Warrior Black-ops #8 - It is not your friend

The Warrior Race Series has become one of the most popular events to hit South African shores and with good reason. The events offer everything from family fun to an extreme fitness challenge for athletes. The past weekend saw us competing in the final race of the year, which included the who's who of South African multi-sport athletes battling it out for the National Championship title, as well as R230,000 in prize money. These are the true warriors competing in the Elite category: no teamwork and no soft burpee options for them, and all 30 obstacles over 17 kilometres had to be completed while racing against the clock. Just completing the course is a challenge for most athletes. Having to do it against time takes it to the next level.

Heavy rains and high winds made for an even tougher race than normal. The course was muddy and slippery and the obstacles treacherous and physically demanding. The first half of the route was made up of mostly running with obstacles dispersed in-between. We had to pull heavy tyres, carry sandbags (wounded warrior challenge), and climb over and crawl under obstacles. The deep, muddy trenches of the 'Mud Monster', a favorite amongst competitors and Rookies alike, was exceptionally challenging to get out of. It consists of a series of trenches approximately three-metres wide and two-metres deep, filled with water, and on the edge is heaps of mud that one must get over. It is incredibly difficult to find traction and most people tend to help each other, in extreme cases even forming human ladders.

The last four kilometres on the course is where things get interesting and the warriors must rise above. A line up of eight obstacles all testing the upper body to the extreme lie in wait for us. With spectators cheering us on, every ounce of strength is demanded from our bodies. The ‘Rope Hanger’, an obstacle with five very short ropes over a metre apart that one has to swing from one to the other, and ‘Extreme Monkey’, traversing a horizontal ladder by hanging on the poles and swinging to the next, took their toll on most of the competitors. It was a demanding course leading us to the last obstacle, the ‘Ice Crusher’ and over the finish line.

The Men’s winner, Michael Joubert, who has a background in rock climbing, blasted past Claude Eksteen on these last obstacles and took the title in an astonishing 1:37, going home with a cool R100,000.

In the Ladies race, Carla van Huysteen, who is well known for her performances on the Xterra Off-Road Triathlon Series, was out in front from the get go. A nimble runner and tough competitor, she had a great performance taking the Ladies title and also went home with a nice holiday bonus of R100,000. Jetaime Ribbink and Jacqueline Steinman closely followed her to the finish line.

For the Rookies, it was a fun day in the mud with family and friends on a six-kilometre course lined with 15 obstacles. The obstacles are less demanding and can be completed by anyone with a sense of adventure. Participants can compete in teams or individually, and funny outfits are seen all around.

For those wanting to step it up from Rookie, but not brave enough for the extreme Black-ops, organisers have introduced a new Commando Intermediate distance course. This will challenge the more-fit athlete and prepare them to progress to the Black-ops if they so desire.

So with the 2013 Warrior Races done and dusted, here are some Black-ops training tips to help you prepare for the 2014 races.

Quick training tips

The Black-ops obstacles often require the ability to pull up your own body weight, so upper body strength is critical. Add upper body vertical pull movements to your weekly routine, including pull-ups of all different grips (wide, narrow, etc.) and through a full range of motion (i.e. starting with straight arms from a dead hang). These can be done on tree branches, playground monkey bars, or in the gym, for example. From my personal experience, I found rock climbing to be an incredibly valuable exercise for time versus result. If all else fails, climb a tree! This will do wonders for those under and over log obstacles in the race that require total body strength and coordination from log to log.

Keeping the hips strong and mobile are also key to speed in the obstacles. For example, major strength is required to move fast through the mud pits as you lunge and lurch through them, while your hip flexors are key to pulling your suctioned legs up and out of the mud every step of the way. On the flip side, gluteus maximus is your go to when pushing yourself forward during those heavy-tyre pulls. As for hip mobility, that comes in handy when climbing the rope walls, since the higher you can place your leg and coordinate it with your upper body pulls on the rope, the quicker you can get up it. Lower body pushing and pulling movements, like sprinting, hopping, jumping, running up hills, hiking steep trails, walking, or running up steps two to three at a time and doing proper lunging or even sled/tyre pulls, will all work to get the hips open and strong for speed.