Tough Guy: How to train

Crawling under barbed wire while bullets fly overhead; running through fire; brushing past electric wires … the Tough Guy race in Perton, South Staffordshire, is not your average endurance event. So how do you train for such a gruelling ordeal? Glutton for punishment that I am, I’m competing in Tough Guy: Nettle Warrior next month, so I thought I’d better find out.

What exactly is Tough Guy?

Tough Guy is a race in two parts. First is a challenging cross-country run, involving seriously steep hills, streams and woodland. Next is the scary bit: an assault course so demanding that the army uses it to toughen up the troops before packing them off to Afghanistan. As well as the aforementioned barbed wire, fire and electricity, it features used sewer pipes to crawl through, 40ft A-frames to climb over, and underwater tunnels to swim through.

The original Tough Guy takes place in January. Around a third of participants fail to finish, largely because they succumb to hypothermia, though there are plenty of broken bones as well. I like a challenge, but I don’t like the idea of freezing to death, so I’m starting off with the July event. Nettle Warrior, as it is known, may not have the cold factor, but competitors have to go twice around the obstacle course, so it’s not exactly an easy option. Oh, and there are carefully cultivated swathes of head-high nettles to negotiate too.

My training plan

I visited personal trainer Mark Anthony to get some tips with my training. This is what we settled on for the eight weeks leading up the event on 25 July – it’s a mix of what I was doing already and Anthony’s additions:

Monday

Cross-training; two hours; easy/moderate. I’ve been trying out a different sport every Monday. So far this has included basketball, football, rounders, dodgeball and ultimate Frisbee. It’s a good way to work different muscles and keep training interesting.

Tuesday

Boxing; one hour; hard. This is a mix of pad and punch bag work plus body sparring. There is also some skipping to warm up and lots of strength and conditioning, such as press-ups, squats and sit-ups.

Wednesday

Treadmill; 70mins; hard. This is to build endurance and get used to inclines. I warm up for 10 minutes until I am at a steady run. Then I alternate between 2mins at a gradient and 10 mins on the flat. I start with a 3% incline, then 5%, 6% and 7%, finishing with 10 mins flat and a cool-down.

Thursday

Boxing; one hour; hard. A lunchtime repeat of Tuesday’s session.
Cross-training; two hours; moderate. I play a team sport called korfball in the evening.

Friday

Indoor climbing, two hours; hard. I don’t manage this every week, as a) it’s expensive, b) I’m tired by Friday night, and c) I’m trying to have a life outside training. But it’s a great way to build up a strong grip, get used to supporting your own weight, and overcome any fear of heights.

Saturday

Step machine; 40mins; hard. Anthony suggested doing a cardio workout on the stepper with 2kg dumbbells. While I think this is a great idea, I haven’t been able to face another indoor workout, and am worried about not doing any ‘real’ running, so I’ve been trying to run around the park for 40mins instead.

Sunday

Rest day! Or sometimes an all-day korfball tournament, in which case I’ll rest on Saturday instead.
Other

I cycle to work five days a week, which is about 15-20mins each way, and am intending to do some pull-ups a couple of times a week, though I haven’t managed that yet. I’m trying to do lots of stretching, and am starting a weekly yoga session later this month.

Supplements

Anthony recommended that I take Solgar multivitamins, high-strength cod liver oil capsules, and glucosamine sulphate 500mg tablets.

Nutrition

Anthony stressed the importance of carb-loading and hydrating before the event. As the race is on a Sunday, he instructed me to drink 2.5-3.5 litres of water on the Friday, eat lots of pasta, rice and potatoes on the Saturday, and eat a big bowl of porridge oats between 6 and 7am on the Sunday morning.

Over to you

Have you competed in Tough Guy or a similarly challenging event? Perhaps you’ve entered this year’s Nettle Warrior? If so, please share your training plan and let me know what you think of mine. In particular, I’m worried that:

I need to do more real-life hill running and long runs (ie. not on the treadmill).
I’m not resting enough and I’m going to burn out or get injured before the race.
I’m not mentally prepared for the pain and fear!

I’d also like to hear your views on supplements. I haven’t followed Anthony’s advice on this yet – I’ve never taken them and am sceptical about their benefits. I tend to think a healthy diet is enough. Do you take supplements and if so, which ones, and what effect do they have?

Conversely, if you have any questions about training for Tough Guy, fire away and I’ll try to find out the answers. (NB. If your question is ‘What’s the point?’, don’t ask – go and read something else instead.)

Finally, does all this training fly in the face of the Tough Guy ethos? The gung-ho part of me thinks I should just turn up on the day and go for it. The sensible part of me replies: ‘That’s exactly what the 2,000 people who don’t finish each year thought …’

To subscribe to Mark Anthony’s fitness podcasts, visit markanthonysuk.com.

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