66 AsiaSpa July/August 2017“In a tech-driven, connection-
deprived world, these events build
community”~ Andrew Cox
SmoothMoves
throwing and rope climbing weren’t easy to find in Bangkok and
Luang Prabang.
Cox had counselled, “The best way to train for monkey bars,
for example, is to use monkey bars; you get what you train for.
Use monkey bars, and pull-up bars to incrementally develop the
functional strength needed for these events.” Hmm.
While I lagged behind on my training schedule, my friend
Natasha Jitander followed textbook training with Impakt HK’s
Spartan sessions and trainers Nadir To and JB. She was already
streets ahead of me with her usual routine of weights, mobility and
strength training, plus boxing having just taken part in the White
Collar Boxing event before Spartan.
“I trained for the Spartan race for about a month and a half,
mainly to build stamina and learn the techniques of rope climbing
and monkey bars,” she says. “It’s really not about how strong you
are, but about your agility and technique.”Take Two
Once again undertrained, yet undeterred, I found myself at the start
line. This time I was uninjured however, so feeling relatively ready
for the challenge. My partner in muddy grime was my bootcamp
buddy and super-fast runner Lindsey.
I was gung-ho over the obstacles, some familiar, some new, while
Lindsey forced the running pace between them. A new obstacle
called the Olympus was the first to take its toll on us. Then we
hauled stone balls, shouldered sand bags and carried buckets of
gravel. We scrambled over walls, under walls and under water. We