Today I’m starting a Training Blog which will follow the next 70 training days, including today, November 4th, 2011 leading up to the Arizona Tough Mudder on Saturday/Sunday January 14th and 15th of 2012. The course is about 11 miles long and expectations for most are to finish in about 2 hours 30 minutes. The reasons for blogging my journey are to help guide my team, inspire and educate others, who like me are curious on how to best prepare for such an event, but mainly to push me to a higher level of cardio-strength fitness. Also as a side benefit as a 52 year old athlete I hope to guide those Boomers through possible injury issues as well as how to best design a plan for the next 70 days. I must be fair to those just starting out that I am a Triathlete and Fitness Nut who has been training 5-7 days per week for the past 18 months. But the uncertainty of the Tough Mudder has inspired me to get better focused, as well as helping to guide and coach others. Please feel free to comment and suggest your training, nutrition, and inspirational ideas, as well as how you feel as you train along with us. Anything that you feel will add value to our preparation would be awesome! After 70 days we should have a better idea what to do and what not to do in preparation for the Tough Mudder. Also I will be listing exactly what exercises that I do along with the reps. At this time I won’t list my weights on certain machines as your equipment is different, but I will list for all others, please feel free to share that information with us if you want. Also I grouped the exercises on this day by area of the body, starting with the lower body, working my way up to the shoulders and finishing with abdominals and Lunges. One last thing I have been treating a bicep tendon injury over the last few weeks. I will be strengthening that area over the same period. So here we go with Day 1 Friday November 4, 2011.

Day 1
Lower Legs/Calves
Jump Rope; three sets: 100-150-150
Toe Raises; three sets: 50 toes straight-50 toes in- 50 toes out

Quads/Hamstrings
Ankle Tire Pulls: These are done with special designed ankle straps. This can also be done with a sled. I have access to various tires. I will have video as we go on.
45 pound tire pulled forward for 100 yards; followed by pulling the same tire 100 yards backwards. This was done non-stop for 300 yards of each.

Upper Back/Arms
Rope Pull: A 2 inch fifty foot rope was used to pull a 100 pound tire over a rubber floor
Three sets of 50 foot pulls were done.
Clean Pulls: With an Olympic Bar I performed three sets of hang pulls with 135 pounds for sets of 12-12-15
Chins: Three sets 5-5-8

Shoulders
45 degree standing dumbbell raise: 3lbs for 50 reps for two sets; 5lbs for 50 reps
Close Grip High Pull: Three sets; 20-25-30
Shoulder Horn: Three sets 8lbs for 25 reps

Abdominal Circuit
Sit-ups; level three: 20-25-30
Bicycle: 50-50-50 each leg
Hanging leg Raise: 25-25-30
Straight Leg Lift: 25-25-30

Walking Lunge: 45 pound bar on shoulders for 100 yards

Finished! Time: One hour and 35 minutes.

Arnie Fonseca, Jr is the owner of Neuro Institute, Inc. In Tempe, Arizona. He works as a Traumatic Injury Recovery Coach and loves a fitness challenge!