Tough as a Mudder

In 2010 a new event popped onto the adventure race scene called Tough Mudder. Billed as the "Toughest Event on the Planet" the Tough Mudder drew immediate attention and sold out their first event within a couple weeks (which I was luckily a participant). The Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile obstacle course designed to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. Thousands attended the first event hopeful for a true challenge, a test of character, and for some just a good old time in the mud.

I, for one, thought it would be hilarious to run such an event as I was on a 4-5 year hiatus from any kind of workout. On top of that I saw there was free beer, a tough mullet contest, free tattoo, costume contest, and the kicker: this video which after my first viewing caused me to die laughing and immediately sign up.

I got a text the next day by my cousin (he told me about the Tough Mudder) to find out if I wanted to do it. I replied: 

 Years from now laying in my bed i'll be thinking would i trade all the days from this day to that for one chance - just one chance - to prove I'm a tough mudder? I'm in!

I immediately saw my text on his facebook just minutes later. Thief! Tough Mudder promised blood sweat and beer and I was going to collect.

The first event was a great time. Did it live up to the the "Tough" title? Not really but it was a hell of a good time especially for the very first event this small, now booming, company was running. The only logical course of action was to do another one and expect, with time, the event would get better and better. We immediately signed up for one a few months later which promised to be more exciting because the course was longer (5 miles became 12 miles), the obstacles were tougher and more ridiculous (running through live electrical wires), and it was in the middle of November! (there were water obstacles despite this fact)

Our 2nd Tough Mudder event truly lived up to the name and truly delivered. The event despite being just a few months after the first Tough Mudder was a drastic improvement and garnered amazing reviews by organizations such as Travlete who named the Tough Mudder the best adventure race of 2010. The "Press Room" on the Tough Mudder site chronicles their reviews and the evolution of the company and event.

It is coming up on a year since Tough Mudder began their operations and they are already making profits as a company and have become the largest contributor to the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps support injured servicemen and women who have sustained injuries abroad, via fund raising from Tough Mudder events. Their events have gone from a questionably tough first event to a series of undoubtedly tough events which include 14 separate events in 2011 and will see Tough Mudders in Canada, Japan, UK, and Australia by the end of 2012.

Tough Mudder will only continue to grow and improve and I will be along for the ride with them. I plan to do 2-3 this year and looking forward to the first of my series coming this April. I figure I will use the event as a focus to keep me in shape and as a yearly gauge to my fitness level and sense of humor. If I am no longer laughing at the course they are probably no longer getting more difficult.  

I would hate to end the post without a shameless plug so here is my donations page for the Wounded Warrior Project! Please help support this cause and I will continue to risk my body for those who have risked their lives. For more Tough Mudder goodness check out ToughestMudder where you will find information on training, experiences, gear information, and general information from various participants including  "My Story".

Body Experiments II

What happens when some goofballs decide to put "proven" workout techniques/programs to the test? Apparently, they get pretty good results. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about body experiments a group of us conducted and now some initial results are in.

Scorpion (alias - see previous post for details) decided to test a method in Tim Ferriss' book "Four-Hour Body" with which Tim Ferriss was able to put on 34 lbs of muscle in 28 days. It was a pretty strong claim especially considering the workouts were only 30 minutes long and you only do 2 workouts a week. That equates to a measly 1 hour per week or a grand total of 4 hours to gain this mass in 28 days. Scorpion did not follow the exact same set of exercises but followed the technique and pace in which the exercises should be executed. He also modified the meal plan slightly.

Amazingly despite not sticking 100% to the program outlined in "Four-Hour Body", Scorpion made some pretty strong gains. Overall he gained about 20 lbs in the 4 weeks going from an initial weight of 176 lbs to 196 lbs. 196 lbs is the highest weight Scorpion has ever been despite past attempts to get to 200 lbs via other methods including taking weight gainers. Adding a couple percent of fat loss to the total muscle gain for scorpion was around 25-27 lbs. So it seems the claim of gaining 34 lbs of muscle in 28 days is in fact legitimate. Now having completed his program Scorpion will either push to gain the last few pounds to hit the 200 lbs or perhaps start a new experiment testing a claim to go from 5K runs to 50K runs in a 12 week period. First, he needs to get initial 5K under his belt as Scorpion's cardio leaves a bit to be desired.

Noob also hit a milestone having completed 30 days of Insanity. His results have been great. He is following the workout programs as described and is actually eating healthy (unlike the 90% of Americans who "think" they eat healthy despite our 30% + obesity rate). Noob began at 191 lbs and is currently at 183 lbs. Doesn't seem like a lot of weight for 30 days but the scale is a poor judge of progress as it doesn't take into account muscle mass gained in contrast to fat lost. It's a good thing we took measurements. In the past 30 days Noob lost a total of 8.5 inches and about 7% body fat (about 15 lbs of fat!).

• arms - .5 inches
• legs - 4 inches
• chest - 1.5 inches
• waist - 3.5 inches

 











Next time I'll go over my final 60 day results (cold shower technique to burn fat!), Subzero's 30 day milestone (P90X), perhaps the return of Ermac after his shoulder injury (P90X), and maybe the start of our first female member to attempt a body transformation!