Tried and tested: Mudder Maker
WHAT IS IT?
VIRGIN Active and Tough Mudder have teamed up to introduce Mudder Maker, a 45-minute class aimed to help people train for Tough Mudder events (but you don’t have to actually be doing a Tough Mudder to attend – you can just do it for the fun/exercise). Participants work in teams to navigate nine to 11 obstacles, designed to improve fitness, stability, agility and strength, before facing ‘The Eliminator’.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
THE class begins with a warm-up and everybody shouting out the Tough Mudder pledge, which sets the tone – this is all about working as a team, remembering it’s a ‘challenge not a race’, doing the best you can and enjoying it but pushing for improvement too.
Working as a team makes it all seem a little less intimidating, but it also motivates you to work harder, because you don’t want to let your teammates down.
There are three levels to choose from – beginners do four laps, intermediates do six, and those wanted the ‘advanced’ challenge do eight laps (which we attempt). Of course, there are no high walls or mud pits in a gym class, but the obstacles are designed to mimic the ones you will encounter in a Tough Mudder, including a ‘swamp crawl’, lots of lifting and squatting and the ‘horse power’ section (which involves two team members sitting on a huge tyre while the other two drag it across the floor). There is even a ‘shocking’ game of hot potato, everybody gets into a one-handed press-up position and then a ball, which emits a small electric shock every 10 seconds, is thrown from member to member 150 times. It’s hard work, but fun. Mudder Maker classes launch exclusively at Virgin Active from May 4. www.virginactive.co.uk