The Essentials of Obstacle Race Training by David Magida
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher site – Human Kinetics

This book is written as a soup-to-nuts guide to running a successful obstacle course race from nutrition to gear to what to expect by way of obstacles, as well as how to build workouts that will adequately prepare one. It’s a task which the book performs admirably. While the core of the book is the exercises and regimens into which one fits said exercises, there are some other elements that are useful, such as description of the class of obstacles one is likely to see along with discussion of variations thereof, the different categories of race, explanation of what to keep in mind at various stages leading up to the race, and a chapter on how to prepare the mind as well as the body, and more.

The book has photos and tables to supplement the descriptions.

I found this book to be useful and sufficiently specialized to the objective at hand. For example, it gave considerable attention to the question of grip strength, a topic that wouldn’t merit mention in many sport preparation guides. If you’re interested in running an obstacle course race and want to know what to be prepared for, and how to prepare for it, I’d recommend this book.

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