The Mud Run Workout
WARM UP Stretch and Roll Out: Calves Hamstrings Quads Groin Hips/Glutes Back/Chest Shoulders/Arms Traps WORKOUT Set a timer for 30 seconds of work, 15 seconds of active rest to transition to the next move. Perform 1 minute of active rest between rounds. Complete 5-8 rounds. CIRCUIT: 30 seconds Rope Climb Variation 15 seconds High Knees (in place) 30 seconds Table Top Crawl Forward/Backward 15 seconds Jumping Jacks 30 seconds Hop Over 15 seconds Agility Ladder 30 seconds Rope Pull Up/Jumping Rope Pull Up 15 seconds Sit Thrus 30 seconds Jump Over Climb Under 15 seconds Monkey Bars 30 seconds Explosive Step Ups 1 minute Jog in place COOL DOWN Stretch and Roll Out: Calves Hamstrings Quads Groin Hips/Glutes Back/Chest Shoulders/Arms Traps NOTES: Active rest means you do the exercise but at an easier pace so your heart rate comes down, but you continue to move. It is in a way mimicking the ups and downs of a mud run where you do an obstacle or two but then have to jog for awhile between. The active rest are still challenging moves, but just focus on cruising through them during the 15 seconds. Beginners may need to walk instead of jog for the minute and complete fewer rounds. EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS: Rope Climb Variation and Rope Pull Up/Jumping Rope Pull Up – For the Rope Climb Variations, you can do the Horizontal Climbs, Foot Assisted Climbs or Upper Body Climbs Only depending on your level. See this post for demos of each move as well as the Pull Up Variations. If you don’t have a rope, you can do Inverted Rows and Pull Ups Variations. 
High Knees (in place) – Bring your knees up forward as high as you can as you jog in place. You also can move around if you have room. Table Top Crawl Forward/Backward – (You can also include any crawling variation in this post) To do the Table Top Crawl, set up on your hands and knees with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Flex your feet and lift up onto your toes/the balls of your feet. Then take a step forward with your left foot and right hand, keeping your knees close to the ground and your back flat. Make sure to brace your core so that your hips don’t wiggle a lot side to side as you crawl forward. Then step forward with your right foot and left hand. Keep crawling forward, moving the opposite arm and opposite leg together. Take small steps forward so that you don’t get too spread out. You don’t want your hips to start to wiggle and your butt to go up in the air. Also, keep your knees as close to the ground as possible. You can also do the Table Top Crawl backward. Backward may be a bit more challenging and harder on the shoulders. Make sure to keep your steps small, especially when starting out, so that you don’t overload your shoulders and can keep up the contralateral movement. To do the Table Top Crawl backward, step back with the opposite arm and leg. Make sure you don’t get too spread out as you crawl backward. If you reach too far back with your feet and get too stretched out, your going to put a lot of pressure on your shoulders and then you wont’ be able to move fluidly. Keep you steps nice and short and compact to start with and your knees close to the ground. Make sure to brace your core and keep your butt down. Hop Over – To do the Hop Over, you need a box, bench, punching bag or any other object you can place your hands on and jump over. Stand to one side of the bag or bench with your feet together. Place your hands down on the bag, and putting weight on your hands, jump your feet over the bag to the other side. Keep your feet together as you jump. As soon as you land, jump your feet back over the bag. Continue to do quick hops back and forth over the bag using the support of your hands. Move as quickly as possible, hopping back and forth. Beginners may need to jump one foot over at a time or even have their hands up on something, but not actually jump over anything so that they don’t have to jump more than an inch or two off the ground. Agility Ladder – Here are 30 Agility Ladder Drills you can play around with. Sit Thrus – To do the Sit Thru, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet and press up onto your hands and toes. Rotate open toward the right and kick your left leg under and through toward where your right hand is. As you bring your left leg forward and through, lift your right hand. You want to rotate all the way through with your left leg out straight so that you are almost sitting with your left hand down to support you. You want to “sit through.” Then bring the left leg back through so you are back in the starting position. Next rotate to the left and kick your right leg through and forward as you lift your left hand. Move as quickly as you can back and forth. Beginners may need to move slowly or even start in a more spread out position with their legs out straight instead of their knees under their hips. Jump Over Climb Under – You can do this with a partner or using a bench. With a partner, one partner will set up in a pike/downward dog position. They should have their butt up in the air so that their partner has plenty of room to crawl under them. Their partner will start standing to their side facing them. They will then move down to the ground and crawl under the partner holding the pike position. When crawling under, try not to touch your knees to the ground. Crawling with your knees on the ground will make the move easier. Crawl all the way under and through to the other side of your partner holding the pike. After the partner crawls all the way through, the partner in the pike will drop and hold at the bottom of a push up with their body in a nice straight line. Holding at the bottom of a push up is challenging. To make the move easier, just rest on the ground. Make sure if you do hold in the push up, your body is in a nice straight line. The partner that crawled under will then hop over the partner at the bottom of the push up. Try to hop with both feet together, however, you can make the move easier by hopping over one foot at a time. Once the partner has jumped over, they will then drop to the ground and set up in the pike position so that the partner on the ground can crawl under and then jump over. Keep alternating who crawls under and who holds the pike. If you don’t have a partner, you could use a bench. Jump over the bench then crawl under the bench and repeat. Each round you could start to a different side of the bench. Monkey Bars – You can play around with any of these Monkey Bar Variations. Explosive Step Ups – To do Explosive Step Ups, pick a step, chair or park bench that you can explode up off of that isn’t too high. Beginners should use a lower box while advanced exercisers will want to use a higher box but something they can still easily perform a Step Up on. To start, place one foot on top of the box (or whatever you are using). Driving up off the foot on top of the box, jump up in the air off the box. In the air, switch and land with the other foot on top of the box. Touch the other foot to the ground and then explode back up, pushing mainly off the foot on the box. Jump up as high as possible, driving off the foot on the box to switch and land with the other leg on top of the box. Keep alternating until all reps are complete. Don’t jump to simply tap your toe on the box. Your weight shouldn’t be back so you can tap your feet on the box. Truly explode up off the box. Use your arms to help propel you up as you jump. When you land swing your arms back and as you jump swing your arms up overhead.
High Knees (in place) – Bring your knees up forward as high as you can as you jog in place. You also can move around if you have room. Table Top Crawl Forward/Backward – (You can also include any crawling variation in this post) To do the Table Top Crawl, set up on your hands and knees with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Flex your feet and lift up onto your toes/the balls of your feet. Then take a step forward with your left foot and right hand, keeping your knees close to the ground and your back flat. Make sure to brace your core so that your hips don’t wiggle a lot side to side as you crawl forward. Then step forward with your right foot and left hand. Keep crawling forward, moving the opposite arm and opposite leg together. Take small steps forward so that you don’t get too spread out. You don’t want your hips to start to wiggle and your butt to go up in the air. Also, keep your knees as close to the ground as possible. You can also do the Table Top Crawl backward. Backward may be a bit more challenging and harder on the shoulders. Make sure to keep your steps small, especially when starting out, so that you don’t overload your shoulders and can keep up the contralateral movement. To do the Table Top Crawl backward, step back with the opposite arm and leg. Make sure you don’t get too spread out as you crawl backward. If you reach too far back with your feet and get too stretched out, your going to put a lot of pressure on your shoulders and then you wont’ be able to move fluidly. Keep you steps nice and short and compact to start with and your knees close to the ground. Make sure to brace your core and keep your butt down. 
Hop Over – To do the Hop Over, you need a box, bench, punching bag or any other object you can place your hands on and jump over. Stand to one side of the bag or bench with your feet together. Place your hands down on the bag, and putting weight on your hands, jump your feet over the bag to the other side. Keep your feet together as you jump. As soon as you land, jump your feet back over the bag. Continue to do quick hops back and forth over the bag using the support of your hands. Move as quickly as possible, hopping back and forth. Beginners may need to jump one foot over at a time or even have their hands up on something, but not actually jump over anything so that they don’t have to jump more than an inch or two off the ground. 
Agility Ladder – Here are 30 Agility Ladder Drills you can play around with. 
Sit Thrus – To do the Sit Thru, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet and press up onto your hands and toes. Rotate open toward the right and kick your left leg under and through toward where your right hand is. As you bring your left leg forward and through, lift your right hand. You want to rotate all the way through with your left leg out straight so that you are almost sitting with your left hand down to support you. You want to “sit through.” Then bring the left leg back through so you are back in the starting position. Next rotate to the left and kick your right leg through and forward as you lift your left hand. Move as quickly as you can back and forth. Beginners may need to move slowly or even start in a more spread out position with their legs out straight instead of their knees under their hips. 
Jump Over Climb Under – You can do this with a partner or using a bench. With a partner, one partner will set up in a pike/downward dog position. They should have their butt up in the air so that their partner has plenty of room to crawl under them. Their partner will start standing to their side facing them. They will then move down to the ground and crawl under the partner holding the pike position. When crawling under, try not to touch your knees to the ground. Crawling with your knees on the ground will make the move easier. Crawl all the way under and through to the other side of your partner holding the pike. After the partner crawls all the way through, the partner in the pike will drop and hold at the bottom of a push up with their body in a nice straight line. Holding at the bottom of a push up is challenging. To make the move easier, just rest on the ground. Make sure if you do hold in the push up, your body is in a nice straight line. The partner that crawled under will then hop over the partner at the bottom of the push up. Try to hop with both feet together, however, you can make the move easier by hopping over one foot at a time. Once the partner has jumped over, they will then drop to the ground and set up in the pike position so that the partner on the ground can crawl under and then jump over. Keep alternating who crawls under and who holds the pike. If you don’t have a partner, you could use a bench. Jump over the bench then crawl under the bench and repeat. Each round you could start to a different side of the bench. 
Monkey Bars – You can play around with any of these Monkey Bar Variations. 
Explosive Step Ups – To do Explosive Step Ups, pick a step, chair or park bench that you can explode up off of that isn’t too high. Beginners should use a lower box while advanced exercisers will want to use a higher box but something they can still easily perform a Step Up on. To start, place one foot on top of the box (or whatever you are using). Driving up off the foot on top of the box, jump up in the air off the box. In the air, switch and land with the other foot on top of the box. Touch the other foot to the ground and then explode back up, pushing mainly off the foot on the box. Jump up as high as possible, driving off the foot on the box to switch and land with the other leg on top of the box. Keep alternating until all reps are complete. Don’t jump to simply tap your toe on the box. Your weight shouldn’t be back so you can tap your feet on the box. Truly explode up off the box. Use your arms to help propel you up as you jump. When you land swing your arms back and as you jump swing your arms up overhead. 
WARM UP Stretch and Roll Out: Calves Hamstrings Quads Groin Hips/Glutes Back/Chest Shoulders/Arms Traps WORKOUT Set a timer for 30 seconds of work, 15 seconds of active rest to transition to the next move. Perform 1 minute of active rest between rounds. Complete 5-8 rounds. CIRCUIT: 30 seconds Rope Climb Variation 15 seconds High Knees (in place) 30 seconds Table Top Crawl Forward/Backward 15 seconds Jumping Jacks 30 seconds Hop Over 15 seconds Agility Ladder 30 seconds Rope Pull Up/Jumping Rope Pull Up 15 seconds Sit Thrus 30 seconds Jump Over Climb Under 15 seconds Monkey Bars 30 seconds Explosive Step Ups 1 minute Jog in place COOL DOWN Stretch and Roll Out: Calves Hamstrings Quads Groin Hips/Glutes Back/Chest Shoulders/Arms Traps NOTES: Active rest means you do the exercise but at an easier pace so your heart rate comes down, but you continue to move. It is in a way mimicking the ups and downs of a mud run where you do an obstacle or two but then have to jog for awhile between. The active rest are still challenging moves, but just focus on cruising through them during the 15 seconds. Beginners may need to walk instead of jog for the minute and complete fewer rounds. EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS: Rope Climb Variation and Rope Pull Up/Jumping Rope Pull Up – For the Rope Climb Variations, you can do the Horizontal Climbs, Foot Assisted Climbs or Upper Body Climbs Only depending on your level. See this post for demos of each move as well as the Pull Up Variations. If you don’t have a rope, you can do Inverted Rows and Pull Ups Variations. High Knees (in place) – Bring your knees up forward as high as you can as you jog in place. You also can move around if you have room. Table Top Crawl Forward/Backward – (You can also include any crawling variation in this post) To do the Table Top Crawl, set up on your hands and knees with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Flex your feet and lift up onto your toes/the balls of your feet. Then take a step forward with your left foot and right hand, keeping your knees close to the ground and your back flat. Make sure to brace your core so that your hips don’t wiggle a lot side to side as you crawl forward. Then step forward with your right foot and left hand. Keep crawling forward, moving the opposite arm and opposite leg together. Take small steps forward so that you don’t get too spread out. You don’t want your hips to start to wiggle and your butt to go up in the air. Also, keep your knees as close to the ground as possible. You can also do the Table Top Crawl backward. Backward may be a bit more challenging and harder on the shoulders. Make sure to keep your steps small, especially when starting out, so that you don’t overload your shoulders and can keep up the contralateral movement. To do the Table Top Crawl backward, step back with the opposite arm and leg. Make sure you don’t get too spread out as you crawl backward. If you reach too far back with your feet and get too stretched out, your going to put a lot of pressure on your shoulders and then you wont’ be able to move fluidly. Keep you steps nice and short and compact to start with and your knees close to the ground. Make sure to brace your core and keep your butt down. Hop Over – To do the Hop Over, you need a box, bench, punching bag or any other object you can place your hands on and jump over. Stand to one side of the bag or bench with your feet together. Place your hands down on the bag, and putting weight on your hands, jump your feet over the bag to the other side. Keep your feet together as you jump. As soon as you land, jump your feet back over the bag. Continue to do quick hops back and forth over the bag using the support of your hands. Move as quickly as possible, hopping back and forth. Beginners may need to jump one foot over at a time or even have their hands up on something, but not actually jump over anything so that they don’t have to jump more than an inch or two off the ground. Agility Ladder – Here are 30 Agility Ladder Drills you can play around with. Sit Thrus – To do the Sit Thru, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet and press up onto your hands and toes. Rotate open toward the right and kick your left leg under and through toward where your right hand is. As you bring your left leg forward and through, lift your right hand. You want to rotate all the way through with your left leg out straight so that you are almost sitting with your left hand down to support you. You want to “sit through.” Then bring the left leg back through so you are back in the starting position. Next rotate to the left and kick your right leg through and forward as you lift your left hand. Move as quickly as you can back and forth. Beginners may need to move slowly or even start in a more spread out position with their legs out straight instead of their knees under their hips. Jump Over Climb Under – You can do this with a partner or using a bench. With a partner, one partner will set up in a pike/downward dog position. They should have their butt up in the air so that their partner has plenty of room to crawl under them. Their partner will start standing to their side facing them. They will then move down to the ground and crawl under the partner holding the pike position. When crawling under, try not to touch your knees to the ground. Crawling with your knees on the ground will make the move easier. Crawl all the way under and through to the other side of your partner holding the pike. After the partner crawls all the way through, the partner in the pike will drop and hold at the bottom of a push up with their body in a nice straight line. Holding at the bottom of a push up is challenging. To make the move easier, just rest on the ground. Make sure if you do hold in the push up, your body is in a nice straight line. The partner that crawled under will then hop over the partner at the bottom of the push up. Try to hop with both feet together, however, you can make the move easier by hopping over one foot at a time. Once the partner has jumped over, they will then drop to the ground and set up in the pike position so that the partner on the ground can crawl under and then jump over. Keep alternating who crawls under and who holds the pike. If you don’t have a partner, you could use a bench. Jump over the bench then crawl under the bench and repeat. Each round you could start to a different side of the bench. Monkey Bars – You can play around with any of these Monkey Bar Variations. Explosive Step Ups – To do Explosive Step Ups, pick a step, chair or park bench that you can explode up off of that isn’t too high. Beginners should use a lower box while advanced exercisers will want to use a higher box but something they can still easily perform a Step Up on. To start, place one foot on top of the box (or whatever you are using). Driving up off the foot on top of the box, jump up in the air off the box. In the air, switch and land with the other foot on top of the box. Touch the other foot to the ground and then explode back up, pushing mainly off the foot on the box. Jump up as high as possible, driving off the foot on the box to switch and land with the other leg on top of the box. Keep alternating until all reps are complete. Don’t jump to simply tap your toe on the box. Your weight shouldn’t be back so you can tap your feet on the box. Truly explode up off the box. Use your arms to help propel you up as you jump. When you land swing your arms back and as you jump swing your arms up overhead.
High Knees (in place) – Bring your knees up forward as high as you can as you jog in place. You also can move around if you have room. Table Top Crawl Forward/Backward – (You can also include any crawling variation in this post) To do the Table Top Crawl, set up on your hands and knees with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Flex your feet and lift up onto your toes/the balls of your feet. Then take a step forward with your left foot and right hand, keeping your knees close to the ground and your back flat. Make sure to brace your core so that your hips don’t wiggle a lot side to side as you crawl forward. Then step forward with your right foot and left hand. Keep crawling forward, moving the opposite arm and opposite leg together. Take small steps forward so that you don’t get too spread out. You don’t want your hips to start to wiggle and your butt to go up in the air. Also, keep your knees as close to the ground as possible. You can also do the Table Top Crawl backward. Backward may be a bit more challenging and harder on the shoulders. Make sure to keep your steps small, especially when starting out, so that you don’t overload your shoulders and can keep up the contralateral movement. To do the Table Top Crawl backward, step back with the opposite arm and leg. Make sure you don’t get too spread out as you crawl backward. If you reach too far back with your feet and get too stretched out, your going to put a lot of pressure on your shoulders and then you wont’ be able to move fluidly. Keep you steps nice and short and compact to start with and your knees close to the ground. Make sure to brace your core and keep your butt down. Hop Over – To do the Hop Over, you need a box, bench, punching bag or any other object you can place your hands on and jump over. Stand to one side of the bag or bench with your feet together. Place your hands down on the bag, and putting weight on your hands, jump your feet over the bag to the other side. Keep your feet together as you jump. As soon as you land, jump your feet back over the bag. Continue to do quick hops back and forth over the bag using the support of your hands. Move as quickly as possible, hopping back and forth. Beginners may need to jump one foot over at a time or even have their hands up on something, but not actually jump over anything so that they don’t have to jump more than an inch or two off the ground. Agility Ladder – Here are 30 Agility Ladder Drills you can play around with. Sit Thrus – To do the Sit Thru, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet and press up onto your hands and toes. Rotate open toward the right and kick your left leg under and through toward where your right hand is. As you bring your left leg forward and through, lift your right hand. You want to rotate all the way through with your left leg out straight so that you are almost sitting with your left hand down to support you. You want to “sit through.” Then bring the left leg back through so you are back in the starting position. Next rotate to the left and kick your right leg through and forward as you lift your left hand. Move as quickly as you can back and forth. Beginners may need to move slowly or even start in a more spread out position with their legs out straight instead of their knees under their hips. Jump Over Climb Under – You can do this with a partner or using a bench. With a partner, one partner will set up in a pike/downward dog position. They should have their butt up in the air so that their partner has plenty of room to crawl under them. Their partner will start standing to their side facing them. They will then move down to the ground and crawl under the partner holding the pike position. When crawling under, try not to touch your knees to the ground. Crawling with your knees on the ground will make the move easier. Crawl all the way under and through to the other side of your partner holding the pike. After the partner crawls all the way through, the partner in the pike will drop and hold at the bottom of a push up with their body in a nice straight line. Holding at the bottom of a push up is challenging. To make the move easier, just rest on the ground. Make sure if you do hold in the push up, your body is in a nice straight line. The partner that crawled under will then hop over the partner at the bottom of the push up. Try to hop with both feet together, however, you can make the move easier by hopping over one foot at a time. Once the partner has jumped over, they will then drop to the ground and set up in the pike position so that the partner on the ground can crawl under and then jump over. Keep alternating who crawls under and who holds the pike. If you don’t have a partner, you could use a bench. Jump over the bench then crawl under the bench and repeat. Each round you could start to a different side of the bench. Monkey Bars – You can play around with any of these Monkey Bar Variations. Explosive Step Ups – To do Explosive Step Ups, pick a step, chair or park bench that you can explode up off of that isn’t too high. Beginners should use a lower box while advanced exercisers will want to use a higher box but something they can still easily perform a Step Up on. To start, place one foot on top of the box (or whatever you are using). Driving up off the foot on top of the box, jump up in the air off the box. In the air, switch and land with the other foot on top of the box. Touch the other foot to the ground and then explode back up, pushing mainly off the foot on the box. Jump up as high as possible, driving off the foot on the box to switch and land with the other leg on top of the box. Keep alternating until all reps are complete. Don’t jump to simply tap your toe on the box. Your weight shouldn’t be back so you can tap your feet on the box. Truly explode up off the box. Use your arms to help propel you up as you jump. When you land swing your arms back and as you jump swing your arms up overhead. 
