Death March: The NSW Mile
by Craig Weller
05/03/10

Got a couple hours on Saturday? We suggest loading up a heavy bar, putting it on your back, and walking a mile.

Sounds painful! Would love to get a group together to try this with

honestly, this article's pictures were more inspiring for me than the steroid-jacked muscleheads on this site. than kyou for this article!

PS - i just got my 2nd pair of fivefinger shoes! they rock!

Hey Craig - Great to read this piece from you! Always intrugued by your articles. I probably try to tire run first. Not looking forward to it, but it's the most avalible to me at the moment.

Thanks again!

Jack

@BARDUKE: Although I don't mind the "muscleheads", I have to agree with you. The pictures really motivate me a lot more than the usual pictures does.

Cool article Craig. I've been wanting to try this but now that Im not at 12 anymore I've got to find the equipment on my own now rather than just using the stuff at 12's gym... how lame is that? Andy and I wanna come out to Colorado some time soon and would like to stop by and check out your new facility.... The pics of facebook look legit. Have you talked to Nick lately? Anyway hope everythings good.
.greg.

If you don't have the equipment in the article (which is optimal), a mile walk with a 24/32kg KB in each hand (against the clock) is also an excellent challenge.

Craig,

I live in the Denver metro area but I just re-upped at my Olympic lifting gym and my wife would kill me if I joined another gym. Do you guys have like a per diem/drop-in rate? I'd love to just come in one day and do the tire dragging and weighted walking with you guys. I think it would be more motivating in a group and I wouldn't feel like such a dork dragging a tire around my neighborhood. I suppose I should just man up, grab my kettlebells, and take them for a walk around my neighborhood and let the neighbors think what they will.

I'm so bummed I just re-upped for another 4 and am spending more time away from my home town. This kind of stuff is amazing. Last winter on ship we filled a sea-bag with out deployment kit and went from the lower V up to the flight deck on the ramps. I wanted to die. I'll give this a shot for sure, especially in my Vibrams.

Great article.

This is good stuff.

I've heard Louie Simmons recommend walking with a 225lb barbell Zercher style 400m to work the lower back/core stability.

I tried it with a sandbag and dragging heavy a sled too. Its a good workout, but my sandbag was only about 80 lbs and I was still pretty f'ed afterwards.

I'll also agree with the picture thing... Its nice to see "real" people in the pics that accompany the articles. My recommendation would be getting a hot girl to do the NSW mile next time and throw a picture of that in there.

.greg.

Amazing how fast you adapt to these things. Still a miserable experience though. Have to go up zip lines as part of my job, all arms. The first time up one of the short zips was pretty painful, fairly quickly though yoy get to the point where you don't feel like puking after the longer ones (250+ metres)

So the author said the first time he did this with a barbell he used 135, but he didn't explicitly say what weight he recommended for the SS Bar or straight barbell (I don't have any of the other options, just the straight bar). Could you shed some light on this? I feel like 135 would be appropriate.

There is something I had read about called an "Inman Mile". Sounds brutal...
http://www.straighttothebar.co...

For my tire I drilled a hole in it, put an eye bolt and nut in there.

Have a towing strap that I run from my weight belt to a carabiner attached to the eye bolt. Perfect (and cheap) dragging device!

1600m tire drag complete in 25:09. Used a car tire with a 45lb plate on top. Only stopped once half way for some water.

Craig,

How do you feel about doing this in boots?

Alright Craig, here goes!

At this moment I am on my way home from Afghanistan to good old Denmark.
I have been stationed in Camp Price and Camp Bastion as a Physiotherapist in the Danish Army.
I certainly don't recommend what I have done to any of my clients.. but then again, they have a challenge as soon as they are rehabilitated!

After talking to some of the Danish Royal Guards about making af "1 mile Burpee-longjump" I shook my head and told them they were crazy. Even though, they are about to pull it off in the nearest future. Then I read your article... thanks a lot...

I have always been fond of tires.. dragging and smashing! Even though I haven't been dragging them longer than 30-100 meters, using them to improve my sprints. And here you are giving me a challenge, that I couldn't resist.

Inspired by your article I went to bed around 01.00, put up my alarm for 06.00, got out of bed as soon as the it rang and fixed my simple harness. The harness was made out of some slings from a british canon, had no hipbelt and was only attached to the shoulders. At the end of the approximately 2,5 meter rope I had a tire weighing 35 kg., inside the tire i dropped a 16 kg. Kettlebell and 1,5 liters of water... and then I walked.
I walked the dusty roads inside Camp Bastion, and for those of you who haven't been here... it is... very... dusty... It is dirtroads with smaller layers of stones, smaller rocks and dust, which often (actually most of the time) makes a good barrier for the tire and makes it hard to drag the sucker.
I walked for about 45 minutes, and checked up on the distance afterwards.
I felt pretty good, when I realized, that I had walked 2,6-2,7 km. Actually I thought I had only done a mile.. I felt so good about myself, that I wanted to reward myself with the same stupid exercise the same afternoon.
By 14.30 hours I teamed up with myself, the harness, the tire, the KB and 3 liters of water - the last two inside the tire.
The mission was to walk all the way inside Bastion 2, which is approx. 3,3 km.
The road was the same.. and then again... not...
When I was halfway the dust thickened, leaving me dragging the tire through up to 5 cm. layers of dust and stones.. Now it got tough...
A bit further down my tour the locals tried to cover the dust with water, leaving me 500 meters of light mud, which almost stopped the tire entirely.
I turned up my I-pod, went for some hardcore metal and stomped away, until my legs were pumping like a fullblown oil platform!
After my battle with the dust and mud, the next 800-900 meters seemed almost as a relief.. I looked at my watch.. still 19 minutes to go before i broke the 1-hour mark.. still had a lot of time...
Then
it
got
heavy
...again...
The dust thickened, my blood was pumping, I checked my watch again and again, my I-pod screamed in my ears, I battled myself, the tire, the dust and the bloody road!!!
Finally I crossed the 3,3 km. mark in the 56-57. minute (I was so messed up, that I didn't get the exact time).
As a reward for my good job, I kept on dragging for another 100 meters - call it a victory round if you like!
Then I sat down.. dust all over... just sat.. for a while.. a nice little while...
...Total during the day.. approx. 6 km. tiredrag...

Then I cleaned up, dragged the tire another 100 meters, carrying the KB. in my hand and put it all back to place for the next lucky fellow to try the challenge.

When I got to flightline all the british guys was talking about this crazy guy, who has been dragging around a tire all day.. I said nothing...

Conclussion:

There is absolutely no doubt, that the surface you choose is crucial in this workout.
To compare grass, concrete, dusty road and mud is just not possible. I hit concrete just 5-8 times 5 meters on my way, and it felt like I had dropped the Kettlebell.. what a pleasent relief, until the tire hit the dust again!!
The type of tire you choose will also have great influence on your workout. I dragged a tire from a militarycar, which was not the most smooth tire you can find. It dug in the dust pretty good.

Today I have been doing nothing but eating, relaxing and getting massage.
I have no DOMS, but my body is tired, very tired. When I woke up this morning I felt like I had been doing a minor Ironman and afterwards been sleeping beneath 200 meters of water.

A great Lower body/Lower back workout, that will be repeated in Denmark!

Oh.. Did I say that my only clothes was shorts and desert boots in the 50 degrees celcius hot Afghanian sun?

Thank you for a great challenge!