"Put it this way, no 400 lb. bench press is going to get you over a wall or up a rope!" – patrick
Obviously, obstacle course events have various areas with high and low movement points, as well as distance in between those points. Here are some specific recommendations for preparing for these events. If you’re currently doing endurance workouts then continue those, but also include upper body strength training. You need the muscles that enable you to perform a pull-up, push-up, and dip. Keep doing those in a regular program in your PT workouts. If you are not doing these exercises, here is a sample plan:
O-Course Training
Repeat 5-10 times
100m Sprint
Push-Ups 10-20 reps
Pull-ups or Flexed Arm-Hang 15-20 sec
Dips or Bench Dips 10-20 reps
This type of quick circuit will ensure you are working the muscles that will help you get over a wall, up a rope, and over a fence. Notice the short, fast 100m sprint in this workout. This addition will help you cover ground quickly and make up valuable time if you are struggling with any obstacles.
GRIP – climbing a rope or jumping over a wall will require significant upper body strength, but it will also require you to be able to grip a rope or wall edge as well. Once again, flexed arm-hangs and pull-ups will help to a degree, but I like to add a piece of rope or rolled towel over a pull-up bar and practice hanging on the two ends or even do pull-ups with it. That is one of the best grip workouts ever. In fact, in the Strong Man competitions, often they have the world's strongest men hang from a bar the longest as a part of the event.
This one can be done at the beach if you have a pull-up bar, or run down to a local playground or park and find some monkey bars. Here is how the Pull-Up / 8 count body builder pyramid workout works:
Do ONE 8-count Body Builder play_10px
Run 30m to a bar and do 1 Pull-Up
Run back to 8-count area and do TWO 8 counts
Run back to bar do 2 Pull-Ups.
Continue up the pyramid to 20 if you really want to challenge yourself. Another option is go to 10 and repeat in reverse order if you are failing at pull-ups. This mimics pulling over a wall and pushing off the ground/crawling, mixed with a short run to another "obstacle." Put it this way, no 400 lb. bench press is going to get you over a wall or up a rope!