Training routine to help you win the devil's circuit obstacle course.

Table Of Content

Time to Read: 5 Minutes

If you are planning to run the Devil’s Circuit or really any obstacle race at all, then read on!

This is sort of a beginners guide to run an obstacle race and also includes a full workout plan to help you prepare.

Most obstacle races require you to prepare your endurance, stamina, balance, flexibility and of course mental strength. Climbing walls and jumping into ice water is really not as challenging as they look. But your mind might give up before you even attempt many of these. I am preparing for the Devil’s circuit (DC) in Bangalore. The DC is a 5 km race with 15 obstacles in between. You do not have to be of any fitness level to start training, but have the will and determination to train. The obstacles are not mandatory (unless you run the competitive league of course) to complete and they are not very hard either. Of course if you have never moved a muscle in your life, you might want to give yourself a 5-10 weeks preparation time to avoid injuries.

The way I started to train for this was to first be able to run 5km in the least amount of time I possibly could. It took me a few weeks to get my time down from 35 minutes to 26 minutes for 5 km. Once I was close to 26-27 minutes I started adding in circuits in between my training. So I would run as fast as I could for 300 meters and then stop to perform one ‘self made circuit’. This way I got to training my heart and cardiovascular system to get used to what I would expect to see on race day. The idea was to get to 15 such circuits with 300 meters runs in between as fast as I could.

Obviously my self made circuits were not even close to what I would see on race day, but this was the closest I could get to experience the real thing. I also train at Gold’s Gym which is not really designed for crossfit kind of training. But that really does not matter much. Most of the circuits I designed were performed using plyometric type of movement that really challenged my cardio vascular system while also strengthening my muscle fibres.

You definitely will need good upper body strength because many of the obstacles require you to hang or pull yourself up with ropes. I spent an average of 10- 15 minutes post my workout everyday working on grip strength. It's a simple routine I followed and insist you must also. Warm up forearms and wrist well first. Hang on any bar and hold as close to 180 seconds as you can. initially even 30 seconds might be challenging, but you will get there. Once you are comfortably able to hold on to 180 seconds, change your grip. I used these thicker grips and had to train myself all over again starting from not being able to hold even 30 seconds. Once you start getting comfortable with this, try and hold onto only one hand for atleast 30 seconds. You will need to strengthen the upper body a few times per week to build enough muscle strength so you do not land with an injury. Talk to your fitness expert about creating a simple strength gain plan or check this out.

Keep in mind though, you do not want to get too muscular or big, this will bring your endurance and speed down and a major chunk of the obstacle race in the 5 km run. Remember to eat enough carbs and proteins to keep you energised for your training. It definitely is not advisable to have goals related to losing weight or shredding while preparing for this course.

Here is a warm up circuit routine I have planned. I suggest you include this once a week and track your progress from week 1 to your last week of training. You should be able to complete the circuit faster with every week.

Do get in touch with me here for customised meal plan to follow while you prepare for the race.

Warm up with a brisk 1 min walk/ jog

– Run 300 meters on treadmill at home or gym as fast as you can

– Grip change on pull up bar (30 times)

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Military crawl (30 sec)

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– 10 battle rope burpees

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– 10 box jumps (higher the better)

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Pull ups (10-12/ assisted machine if needed)

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Wall plank walks

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– TRX push- ups

- Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– London bridge on Battle ropes

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Inverted Rows

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Bear crawls

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Crab Walks

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Moving Plank

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Leg raise (touch up)

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Single hand bar hold (max time per hand)

– Run 300 meters on treadmill as fast as you can

– Clap pushups (12/ or shoulder tap pushups)

Aim to be able to complete only the first 5 and build up from there if you are a beginner.

Hope this helps!

Do leave a comment below about your progress and tag me on social media while you are preparing.