Tough Mudder Obstacles

As exhilarating as it is downright fun, King of the Swingers, on course at select events, requires Mudders to leap off a ledge and reach for a rope swing dangling above a pit of muddy water. Once airborne, Mudders must stay focused and hold on long enough to reach for a hanging bell. Hit or miss, it’s still a rush...and an obstacle you won’t find anywhere else.

While whining has never been tolerated on course, an exception might (we said ‘might’) have to be made for this never-before-seen tearjerker of an obstacle. An enclosed structure filled with a safe tear gas-like substance and littered with hazards along the way, Cry Baby will have your eyes flowing with tears of, um, laughter--yeah, laughter.

A mad mountaineering challenge, the Liberator requires Mudders to conquer a 10-foot A-frame using pegs and rope. On the ascent, Mudders must crawl up a slanted wall placing pegs into slots along the structure. On the way down, a rope brings them back to safe ground.

This obstacle takes wall climbing to a whole new extreme. Using hanging ropes spaced out over an angled six-foot wall, Mudders must test their strength and agility by attempting to transverse the wall moving from side to side.

Don’t worry, no birthday suits necessary. Forcing Mudders to crawl under a deceptively heavy, water-filled liner, Birth Canal is as deceivingly tough as it is physically challenging. As Mudders pass through this obstacle, the water pushing down above them forces them to push back up and keep moving toward daylight.

Get your Andy Dufresne on and take on the slow, steady crawl through an inclined, mud-infested (yes, it’s only mud) tube leading out to a backwards drop into a water pit. Grip the rope dangling from the top of the tube and slide your way toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

Upper body strength. Hand-eye coordination. Rhythm and focus. You’re gonna need ‘em all to transverse this studded structure. A Legionnaire-exclusive obstacle, Dead Ringer requires Mudders to sideways climb along a series of ascending and descending pegs using heavy-duty rings. Miss the mark and brace for the ground below. Too tough for you the first time around? Try again next course.

A perpetual monkey bar machine available in Mudder Village at all Tough Mudder events, Human Hamster Wheel gives participants and spectators alike the chance to test how long they can last on a never-ending slew of monkey bars. For each wheel rotation, Mudders are given one point. Throughout each event, a running scoreboard is kept, and the day’s winner, as well as the global winner at the end of the season, gets sweet prizes.

Ominously looming high above select Tough Mudder courses in Mudder Village, this fire-breathing behemoth requires Mudders to scale a net and wood ladder before mustering the courage to plunge down a near-vertical water slide. Once gravity takes control, a five-foot wall of flames and a skim across a muddy water pit await. After being tested by Legionnaires in 2014, Fire in Your Hole is now a Mudder Village attraction for spectators and Mudders alike.

A full-body roaster open to spectators and Mudders in Mudder Village at select events, Ring of Fire requires Mudders to climb up a 25-foot scaffold structure, latch onto a fireman’s pole and plummet through a giant ring of fire and into an awaiting tank of water. Hint: Latch onto the pole tightly. Trust us.