For you that have lived in Mars, an obstacle course race is exactly what the name suggests it is. It’s a series of challenging physical obstacles a team or person must surpass and navigate in a given, limited time.
This competitive yet fun-to-do sport, that is essentially an invitation of our modern society, is considered to be one of the fastest growing competitions today! It’s the idea of crawling under a barbed wire and scaling different walls what makes this race so popular. It is fun to explore and has now gone from military-appropriate to mainstream.
The most common type of obstacle course races include one, two or usually all of the elements such as running, jumping, climbing, swimming, crawling and much more. In most cases, these obstacle races involve several mental challenges as well.
The future of obstacle course races
Whether an obstacle course race will be a lasting piece of one of the most interesting contemporary physical challenges or not, it’s something that requires a more detailed study. However, we can certainly admit there are many flattering points that indicate some obvious characteristics about this challenge.
In a matter of minutes we can easily realize OCR will definitely last into our modern culture. It is not something we can easily call a trend since our society is already built on some strong fundamentals. Especially when it comes to choosing our own lifestyle, free of any physical hardship and mentality.
Did you know, only last year, there were more than 4 million people who took part in an OCR? According to a survey Active.com revealed; the majority of the OCR participants these last couple of years were females (almost 60 percent). And the best part; race directors and the survey suggest around 66 percent of all participants were newbies who signed up for Warrior Dash races!
How an obstacle course race tests your fitness?
One of the most important reasons people have created and developed obstacle course races (OCR) is directly linked with the notion of straight-running which has always been considered to be boring, making normal people lose motivation to get involved into a physical activity. That’s why, these OCR’s intention is to make people have a military-like experience. On the other hand, they can still have fun and enjoy the outdoors.
The best part: People swear they hardly notice they’re running with all of the adrenaline and things happening during a normal obstacle course race.
The reason why an OCR is great for every individual’s fitness level is because before starting to involve yourself in such activities, you must first be mentally and most important, physically ready to avoid any possible incident on the race. You see, an obstacle course race requires individuals to be in a great shape. To do so, people must enter a series of physical training. They have to win the necessary physical capabilities to handle the race both in the cardio and strength apect.
So, be ready to prepare your entire body before conquering all of the obstacles successfully.
A confidence game-changer
It’s not difficult to imagine how physical activity can boost someone’s confidence. But, the main reason why Obstacle course races are so popular when it comes to this delicate matter is because it challenges people in a multi-productive way! These physical, both playful and exiting elements that other physical activities lack is what makes an obstacle course race a truly amazing long-lasting phenomenon.
What’s more unique about OCR is that it challenges people mentally more than any other physical activity. “The experience of facing a scary obstacle and acting to move past it can help you learn how to shift from a thinking mind-set to a doing mind-set in other areas of life,” Art Markman, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Texas and the author of Smart Thinking, says about OCR.
