Has anyone done a tough mudder? Experiences?

[AgnesNutterWitch]

I'm considering signing up for a tough mudder race (classic, the 8-10 miles with 25 obstacles). I've kind of always wanted to do one.

I can run the distance and I'm not too worried about that bit but was wondering about how to approach training for the obstacles. I'm not great at climbing and my upper body strength isn't brilliant (I'm hoping this will give me motivation to train).

I can do a banded pull up at the moment but not an unassisted pull up, to put in perspective. It looks like there's a lot of monkey bars and pulling yourself up on things involved.

Anyone got any experience of doing the race and particularly how much upper body strength they had/needed? And also how scary is it? Do they really electrocute you?

I have done it, its very fun and so glad I did. The running is what was hard for me the obstacles are fun so it doesn't seem too hard.
You can skip any you want because yes they do electrocute you, you have to run through wires and it's so powerful it knocked me over!
You do need a bit of upper body strength so I would definitely suggest weight training if you're worried.
The main thing about this course is that it's all about team work. everybody helps each other, so you dont have to worry about struggling. I didn't find it scary but there are some heights involved.
The worst part of it was the two days after! So much pain.

Yes, I've done the classic twice. It's really good fun. There are people of all fitness levels doing it, some are maniacs and train solely with TM in mind, others (like my crowd) are gym bunnies who train regularly in an all round way, others don't train at all. My advice to a novice would be to make sure you can run comfortably because although you don't run further than a mile in one go, and you get a break at each obstacle, it is tiring especially in bad weather.

Yes upper body strength is a good idea but bear in mind that most people can't get across the monkey bars etc and you just plop off into the water - it's nbd. The fitter and stronger you are, the more you will enjoy it and the less likely you are to get hurt, but you'll come away with some cuts and bruises for sure - badge of honour .

Yes you do get electrocuted but it's perfectly possible to run round an obstacle you don't fancy, nobody is acting as referee. DH avoided the electric shock field this year as he just couldn't face it having been stung about six times and knocked to the ground last year. I've only been stung twice .

It's a great challenge to train for and you've got a year if you're in UK, so plenty of time. Which one are you thinking of? Top tip - go for first wave on the first day - the water is cleaner!

Thanks so much both, this is really encouraging.

@fluffedupferretonsteroids, I'm weight training twice a week at the moment, started at the beginning of this year but from absolutely zero (I'd never done any strength training before, just running). Did you do any specific upper body exercises to train?

@LenoVintura I hadn't realised most of them are done for the year! I'd probably go Yorkshire next summer. That definitely gives me time to work on my floppy noodle arms.

I didn't do any training except running to be honest, I'm naturally strongish. Pull ups would be a good idea as theres a few monkey bars. I feel like as long as you can lift your body up then you can do everything.