Spartan Style Mud Run Training Program

Published by Jason Narog on March 22, 2018March 22, 2018

This spartan style mud run training program was written by my brother, Kevin Narog who used a similar program for a spartan race in Lake Tahoe. Protocols can be adjusted or changed to keep the routine fresh. It’s also worth noting that modifications were made for this routine to accommodate a training facility that lacked a pull up bar. Mud runs typically require some pulling power so getting time on a pull up bar or rowing machine outside of this routine would be a very good thing.

You can swap out the timing with tabatas if desired.

The Warm Up

Timing wise I set this up as 45 seconds of work with zero rest between activities.

High Knees to Chest – Put your hands out in front of you at about chest high. Lift one knee to your hand, bring it down and do it again with the other knee (or you can just bring your knee up to your chest without touching it to your hand.)
Butt Kickers – Touch your butt with your foot as you run around the room.
Karaoke’s – I don’t know if that’s the correct spelling for this. I’ve seen this done in both Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai warm ups. One foot goes in front, the other behind as you sideways run around the room. Alternate which leg goes in front and which one goes behind. Check out the video below for a better explanation

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift Toe Touches – This is a single leg balance drill that moves around the room fluidly. Balance on one leg, hinge down to touch the ground (or as low as you can hinge without rounding your back), then come back up under control and switch to the other leg.
Open the Gate – Hip opener exercise. Swing your knee and hip away from the body.
Close the Gate – The opposite of above. Swing your knee and hip in towards your body.
High Kicks – Kick your foot up and touch your opposite hand to the top of your foot. Repeat on both sides.
High Knee Walk with External Rotation – Your knee is going to go outside of your body while you hug your foot towards your body as seen in the video below.

Inchworms – From standing touch the ground with your hands. Walk your hands out away from you with your body eventually coming into what looks similar to a plank (your hands will be in front of your shoulders.) Walk your hands back to your feet and repeat.

The Spartan Routine

This routine is going to be 5 rounds long, with 3 minutes of work and 1 minute of rest. The first minute of each round is going to be sprinting back and forth between two points. If you have yourself some fitness cones you can use them as the starting and stopping point. If you’re on a track or something that has marked points, just run back and forth touching the ground at the end of each side.

There are six exercises in this routine. If you get through two exercises in the 1st round, start on exercise number three in the 2nd round. If you get through four exercises, start on the fifth.

If you swap out rounds for tabata’s, just do each exercise as a tabata, except the running. Do that inbetween each circuit (so you’ll do 6 rounds of sprinting instead of 5.)

I’ll be providing two numbers for some of these exercises, start with the lower number on your first try of this routine then up it the next time you do it (on a different day.)

Burpees – 15 to 30
Bear Crawls – 25 x 2 (to get both sides of your body)
Forward Lunges – 25 x 2 (to get both sides of your body)
Jump Squats – 15 to 30
Band Bent Over Rows – 15 to 30. This exercise was thrown in to accommodate what I had available for the training circuit. I had therabands available but no pull up bar. This is the pulling part of the routine.
Band Sprints – 25 x 2. Band sprints require a partner and resistance bands.

And here are the how to videos for each exercise –

Burpees