Us vs Them

As some of you have heard me say, one of the most rewarding parts of training OCR athletes is when they complete a course without obstacle failure. Course designers like Norm Koch, Chris Accord, the OCRWC crew, etc throw a gauntlet of obstacles at us and it really boils down to Us vs Them. It’s no secret that lack of grip/pull strength and grip/pull strength endurance is the #1 culprit when it comes to causing obstacle failure. This week I’m providing you with a bonus workout that I have the athletes on the Yancy Camp roster complete 3-4 times each week during this pre World Championship season training cycle. I get asked, “what do you mean by grip/pull strength endurance”. There’s a big difference in being able to fly down a long set of monkey bars or a challenging rig early in a race vs late in a race. Let’s create a scenario. First mile of the race you’re faced with a tough rig obstacle but easily complete the obstacle. For the next 6 miles you conquer a barrage of obstacles that include a long bucket carry where you’re using your grip to hold the bucket in front of you for 10min, you complete a long single or double sandbag carry which requires you to pick up the bag numerous times after a brief rest, you climb over multiple walls, climb a rope, do the tyrolene traverse going under the rope (I highly recommend going over the top but that’s another discussion), complete the herc hoist, climb the cargo net, conquer BF’s tip of the spear (love this obstacle), and now you’re faced with a challenging monkey bar station late in the race. A station you would have crushed earlier in the race but now you’re doubting yourself because your forearms are screaming at your. You make a fist and have trouble opening your fingers. You get a little over halfway and your grip fails. Knocking out multiple pull-ups when you walk in to the gym takes grip/pull strength. Knocking out that last monkey bar obstacle or rig late in a race takes both grip/pull strength and grip/pull strength endurance. You have to train the grip to endure a 2 hour + race where you’re using your hands over and over again to complete obstacles. You must work this in to your training routine. Completing multiple long sets to failure during training sessions can help tremendously. I have the top level athletes I train build confidence by completing obstacles twice before dropping. If training on a rig, monkey bar station or similar structure, we’ll go down & back before dropping vs just going down. This builds confidence. We’ll also do it multiple times during a long running workout Here’s the bonus workout. Start adding this to the beginning of your training sessions Mon, Wed, & Fri.

Hand gripper back and forth for equal reps per hand x 90sec, farmer’s walk x 60sec, pull-up to failure followed by 10sec hang before dropping (this builds confidence to push past your normal level of “I can’t go any longer before dropping”). This completes 1 round. Continue for a total of 4 rounds. When ready, you can bump up the number of rounds. *If you struggle with pull-ups, start with lat pulldowns and/or asst pull-ups.

Remember, it’s Us vs Them. Let’s create an army of athletes who leave the course designers scratching their heads wondering why such a large percentage of athletes are completing their courses without obstacle failure. Until next time, be consistent and enjoy every minute!