‘Design your own ocr-inspired hero workout’

‘Heroes are made, not born,’

isn’t it amazing how a statement like this can inspire us to push to our limits? this is the ultimate tagline for the bear grylls survival races. and with the obstacle course race season in full swing, i have been inundated with requests for training plans from both first-time racers and hardcore veterans. the key to great training for ocr is variety and planning.

Now, whilst I love writing training plans, here you’ll find a simple template for designing your own OCR training workout…

The DIY OCR Workout Plan

1: Run three times a week.

Plan: 1x short run / 1 x long run / 1 x medium run.

Then choose the type of run: Off road / hill sprints / road runs

Then choose a Cardiovascular training method: Intervals / expletive / fartlek / ladders / bursts

Pace: Steady / race pace / sprints

n.b. plan intervals by time and pace by heart rate training zones.

For example one week you may do:

1 x short hilly run at steady pace at 65% MHR
1 x medium distance road run with 10 seconds expletive intervals every 3 minutes.
1 x long distance off road run at steady pace at 65% MHR.

Each week, plan to do a different run with a different interval and environment than the week before and so on.

Add upper body/torso training twice a week.

Hit your upper body twice a week using a variety of exercises using weights and calisthenics. Bear’s preference are kettlebells and bodyweight training. Check out these chapters in the Your Life Train For It book and hit the kettlebell windmills, military presses and upper body push and pull.

Work hard and don’t neglect the back

2. Add a whole body strength and conditioning workout one/two times a week but:

Keep it strength focused
Use compound moves
Choose exercises that utilize and activate the core to build stability and strength
Mix up your resistance and training apparatus. Train outdoors where possible and if you are only using bodyweight moves to train, make sure you apply tension when doing the move.
Vary the tempo and ratios of exercises, reps and sets each week.

Now, don’t forget to add a dynamic warm-up and a cool down! Here at Bear Grylls headquarters, the team are preparing for the next phase of racing, starting with the Cambridge heat in August. Our secret? We will be adding all sorts of sets and reps of reverse push ups weekly and following Bear and I’s training principles: