“Reebok. Become Human”: top 5 stages on the obstacle course

Last weekend “Championship” visited one of the most unusual fitness events of this year. The race “Reebok. Become a Man ” is not just a challenge to yourself, it is a great team building and a serious test of strength for your team. That is why from year to year the competition is rapidly gaining popularity, expanding its borders and opening new distances across Russia. At the start together with your numbers you get a rope. From the first minutes of the start to the finish line you are a team that runs in a single bundle.

From year to year, the tests (stages) that you have to pass in between cross-country runs change dramatically. It is almost impossible to find information about what awaits the participants on the course, so each new challenge becomes a pleasant (or not always) surprise for the team. This time we had 13 absolutely different stages on the obstacle course. In this article we decided to open the veil of mystery a little and tell our readers what the race consists of.

1. Steps

The very first test, to which we came still awake, clean and in a great mood, was the “Steps”. To summarize its essence in a few sentences, four members of the team had to imitate a suspended ladder, and another member had to walk on it. I can honestly say that I personally enjoyed the challenge, because I was the sixth person in the team, who just followed the process (more such stages, but closer to the finish line).

What’s the challenge? Four team members hold the boards, on which a person steps with all his weight – everything is simple, the main task is to hold them. The better the coordination and grouping ability of the person walking, the easier it is for the others.

Lifehack: in general, if you’re reading this article while on an obstacle course (which is very unlikely), then our advice won’t help you. But if you are still preparing for your first cross-country fitness race, then be smart about forming a team. The rules themselves suggest different compositions: 2 women and 4 men, 3 women and 3 men, 4 women and 2 men. To pass this stage it is optimal to have 4 men (who hold the boards) and 2 girls (one of whom moves on the ladder, and the other helps her to keep her balance) in the team. In general, this is one of the most optimal arrangements: such a composition is convenient for passing not only this stage.

2- Ball of Trust

Not surprisingly, but this test was liked by all team members without exception. The stage itself looked like this: the team stands in a chain, between each pair of people clamped a large inflatable balloon, and the column in this state must overcome about 25 meters, turn around at the desired point and come back.

What is the difficulty? If the team starts moving at different speeds and loses the overall pace, the balloons will start to fall to the ground, which means the challenge will have to be completed again.

Life hack: Using our ideal lineup (2 girls and 4 men), we distributed ourselves so that our men were on the inside and the girls opened and closed the column. The main task was for the trailing one: he had to “push” all the others, and when the first in the column felt a push from behind, he would start to slowly move forward. Such tactics allowed us to overcome this stage without difficulty and penalty time.

3. Jumping over the rope

As you have already realized, most of the exercises performed during the race are aimed at teamwork. The aim of the next challenge was to cover a short distance by jumping over a tight rope and then come back and do the same thing again – i.e. do two approaches.

What’s the challenge? All team members must jump synchronously, push off and land solely on two feet, otherwise the jump will not be counted.

Life hack: Do not jump too high, it will reduce the load on the knees and legs in general, count out loud, all together, in order to jump synchronously and not to redo the jump.

4. Waterbearers

It would seem what’s complicated: you grab yourself an inflatable flask of water and carry it forward. Everything became more complicated when we learned that each step forward is not just a step, but a lunge, which is performed alternately on each leg from a standing position.

What’s the difficulty? The obligatory condition: the knee must touch the ground during the lunge. And the water in the flask is overflowing from one side to the other, causing some problems with balance and coordination. While one participant passes the stage, there is no boredom: the whole team stands in the bar.

Lifehack: Be patient, keep your back straight and look exclusively forward. We agree that we didn’t manage to get the lifehack here, but we didn’t follow any specific tactics when passing this stage.

5. Cross-country

And again we go against the rules! Yes, this is not a stage, but it is very important to emphasize this point in the preparation. At the beginning of the competition each team gets a rope and all 7 kilometers run in one bundle.
What is the difficulty? You can’t guess a comfortable pace right away, so some participants find it much harder to run at the beginning than others. And just when you think that the ideal pace has been found and guessed… you start to get tired, which means that the speed has to change again. The second undeniable disadvantage is that by holding onto the rope, you’re eliminating one arm from the running process – due to unfamiliarity, this can make it much harder to complete the distance.

Lifehack: Find a rope and incorporate team running into your training before preparing for the race – it will help you feel each other’s pace and greatly reduce the possibility of injuries on the course.

Very soon the races will take place in your city, don’t miss the chance to be human:

Kazan – July 22
Nizhny Novgorod – July 29
St. Petersburg – August 5
Rostov-on-Don – August 19.