One of the personal trainers at the London gym I use (Fitness First Liverpool Street) took part in Tough Mudder recently, and he completed the course with flying colours. In my last blog post I listed the first ten obstacles of Tough Mudder, which comes to London again later this year. Here are the remaining 17:
11. Glory Blades
Scaling these 8 foot backward-sloping walls require all your strength and tenacity. Half of the participants require assistance from fellow Mudders to surmount this obstacle.
12. Dong Dangler
You have to cross an expanse of cold muddy water by inching along a low-slung horizontal rope across the water. Balance and grip strength required.
13. Phoenix
Run through a wall of smoke and fire, and plunge into a pit of water. This one is a breeze if you’re a firefighter.
14. Cage Crawl
Swim under a 20 metre length of metal cage with just inches of breathing space between cage and water. You need to keep your cool, as the feeling of being trapped is overwhelming for the faint-hearted.
15. Hold your Wood
Who thinks up these names?! In this challenge, you carry a heavy log over your shoulder, and teamwork may be required. These logs are even heavier than they look.
16. Electric Eel
In this evil section of the course, you must run/crawl through the mud while being shocked by a series of live electric wires dangling in your path. If you’re feeling tired at this point, the electric shocks are sure to revive you.
17. Twinkle Toes
Another balance-skills obstacle: walk across a narrow unstable wooden beam, and if you fall, there’s a mud bath below.
18. Lumber Jacked
Clamber over a series of 1.5 metre log hurdles like a Grand National racehorse. Speed in the run-up is the key, and upper body strength to get over each hurdle.
19. King of the Mountain
Clamber over a 5 metre high mountain of straw bales, great for hayfever sufferers.
20. Just the Tip
Inch sideways across a long hand-hold set into a high wall, suspended over muddy water to break your fall if you lose your grip. Many contenders fall. Easy for rock-climbers, murder for everyone else. Strong fingers, hands and forearms are a must for this one.
21. Walk the Plank
Scared of heights? Jump off a 12 foot high platform into cold murky (and very deep) water, then swim 40 feet to land.
22. Mud Mile
This one does what it says on the tin: run a mile through mud. Extremely tiring when that mud sucks you in as you try to move forward.
23. Kiss of Mud
Fancy crawling on your stomach under barbed wire? You’re in luck!
24. Funky Monkey
Only 40% of Mudders complete this monkey-bar obstacle across a long pit of cold muddy water. Again, upper body and grip strength required.
25. Everest
Here you have to sprint up a long steep slippery slope and leap up into the waiting arms of those who have reached the summit already. Teamwork crucial, and several run-ups required if you don’t make it first time. In the States, the organizers sometimes spray water on the slick surface to make it even more slippery. Rumour has it that they occasionally spray vegetable oil, but I don’t believe it. They couldn’t be this evil, surely?
26. Arctic Enema
You must swim through a series of ice-baths in makeshift watertight skips. Don’t inch your way in, just take the plunge, and be prepared for your muscles to freeze up in shock-response. On the plus side, you get to wash off all that mud.
27. Electroshock Therapy
More electric wires in this, the final obstacle. Crawl or run through a forest of a thousand live wires which dangle from above like the tentacles of a deadly stinging jellyfish. How exhilarating. Great news, there’s a beer waiting for you at the finish line.
If you’ve done a Tough Mudder event and lived to tell the tale, share your experience in the comments section below…
Dominic Londesborough (author of this blog and founder of Fitness4London.com) is a personal trainer in London who would love to do Tough Mudder, but is just too busy training clients and writing his blog.