This episode of the Obstacle Series features another iconic Tough Mudder obstacle – Funky Monkey. You can find monkey bars in almost any child’s playground, so by that logic you would think that overcoming this challenge would be simple. Guess again, Mudders! Those who have tried the Funkiest of all Monkeys know how hard this one can be, and those of you yet to try and tame the Monkey, you will find out! Read on to find out how to get this Monkey off your back!
Obstacle: Funky Monkey
Objective: Swing across the monkey bars to the other side, trying not to fall off and into the water beneath.
Difficulty: Physical - 7/10 | Mental - 3/10
This task is not mentally tough at all. It also has a very simple objective – climb across the bars to the other side without falling. It is not as tough as some other obstacles, for example Berlin Walls or Balls To The Wall, but it does take a bit of effort to stay dry throughout this challenge.
I personally find this obstacle as easy as the Arctic Enema – simple – but have given it a 7 out of 10 rating for
Objective: Swing across the monkey bars to the other side, trying not to fall off and into the water beneath.
Difficulty: Physical - 7/10 | Mental - 3/10
This task is not mentally tough at all. It also has a very simple objective – climb across the bars to the other side without falling. It is not as tough as some other obstacles, for example Berlin Walls or Balls To The Wall, but it does take a bit of effort to stay dry throughout this challenge.
I personally find this obstacle as easy as the Arctic Enema – simple – but have given it a 7 out of 10 rating for
physical difficulty because of the fact that I have seen many many MANY people not complete this challenge. If I had my own way, I would give it a 2 out of 10, but because so many people fall mid-way through, it has to get a 7/10 rating.
How to Complete: There are few ways to tackle this Monkey obstacle. You could take the bars one by one, reaching out grabbing onto the bar with one hand, then bringing your other hand to the same bar, then moving on to the next. A very slow way to traverse over the water, but very safe. Slow and steady wins the race.
Another way is to take grab each bar, hand over hand, never having both hands on the same bar. A quicker version of the previous method. If you are able, you could skip a bar, swinging and grabbing every second bar. With this way you have to keep your momentum up though – if you slow down, you won’t be able to get your rhythm back very easy and most likely fall into the water below.
And finally, my method, which I have not seen anyone else attempt at any of my Mudders I’ve completed. Instead of going forwards, taking it bar by bar, or even skipping every second bar, I go sideways. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I’ll try – if you get confused, have a look at the picture of the guy doing my style just below.
Basically I start standing side on to the bars, and put my left (or right, either way) hand on the first bar, and the other hand on the second bar (check out the photo to see what I mean by side on).
How to Complete: There are few ways to tackle this Monkey obstacle. You could take the bars one by one, reaching out grabbing onto the bar with one hand, then bringing your other hand to the same bar, then moving on to the next. A very slow way to traverse over the water, but very safe. Slow and steady wins the race.
Another way is to take grab each bar, hand over hand, never having both hands on the same bar. A quicker version of the previous method. If you are able, you could skip a bar, swinging and grabbing every second bar. With this way you have to keep your momentum up though – if you slow down, you won’t be able to get your rhythm back very easy and most likely fall into the water below.
And finally, my method, which I have not seen anyone else attempt at any of my Mudders I’ve completed. Instead of going forwards, taking it bar by bar, or even skipping every second bar, I go sideways. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I’ll try – if you get confused, have a look at the picture of the guy doing my style just below.
Basically I start standing side on to the bars, and put my left (or right, either way) hand on the first bar, and the other hand on the second bar (check out the photo to see what I mean by side on).
I move my ‘back’ hand to the bar which my ‘front’ hand is on, so that both hands are on the same bar. Then I move the ‘front’ hand to the next bar and so on. It’s a really simple way to navigate across the obstacle, and you can go super-fast, much faster than swinging bar to bar. As you are not swinging (like you would be going forward bar to bar), then you will have no trouble at all. Just remember to keep your arms a little bent – that will make it even easier.
Like I said, it’s a little hard to explain, but basically you are climbing across sideways, facing the side of the whole obstacle. Maybe try this method down the playground before your next Tough Mudder, as it will be better to get the 'hang' of it beforehand rather than trying it out in the middle of an event!
Training: What better way to train for Funky Monkey then heading down to your local playground, and climbing back and forth across the monkey bars there! For a real test, try it in the rain, to simulate having wet and muddy hands mid Mudder.
A few easy ways to train for this obstacle are rope climbs, push ups and pull ups. Basically anything that builds up the muscles in your chest, arms and back. The best of these three would be rope climbs, but these aren’t very accessible to most people. So next best would be push ups and pull ups. These build up the required muscles to help you across the Monkey with such ease that people will be stopping to watch you as you fly past them!
Our take: Like I said above, I personally find this obstacle quite simple. I have (at the time of writing this) completed 6 Tough Mudders. I attempted Funky Monkey only twice, as the other 4 laps of the Mudder courses (Melbourne and New Zealand 2014) I was sporting a pretty bad shoulder injury, and didn’t want to test it out on the monkey bars quite yet. That being said, the 2 times that I did complete this challenge, I zoomed through it at quite a pace that had other people stopping to watch, and copying my style to get across. I’ve never trained on monkey bars for Mudder, it just comes naturally to me I guess. A bit of trivia for you, I did fall off some monkey bars when I was in grade 1 and broke my arm pretty badly. I’ve come along way since then!
Like I said, it’s a little hard to explain, but basically you are climbing across sideways, facing the side of the whole obstacle. Maybe try this method down the playground before your next Tough Mudder, as it will be better to get the 'hang' of it beforehand rather than trying it out in the middle of an event!
Training: What better way to train for Funky Monkey then heading down to your local playground, and climbing back and forth across the monkey bars there! For a real test, try it in the rain, to simulate having wet and muddy hands mid Mudder.
A few easy ways to train for this obstacle are rope climbs, push ups and pull ups. Basically anything that builds up the muscles in your chest, arms and back. The best of these three would be rope climbs, but these aren’t very accessible to most people. So next best would be push ups and pull ups. These build up the required muscles to help you across the Monkey with such ease that people will be stopping to watch you as you fly past them!
Our take: Like I said above, I personally find this obstacle quite simple. I have (at the time of writing this) completed 6 Tough Mudders. I attempted Funky Monkey only twice, as the other 4 laps of the Mudder courses (Melbourne and New Zealand 2014) I was sporting a pretty bad shoulder injury, and didn’t want to test it out on the monkey bars quite yet. That being said, the 2 times that I did complete this challenge, I zoomed through it at quite a pace that had other people stopping to watch, and copying my style to get across. I’ve never trained on monkey bars for Mudder, it just comes naturally to me I guess. A bit of trivia for you, I did fall off some monkey bars when I was in grade 1 and broke my arm pretty badly. I’ve come along way since then!
And that is Funky Monkey for all you, my Mudder Mates. Anyone tried a different method to get across the bars? Has anyone tried my method of climbing across sideways, and know how to explain it a bit better than myself? Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments down below!
Not long now until our next Tough Mudder, so everyone drop and give me 20 push ups! Hoo Rah!
#TMTour2014
Not long now until our next Tough Mudder, so everyone drop and give me 20 push ups! Hoo Rah!
#TMTour2014