The #1 reason why you should try obstacle running

Let me start by saying that maybe I am incredibly biased. I mean after all, at Strong Viking, obstacle running is our everyday life, we live and breathe it. Blood, sweat and tears go into organizing every event and it’s quite impossible to say you don’t get emotionally involved.

But nonetheless, from personal experience and the experience of our incredible participants, this is why I think you (yes you!) should try obstacle running, at least once in your life:

You.are.too.comfortable.

Modern life and the modern human have grown to be too comfortable and it’s not good for us. Yes, it has taken us a lot of hard work on an evolutionary scale to get to our comfortable and cozy lives but we are getting to the point that our strive for an ‘easier life’ is literally making us worse off as human beings (pizza burgers, really?!).

Don’t get me wrong, technology is GREAT and the things we are capable of doing (and will be capable of doing) and incredible. Buuuuut, as a species our level of comfort is growing at an exponential level where we are getting to a point that we barely need to get off our as*es to get sh*t done. And somewhere in the middle of our technologically advanced super societies where a click of a button can get you literally anything you want, we have forgotten how to physically struggle.

We are living lives mostly in our minds and planning for the future (so deep)... Let me explain: our stresses, anxieties and struggles are mostly stimulated by mental factors rather than external issues. Most of us in Western countries are not being chased by predators, in fear for our lives, and we mostly know what we will be having for dinner tonight. Our struggles are mostly created by “tomorrow’s” deadlines, paychecks, houses and so on.

This isn’t to say that these struggles aren’t real or important. But the lack of physical struggle has distanced us from our basic instincts and maybe even from living. We get so caught up planning for a comfortable tomorrow that many of us have very little time to enjoy the now. We’ve become so unfamiliar with the animal part of ourselves and the daily grind that made our ancestors rise to the top of the food chain that we have become unappreciative and even ungrateful of everything that we have/could have and everything that we can or could do.

So here’s what an obstacle run offers you: STRUGGLE and discomfort. And though many of us live our lives trying to avoid those 2 things, it’s struggle and discomfort on another level than what the office, your significant other or your kids may offer. It’s the kind that gets you out of your own head and gets you in touch with your deepest most basic of instincts and feelings (excitement, elation, fear…). Many of us have forgotten how much of a survivalist the human being is and even in a controlled and constructed environment, obstacle runs are the reminders. You will either be amazed at what you are capable of doing or get a rude awakening of your shortcomings (or both!).

For those of you who have tried it, I’m sure you know what I mean. For those of you on the fence about trying, or (especially) those who wouldn’t dare in a million years: DO IT! Maybe your mind has lost its survivalist, ancestral nature while you’ve been cuddling up on the couch in your Snuggie, watching another pointless reality TV show and eating that microwave meal that got delivered to your door. But, trust me your body remembers.

Reason #2 coming soon...