Tough Mudder 5K: Obstacle Tips & Tricks

If you’ve never tackled a Tough Mudder before, signing up for a Tough Mudder 5K is the perfect way to join Mudder Nation and experience one of our epic, teamwork-focused, obstacle-crammed events for the first time.

Tough Mudder 5K is untimed, so there’s no pressure, no judgement, and no need to commit to a crazy-intense training regimen (this 4-week Tough Mudder 5K training plan is all you need). But that doesn’t mean it’s easy—or that you won’t benefit from a little insider info. Here, Tough Mudder Bootcamp Creative Director Eric “ERock” Botsford takes you through some of the obstacles you’ll encounter in a Tough Mudder 5K and breaks down the tips and tricks you and your team will need to conquer the 3 miles and 13 obstacles.

Mud Mile 2.0

Our muddiest obstacle by far, requiring you and your fellow Mudders to navigate six 6-foot trenches. This one’s all about teamwork, people.

Throw up a knee

Give a boost

Turn around and help a friend

Mudderhorn

New for 2019—and the biggest obstacle on the Tough Mudder course—Mudderhorn is a three-story cargo net A-frame. Hope you’re not afraid of heights.

Get a boost to get up to the cargo net

Climb hand-over-hand

Don’t look down!

Black Widow

Another new obstacle, Black Widow is a 30-foot cobweb of slacklines suspended over a pool of water. Yep, you just might get wet on this one.

Side shuffle or foot-over-foot

Use your hands and knees

Choose your route wisely

Block Ness Monster

A Tough Mudder course favorite, this beast of an obstacle is a series of spinning blocks that you and your teammates have to get up and over.

Communicate — only 1-2 athletes should try to get over at a time

Be strategic: Stay on top of the block and pull from the other side

Keep the blocks spinning

Kiss of Mud

Prepare to get your face (and everything else) dirty: This is 40 feet of mud you’ll need to crawl through—with razor-sharp barbed wire suspended just 18 inches above you.

Stay low. Really low.

Crawl with your arms, not your legs

Use the muddy lane to slide through

Berlin Walls

This 9-foot wall is the quintessential Tough Mudder teamwork obstacle.

Take a knee: Your teammates can step up

Give your teammates a boost

Rotate your hips over the top of the wall

Everest 2.0

A 12-foot quarter-pipe that’s all about sprinting and commitment.

Sprint all the way up

Grab an outstretched arm

Swing your leg up

Devil’s Beard

It’s all about slowing down to speed up when it comes to conquering this 60-foot cargo net that’s staked to the ground. You can do it by yourself—but it’ll be easier if you don’t.

Grab your group
First person stands up halfway
Arch your back to elevate the net off the ground

Spread Eagle

New for 2019, this one’s made up of 30-foot lengths of slackline spaced about 18 inches apart.

Slow your roll—or you’ll end up in the water.
Use all fours, inchworm, or even roll across

Tight Squeeze

This brand new obstacle requires you to get down on your hands and knees and go under multiple tubes, and then climb and crawl your way out the other side. If you weren’t totally muddy before, you will be now.