8 Walls of Ruckus: Yet again another obstacle to test your upper body. The Gr8 Wall of Ruckus is even higher than any of our Barricade Boulevards, but you have pegs and ropes to assist you. Train with weighted pull ups and you won’t even need the extra assistance.
• Mt. Hay: By the time you hit this monstrous climb, your upper body might be tired. Combat this by using your legs. Nothing strengthens your core and legs like CrossFit’s front squats.
• Awkward A-Frame: We don’t call it awkward for nothing!  The Awkward A-Frame will challenge your dexterity and your body as a whole. Clean and jerks will challenge you the same way while strengthening you in the process.
• Mud Garden: If you don’t explode out of the mud, you’ll get stuck. Box jumps are great for training your quick twitch explosive muscles.
• Ab Drags: You’re going to be dirty and your core will be challenged. You can’t do anything about the mud, but plank crawls will help prepare your core!
• Nose Bleed Nets:  The rope net is your ally and enemy at the same time. Becoming friends with rope climbs beforehand will keep you on their good side.
• Ranger Bars: Just as challenging as Ab Drags, only this time, you’re upside down...and on a pole.  CrossFit’s wall walks work your whole body and help with the inversion thing many people struggle with.
• Normandy Spikes: Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack should train with CrossFit pistols to avoid sharp sticks!
• Lobster Traps: Don’t think crustacean...think like a bear!
• Down-n-Outs:  Getting out is the tricky part, but overhead lunges will teach you to take long and strong strides up and out.
• Twisted Fences: The key is to jump and pull yourself over as quickly as possible.  Jumping pull ups will have you sliding down the other side with ease.
• Tirefield: This obstacle has been designed to trip you up when you’re tired. Bar-facing burpees will have you ready to get back up in case you meet the rubber.
• Mt. Ruckmore: The pièce de résistance of the Ruckus course—Mt. Ruckmore!  When you combine all the previous movements together, Mt. Ruckmore will be child's play.  Feel free to slide your chiseled body all the way down its slope and celebrate! 

CrossFit is a dynamite way to start your Ruckus training.  Combined with a few runs and jogs throughout the week, you’ll be in tip-top shape for Ruckus.  With proper training, both mentally and physically, the Ruckus course (or any other mud run for that matter) will feel like another day at the playground...only slightly muddier!