Fitness races and obstacle-course races are all the rage right now.
So who can do these races, and how do you train for them?
Here are your answers!
Racing: A Ton of Fun
If you do a Google search, you’ll find all sorts of fitness and obstacle-course races worldwide. You can find them locally, too.
Most of these races involve running, as well as objects and obstacles. For example, you might run to a wall and climb over it before running to a heavy bucket you must carry a set distance. Then you might run to monkey bars you must traverse. Some of these races involve hills, mud, and water to increase the challenge.
Other indoor races involve running, rowing, skiing, sled drags and pushes, sandbag lunges, and similar movements.
Races usually have many divisions, and some offer team, relay, and pairs formats in addition to solo races. Almost anyone can do some version of these races after working with a coach to prepare.
What’s the point? Some people love to compete and train hard to perform well at these events. Serious racers will even travel long distances to compete.
Other people use events like this to stay motivated as they train for general fitness. Having a goal gives you a reason to show up every day, and using your fitness in a fun event is a great way to celebrate your progress. The pride you feel when you cross the finish line can’t be measured!
Whether you’re a tough-as-nails competitor or a brand-new exerciser, races are just a lot of fun.
How Do You Train for Races?
If you’re interested in fitness races or obstacle-course races, a general fitness program can help you prepare, and a personalized program will get you results even faster.
Even better, the same race-training program can help you accomplish common fitness goals such as improving strength and conditioning, losing weight, or reducing body fat.
Most of these races involve a lot of running, so a good program will help you improve your speed and endurance.
But you must also have the strength to traverse obstacles and handle weights, odd objects, and race-specific implements. So strength training is an important part of race prep.
At CrossFit 32034, we specialize in both strength and conditioning, using a variety of workouts to help people prepare for races.
For example, we might have a person perform 400-m interval runs to work on speed one day, and 1-km repeats another day to improve stamina. Other days, we might focus on upper- and lower-body strength training in sets of 8-12 reps. And then we might toss in some high-intensity interval training to boost endurance.
The exact combination depends on the client, their workout history, and their goals.
- If a great runner has never done rope climbs but will face them in a race, we’ll build upper-body strength.
- If an experienced lifter wants to do a race, we’ll focus on endurance and running mechanics.
The short story: We can help anyone prepare for any race.
The best plan is to book a free consultation with us to discuss your goals. Bring the race date and details about its length, obstacles, and implements. If you have other goals—such as greater strength or weight loss—we want to hear about those, too!
We’ll review everything and design the perfect plan to help you succeed on race day.
Then we’ll be there to cheer you on as you cross the finish line!
Fitness racing is an amazing way to improve your health while having fun. To book an appointment with our team and find out how to get ready for a race, click here.