1) Anyone Can Do It
Hell and back is within grasp for anyone reading this. As of writing, there’s almost 7 weeks to the January event in Bray Co. Wicklow. MORE than enough time to get ready for it.
Watch videos of the event and you’ll see all shapes and sizes, all ages and creeds, and pretty much every possible combination of body parts that you could stick together completing the race.
They do have ONE advantage over you tho. Just one.
They made a commitment to do it. As Tony Robbins said, a decision isn’t TRULY made until some action towards it has been completed. Know what a great way to commit to doing Hell and Back would be?
Say “I’m going to do Hell and Back on January 31st 2016” and then drop down and do 5 burpees. It might feel silly doing it. But I GUARANTEE it will instantly change your mindset.
2) Make Sure You’re Wearing The Right Shoes
Running in mud in a pair of conventional runners is like trying to crawl the wrong way up an ice slide while covered in baby oil.
The right pair of shoes will make the event a whole lot more fun, help you do it faster, and be safer thru out.
Recently, a few of the guys and girls at RevFit got some deep thread trail shoes and were blown away by how good they were. I always assumed you’d be shelling out well over €100 for a pair, but the reports on these bad boys are amazing, and they’re only about €25.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0093NL478/ref=s9_simh_gw_p309_d8_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
3) Practice Like It’s Game Day
If you’ve watched any of the videos on the Hell and Back website, you’ll know by now it’s a complete mud fest. Especially if it’s been wet leading up to the event (…and since we’re in Ireland, there’s a reasonably large chance it will be).
Road runs simply will not prepare you for dragging your legs thru heavy mud and the up and down nature of the course.
Get out onto the hills, get up in the mountains, and haul ass around terrain that’s similar (and maybe even harder) than what you’ll experience on the day.
A point of caution though – when training in sparsely populated areas, always train with a friend and bring a phone in case one of you gets in trouble.
4) It’s More Fun In A Group
Mario Kart. Bowling. Drinking. Hell and Back.
All things that are more craic in a group.
Adventure races are meant to be social events, and some obstacles you won’t be able to complete without help from someone. But not everyone has friends that are as mad as they are who want to do it.
The best way for a person like that to find a group doing it is to join a band of nutters already training for it. Frank, one of our members, wanted to do the challenge but didn’t know anyone else doing it, so he asked in our private members forum on facebook if anyone fancied it. At last count, I think we’d 20 people jump on board.
5) The Stronger You Are, The Easier It’ll Be
A big part of the challenge of how to train for Hell and Back is getting strong enough to actually drag yourself up and over some of the obstacles. There’s climbing, crawling, pulling and everything in between.
If your grip is weak, don’t expect to hold onto a thick rope coated in mud as you try and drag yourself up a slippy ramp.
Skinny fragile legs will be a nightmare to drag thru the mud, and even worse when you’re trying to climb up 20 feet of hay bales. You’ll be wishing you did your squats as soon as you hit that first obstacles.
Skip your shoulder training, and crawling’s gonna be a nightmare. Not exactly a problem you want when you’re elbow deep in cold wet mud.
A combination of bodyweight and barbell training is the best way to get ready for it – get stronger doing big barbell movements like squats (solid legs), bench press (shoulders and chest for the win) and deadlifting (build a rock solid grip and steely back) and then getting “fitter” on those movements with timed bootcamp training so that when your arms and legs get heavy, you stay strong.
…obviously that’s on top of your running!!
Check out the guys and girls getting ready in a Bootcamp by RevFit class.
6) If You’re Not Having Fun, You’re Doing It Wrong
You’ve enough stress and negative shit in your life. If you spend too many days doing something and not enjoying it, you REALLY need to change what you’re doing. And if you’re in the gym slogging away on a treadmill every day hating every second of it, I’m gonna find you, and I’m gonna slap you.
Fitness is supposed to be fun.
Getting in shape is actually REALLY good fun with the right people.
And when you’re training in a group it doesn’t matter if you’re the least fit person there because the other guys and gals will give you a 50% boost in confidence and drag you along if needs be 🙂
I mean c’mon… look how much fun this training session was!
Over the next couple of days we’ll be releasing more details about how you can join in with one of our training groups BEFORE Christmas and thru 2016, but if you can’t wait and want to get going now, send us an email now: https://revolutionfitness.ie/contact/