As a woman coming into Obstacle Racing I soon found out that my weakness was my upper body strength. Running my first ever OCR in 2013, it was the Midlands Spartan Sprint, which went well but I did get 90 burpees. I needed to improve my upper body strength as I failed on the rope, parallel bars and spear throw.
My fitness background was in boxing so my general strength was good and I ran as part of my fitness so my speed over the distance was quick as it was a relatively flat course and that suited me. I never expected in a million years that I would get the result I got that day. I was First Elite Female, I have never felt so proud of myself and made the decision to make Obstacle Racing my new sport. I had an amazing first OCR experience, I gave it 100% in my race but I did fail 3 obstacles which meant 90 burpees (but I do love burpees) and knew I had a lot of work to do for future races.
I spent the whole of 2014 working on my upper body strength and it has worked. I completed and hit the podium in all my 2014 OCR’s with the exception of the Spartan Beast. At the Yorkshire Spartan Sprint this year I completed all Obstacles, I was second Elite Female behind the amazing Lucy Martlew.
How I improved my upper body strength
I am going to tell you how I worked on my upper body strength and general fitness. My weekly training typically involves two full body weights sessions, about three or four runs (usually trails) and a circuits session. I usually finish my weights and circuits sessions with abs.
There is no magic spell to building up your upper body strength, just hard work and determination, if I can do it then anyone can. Here’s your tips:
1. Do Pull Ups To Fly Over Walls
You can’t beat doing pull-ups to help you build up strength to get over walls and fly through monkey bars.
I could only manage one pull-up before I started working on my upper body strength.
Top Tip: To allow me to do more in sets I used a resistance band. These are perfect if you cannot do many pull ups.
- The picture below shows you how to use the resistance bands, the stronger the resistance on the band the easier it will be as the band helps pull your body’s weight up.
- Simply loop over the pull up bar and thread through so it’s attached - then put your feet through the bottom loop.
- Every time you are in the gym, try a few pull-ups and work on building them up.
If you can’t do any pull ups, just practise hanging from the bar and every time extend the amount of time. This will build endurance and strength.
2. Don’t Be Afraid of The Weights
Working on grip strength is important as wel. Pull-ups, monkey bars and dead-lifts will all help improve this. Get to the park and get on the monkey bars as often as you can, throw in a few pull-ups while you are there.
Dips are also very important too as some races have parallel bars so building up your triceps is a must. Again even if you can just hold yourself on the dip bars to start with its a start and build it up from there.
3. Aim to workout at least twice a week
You need to put the work in to get the results, so aim for two weight sessions a week. Start with these:
Weights Session
- 3 sets of 10 reps Bench Presses
- 3 sets of 10 reps Pullups or Deadlifts
- 2 sets of 10 reps alternating Dips and Dumbbell Curls
- 3 sets of 10 reps Squats
Circuit Session
(repeat 5 times)
- 10 x Kettlebell Swings
- 10 x 2.5′ Box Jumps
- 10 x Clean and Press
- 10 x Burpees
- 100m Sprint
Abs Session
- 30 V Sit-ups
- 60 Opposite Elbow to Knee
- 60 Leg Raises
- 60 Heal Taps
Joda is our Scottish trainer at our Stirling training venue. She also runs for Muddy Kit OCR Elite team.
