Tag Archives: Mud Runs

Sara Kolling Lost 85 Pounds After Leaving an Abusive Relationship

If you’ve ever been in an abusive relationship, you know how it drains you of your spirit and self-esteem. Today, our true weight loss story focuses on Sara Kolling, a woman who had the courage to leave her abuser and for the first time in a long time, devote herself to her own well being. After losing 85 pounds, Sara feels stronger than she has in years, in more ways than one.

Sara Kolling Collage

Though Sara admits she was always the girl who was picked on and teased in school about her weight, she acknowledges that the pounds really started to pack on during the first year of her marriage. Once the abuse began, Sara became an emotional eater and says she just ate, “no matter what.” After three years, Sara finally sought a divorce.

The first thing I changed was no more diet soda, and no more eating after seven p.m.

On her own again, Sara finally got serious about wanting to lose weight when she got tired of her clothes being too tight, not being able to keep up with the students she worked with, and feeling like she couldn’t do even the simplest workout routine. She started by eliminating all the sugary, processed and junk food from her diet. The book, The Eat Clean Diet, by Tosca Reno was her first guide.

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Posted on July 27, 2023 by Dani Stone

EXCLUSIVE: Training Plan for Obstacle Races like the Warrior Dash

mud run

A client came to me not long ago and said she was planning to do a Warrior Dash event with her daughter. She wanted to know if I thought she could do it. Would she be able to participate with knees that didn’t let her run very fast or very long?

My response was the running was the least of her concerns when it came to an obstacle course type of race. I told her I wasn’t worried about her at all because I knew she was strong, fit and capable. I knew months of functional fitness training (plus clean eating!) would get her through the race just fine.

Her concern was indicative of the mistake most people make when they sign for a Warrior Dash or a Tough Mudder. They focus on covering the distance and not the obstacles that will be in their path. Working on leg endurance should be part of your training program, but it’s important to balance it with body weight training. If you are training for your first Warrior Dash, here’s a five-exercise workout I recommend to help you prepare for the challenges you’ll face:

  1. Mountain Climbers: You many not be climbing an actual mountain but you will be climbing. Using your hip flexors and core will be key in tackling walls and crawling challenges like Road Rage.
  2. TRX Row: I love using suspension trainers to practice pulling a client’s own body weight. The exercise can be made more challenging by taking your body lower and more parallel to the ground. (more…)
Posted on April 24, 2023 by Pamela

Mud Runs Explode in Popularity Even Among the Sedentary

I always thought running was dirty. It’s sweaty, sticky, smelly, sometimes salty and therefore crusty. I assumed that was enough to keep most people away, despite the difficulty of the activity itself. However, looking at the growing trend of mud runs, maybe running just wasn’t dirty enough to get your average joe off the couch.

Races with names like The Warrior Dash, The Mud Run, and The Down and Dirty 5K are booming in popularity. For example, the first Warrior Dash was held in Joliet, Ill in 2024. 2,000 participants tramped through the mud obstacle course that year. This year, over 650,000 people have competed in Warrior Dashes all over the world.

These races get their roots from Marine Corps events. The courses are typically either a 5K distance or a 10K distance and they are full of dirty obstacles that are extremely distant from the challenges of road racing.

Some events include military-style challenges such as an 8-foot climbing tower and mud pits. Other races include having to crawl over cars, leaping over fire pits, crawling under barbed wire, climbing ropes, walking a tightrope, or ramming your way through a rubber jungle. Each event is different, but all events include one element: mud.

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Posted on November 20, 2023 by Lacy