Spartan Racing: Why you should run a Spartan 5K & How to train for it.
Hello beautiful human! I see you have clicked on the blog link and you probably want to know why Spartan racing might be for you. Good news, I will do a deep dive into why I would encourage you to run a Spartan Race, specifically a 5K. If, after you read this, you are inspired to take action, I also provide a “How to” for your training so you can be fully prepared to conquer your first race. If you are someone who enjoys watching a video over reading this Blog, I have a link for you to click on below.
(In process)
At this point in human history, we have clear data that physical exercise is extremely beneficial for you to live a long and health lifestyle, but what do we make of that? Normal, everyday people have obligations in life: We work, we have to raise and support a family, tend to our spouses, we need to do our day to day responsibilities that always seem to be annoying and endless, AND once that is done, we try to develop a friend group so we can have fun and entertain ourselves. This poses an the question. How does one work in time to workout?
It is a fair question. Trust me, I battle this question on a daily and weekly basis, yet I know it is important to maintain my health. When I think about working out, I often think about doing some type of strength training exercises. I know this area well and I am comfortable with it, however, some of you don’t have any clue what this means. Then we have to consider cardio, Yikes! and all of this to simply look good naked?
There are a ton of different options and exercise modalities out there, but how does one focus in on everything, especially when they can get boring after awhile. One of my biggest struggles is to find new and exciting workout programs so, at the very least, I am not bored when I am working out. All of these questions and thoughts led me to discover Spartan racing. I had no idea what I was walking into, but I was curious enough to go explore. This is why I fell in love with Spartan racing!
For starters, the race in some ways, forces you to get in shape, refocuses your current level of fitness, and/or challenges your current level of fitness. A nice add on is that the racing structure has four different lengths and/or difficulty levels so if you accomplish one race, you get the chance to “Level up” for your next race to challenge yourself. The race includes a variety of obstacles and elements of your physical health, so you must train a variety of health standards to be successful. The race challenges the big four: Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual health.
Another really cool piece to why you should run a Spartan race is the travel element. Spartan races are held all over the U.S. with an emphasis on the Eastern, Western and Southern Regions. Not only are you completing these unique races, but it is a great excuse to travel to some really cool places. (A buddy and I have completed two different races thus far. One was a 5K in Vermont and a 10K in Montana. Without the excuse of the Spartan organization, I personally doubt I would have ever traveled to either of these locations and they were fricken badass! Check out the picture & video below.)
Lastly, it provides an environment for you to be social which is a great way to make memories with friends/family and work colleagues and accomplish your fitness goals together.
Training for the race requires you to focus all elements of your health, specifically on your mental training and physical training: strength and cardiovascular system. (We will get into this at the bottom half of the blog.) The obstacles involve pushing, pulling, swinging your body/hanging, carrying heavy objects, mobility and grip strength. (I feel this is a nice variety for everyday life, maybe minus the swinging LOL.)
“All this sounds great Nick, but I am not someone who does these events.” No worries, I thought of that and laid out who actually runs these races so you feel more comfortable. (and this is based on my prior direct experiences.)
So who the hell runs these events? I have found that there are three different types of people who enter into the Spartan universe. Group one is former high school and college athletes. People who use to be competitive, yet they didn’t go on to do anything professionally or semi-professionally. These people, myself included, need a place where we can continue to challenge ourselves, while competing against friends or other spartan racers in an environment that is welcoming this competitive spirit. Group two is current Spartan racers and/or fitness nuts. These are people who are fully committed to Spartan racing and fitness every year, and they will even compete multiple times throughout a year. They live it and breath it and some even go on to compete internationally! (And yes, Spartan is an international organization.) For Fitness nuts, who like to mix it up, these races can be a refreshing change of pace as fitness nuts may normally enjoy 1/2 marathons or CrossFit events more pleasing. The last group is the new comers. These are the first timers, the “maybe you got talked into doing a Spartan race the first timers”, the people who are just getting back into fitness again and/or reinvigorating their health and fitness journey or people who are literally just beginning. (If this is you, know that you are meant to be here and I applaud your commitment to better health.)
Regardless of what group you are in, I can confidently express that Spartan racing will positively challenge you mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally and help you evolve into a better version of yourself!
Let’s pause for a moment: If you are still thinking this isn’t for you or all this fitness stuff is a bunch of crap, perfect. This is the time for you to go back to your life and I thank you for reading this blog. I am not one to sell you on something that you are not interested.
However: For those of you who are interested and want to learn more about how to train for this race, let us continue!
Below is a step by step on How to Train for your first Spartan race which I suggest is a 5K. You are more than welcome to attempt longer races, but this training is specifically for 5Ker’s.
Step One to the how to training is actually a call to action. This call to action is to simply go on to the Spartan website. (Include the website link) and find a race. There is no reason to train for a Spartan race if you don’t put it on the calendar. “But Nick my friends aren’t as committed as I am and they won’t sign up”, Good! You have a chance to be a leader and move forward so you can show them why they should do the next one with you.
Step Two is to reward yourself for actually finding a race and buying the ticket. Additionally, the travel means to get there. Normally, if you are traveling, you will need to have your plane ticket to and from or gas money to travel, your Airbnb or housing costs, and food along the way.
Step Three is the training protocol. Spartan races require both a lot of mental & physical training which is one reason why I love them. To breakdown both the mental and physical elements, I want to introduce to you the idea of my favorite training style which is what I call the “Micro Progressions” training style. This style essentially means that each workout that you do, you will be pushing yourself just a little bit harder. I leverage this training style because of two reasons: First, you are developing self-confidence through the execution of the progressions. This propels you into the next workout with confidence knowing the last workout was something you did from start to finish and that you can go a little further next time. Second, it requires you to push further each time which creates a growth stimulus over time, and it is a manageable exertion for growth. I say this because some workouts call you to make jumps in training that are too much to handle. Small, incremental progress over time is the recipe we need to leverage, so we can actually make progress without burnout.
Physical Training:
First let’s dive into the Physical Training, specifically strength training. The race will require you to do 5 motions:
A.) A pushing motion and/or elevating yourself over walls and barriers.
B.) A pulling motion so you can navigate up over obstacles, pull items to you.
C.) A swinging motion as there are obstacles that require you to swing from ring to ring.
D.) A carrying motion where you will have to hold a weighted object and walk for an extended period of time.
E.) Developing grip strength. This is moreso the oil that helps out with everything.
First, let’s discuss the pushing motion. In general, developing upper body strength is a net positive so I always suggest Pushups & Dips. Training for a Spartan, as in life, you don’t need to be able to do 100 pushups in a row and anything crazy, but every ounce of training helps!
- For beginners, I would encourage you do 3 sets of 20 pushups from your knees. The 20 doesn’t need to be in a row, but all 20 needs to be completed. The more in a row you can get, the closer to the ultimate goal you are. This benchmark is to do 20 in a row. After you have successfully achieved the knee push up, move to a full body push up where you don’t have knee assistance.
- A progression may be week 1 – week 3, you do 3 sets of 20 pushups from the knees. For example, Set 1 is 5 pushups in a row then pause and rest for 1 – 3 minutes. Do that until you have completed your 3 sets. Week 4 – week 6, you complete 1 full body set of 20 pushups then 2 sets of knee pushups. Again, you could work into doing 2 sets of micro sets where it is 10 reps and 10 reps. Week 6 – Week 8 you do 2 sets of full body pushups and 1 set from your knees then the final stage you complete all three sets from a full body position. (A note for intermediate and advanced folks, work to add weight to your back while you are completing your full body sets. Let’s say you begin to add a 25lb plate and then complete your 3 sets of 20 pushups.)
- To drive home the training style, each time you do your pushups, you are pushing yourself a little bit harder to stimulate the muscle and work to add pushups in a row. Even if you start with 3 knee pushups, the next go around, you could look to do 5 in a row. Your body will adapt to this growth.
- Next, I will add in body weight dips. Dips allow you to push your body upwards so you can elevate over an obstacle.
- In a similar way, work the progression model as described earlier. Your goal should be to complete 3 sets of 10 reps. The assistance for dips is a band under your feet and/or a training partner to help hold your feet so you have less weight to elevate, then as you complete your progressions, you remove the assistance into full body weight. Again we are aiming for reps in a row. YouTube has a ton of “How to videos” for band assistance, so you can find them and use them if you are not sure. Type in “How to do a band assisted dip” and you will get close to something that works for you. (For my intermediate and advanced competitors, add weight to your body through holding the weight with your knees and/or feet. Take a 20lbs dumbbell and look to complete 3 sets of 10 reps.)
Second, let’s discuss the pulling motion. This will be arguably your biggest asset, outside of cardio, as a lot of obstacles require you to pull yourself up and over and/or pull things to you. The best exercise for this is the pull up.
- The progression model mentioned above is still our training model here so begin with banded or assisted pull ups and work to achieve the goal of 3 sets of 10 pull ups. (YouTube: How to do a banded and/or assisted pull ups.)
- For example, week 1 – week 3 could be 3 sets of assisted pull ups ( two micro sets of 5), week 4 – week 6 could be 2 sets of assisted pull ups then 1 set of full body (assisted may be all 10 reps and the full body is two sets of 5 micro sets), week 6 – week 8 could be 2 sets of body weight pull ups and 1 set of assisted pull ups then finally you get to 3 sets of 10 full body pull ups.
- Another exercise that can be leveraged for beginners is the Lat pull down machine. This allows you to be seated and yet focused on pulling weight from that position to your chest. I suggest this exercise because it can help you build up strength while not having to force the full body pull up. Eventually, you will be able to pull enough weight from the seated position that you can translate into an assisted and/or full body pull up.
Third, let’s discuss the swinging motion. Some obstacles require you to swing from ring to ring. This means we need to be able to hold ourselves in the air and control our body to swing from ring to ring.
- Exercises for this include gymnastics rings, if a local gym possesses them or you can be creative with a pull up bar.
- For beginners, I would focus on the holding position first which may look like hanging from a bar for a set time period.
- For example, week 1 – week 3 may be for you to hold your body weight for 10 seconds at a time then work to 20 seconds, 30 seconds etc until you can reach 1 minute. Once a 1min is achieved, look to only use a single arm to hold yourself up for 10 seconds, 20 seconds, etc. The final stage may look like 30 seconds of two arm holds then working back and forth into single arm holds for 10 – 20 seconds and then back to two arm holds.
- If your gym has rings, then work to swing through a ring station with confidence. This can also be used with monkey bars.
Fourth, let’s dive into weighted carries. There will be obstacles that require you to hold a weight while walking through a set distance. 400M estimated.
- The progression model here is to start with a light weight, let’s say 10 lbs on each arm and walk to set distance. From there, you simply add weight to where you can carry 50 lbs on each arm through the set distance, estimated 400M. I would also encourage you to work in single arm carries. This is great for your core and grip strength.
Last, we will discuss developing grip strength. This will help complete all other training because all training requires grip strength. Look to train your forearms through forearm curls (YouTube it) and also, as stated, farmer carries aka (weighted carries). Simply start with something small and work up in weight.
Physical Training: Cardiovascular Training
Alongside these training protocols, we also need to develop cardiovascular endurance. To complete a Spartan 5K, we will need to complete 3.2 miles to complete the race. For beginners, I would suggest starting with a combination of both power walking, hiking and/or jogging.
- To leverage our progression model training strategy, we will look to train further each session. For example, we may begin by power walking a mile, then we may look to power walk a ½ mile while jogging a ½ mile, then we can work on jogging a mile, then we can begin to mix these two cardio exercises to build our endurance up to 3.2 miles. (A note for strategy, I would aim to complete our endurance up to 4 miles, so you have an extra layer of endurance for the race. As you work through obstacles, you will naturally fatigue more than if you were to simply run a 5K, so we need to build up extra endurance.)
The ultimate goal is to run/powerwalk/hike 4 miles without stopping. This feat does not need a time limit so if it takes 2 hours, it takes 2 hours, we just want to be sure we complete the distance.
Lastly, for cardiovascular conditioning, I provide a harsh reality. Within the Spartan racing world, if you fail an event, you must do 30 Burpees. Burpees were created to completely destroy every part of a human being and I have yet to meet someone who actively enjoys them. In racing, as in life, we are required to do things that we don’t want to do. Training for Burpees is one of these things! To be fair, there is an honor system within the Spartan Race to where they trust that you will do you Burpees if you fail an obstacle. I will be honest, there are times when I do not complete all 30 Burpees if/when I fail an event and that is because I am spent, energy wise. I share this because I don’t want to derail you and scare you away from competing even if you can’t do 30 every time. In my first 5K, I did not know this was a thing, so talk about a kick in the nuts! Nonetheless, I made no excuses and did my best to complete every obstacle and every Burpee. Train with the progression model by doing 5 Burpees in a row, then 7, then 10, up to 30. If you are a stud, you should be able to do 3 sets of 30 Burpees and that could be your cardio training right there. (Work these in alongside your hiking, jogging, and/or powerwalking. Maybe you hike a mile and then do Burpees for a minutes and then hike another mile, etc.)
To pull everything together, your training week may look like this. Day 1 is push, weighted carries plus grip strength with a 1 mile power walk, Day 2 is pull, bar holds and burpees. Day 3 is a rest day. Day 4 is a 1-mile jog, pull, and swinging/holding, Day 5 is push, grip strength, weight carry, and a 2 mile powerwalk. Day 6 & Day 7 can be rest days as well so you can fully recover for the next week of training.
Obviously do what works for you, but as long as the training is complete, we are good to go. I will also note to give yourself a long enough timeframe to train. For beginners, this timeframe may be 6 - 8 months. For intermediate and advanced, it may be 2 months, it all depends on your condition coming into the race.
In your final form, you should be able to complete 3 sets of 20 body weight pushups, 3 sets of 10 body weight dips, 3 sets of 10 body weight pull ups, 2 minutes of a bar hang with the ability to go to a single arm for 10 seconds, completing a ring to ring set and/or monkey bars, walking 400M with 50lbs and being able to complete 4 miles without stopping. (Don’t forget your burpees.)
“But Nick, I can only get to final form in two or three things and not everything, what do I do?” Great question! Final form is our optimal training status. It is something we should strive to get to, but if it doesn’t happen, it won’t prevent you from completing the race. Once you set your date for racing, honor that and go have some fun. This process of transformation is a journey and one must prepare, to the best of the their ability, to reach the highest potential they can when the journey ends. The race is the final element on that journey and I make these suggestion so you don’t die trying to race unprepared!
Mental Training:
Now, let’s talk about the mental side of training one needs to be successful because this isn’t talked about enough.
Anytime you and your body commit to training, you will be actively putting your body under stress. This stress causes people to get uncomfortable. In general, our body wants to remain comfortable because we are designed to conserve our energy. We know confidently that physical training is extremely good for you to maintain a healthy body for life and a strong mind for life. When we are training, we are voluntarily putting our body through stress for the benefits of health and wellness. (I know, super fun!)
To bring forth some self-awareness, I would like to introduce you to your inner bitch voice. You may have heard this inner bitch voice before or maybe not, but if you don’t know what this voice is, I am here to explain. Essentially, you have two voices in your head. One that seeks comfort and one that is primal. As you begin your training, both in terms of daily/weekly workouts and your month over month training, your inner bitch voice will make many appearances. The goal of the inner bitch voice is that it is trying to get you to stop putting stress on your body through training. We need to teach ourselves how to battle this inner bitch voice because it is essential to our success!
For example, the inner bitch voice may say, “We don’t need to train today, we trained yesterday, and we are sore.” Or it will complain, “do we really need to do this? I don’t feel good, or I don’t feel like training right now.” This may be pre workout dialogue. Within your exercise, it may say something like “ we don’t need to complete 2 miles, one will do.” Or “10 pull ups is a lot, we are okay with 5.” These are all the tricks your brain uses to keep you comfortable. As a rule of thumb, if you are making an excuse for training or during training, it is the inner bitch voice trying to win. Don’t let this weakness control your actions. We are trying to become a fucking spartan champion. Spartan champions never quit and never surrender!
Bringing our training model back into play, as you begin to push yourself through your micro progressions, your inner bitch voice will try to make you stop. In the moments of pushing yourself, you need to actively tell that inner bitch voice that it has no business telling you what to do. You are in control. You are here to win and that is what we will do. As you consistently beat this inner bitch voice, you will gain confidence to battle it more and push yourself further and further into your training until you can expect, within your training, to fight and win these battles every time.
You will be shocked at how far you can go when you win the mental battle every workout. You will look back at your week 1 - week 3 training sessions and laugh when you are now doing that for your warm up for your current workouts. This is the simple progress of becoming more mental fitness.
The last piece to the pie I want to discuss is discovering your potential. Inherently, we all have the potential to become better versions of ourselves. This evolution comes through pain and suffering. All pain is temporary, so the more you can endure the pain, the better equipped you will be at living a higher quality life. In moments of pain, right when you feel completely exhausted and shot physically and mentally, just know that you have one more level you can get to. This level is buried deep inside of you and it is your primal brain. Most of the time you must activate it through pure determination, belief in your self and sometimes getting intense. Once you activate this level, you gather up one more additional push towards your training and competing whatever is in front of you. The more you train hard, the easier it is to activate this mindset. The good news is that over time this can become your secret weapon in terms of outlasting yourself and your competition.
The greatest fucking feeling in life is overcoming adversity, pain and suffering to achieve your goals and become a champion! You deserve to experience this feeling, yet it is earned. The only thing standing in your way, is you. What version of you will you let win?