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!