If you’ve stood at the base of a rope with burning forearms and nothing left in the tank, you know the feeling. Upper-body obstacles are where OCR races are won or lost — and where unprepared athletes quietly hemorrhage time and penalties. The Atlas Carry, rope climb, Hercules Hoist, and multi-rig aren’t just strength tests. They’re grip endurance, pulling power, and bracing ability all colliding at once, usually after several miles of running.
The good news: these obstacles are very trainable. You don’t need to be a gymnast or a powerlifter — you need specific, consistent work targeting the right muscles in the right patterns. Here’s how intermediate OCR athletes should approach it.
Know What Each Obstacle Actually Demands
Before you can program smart, you need to understand what’s actually happening during each obstacle.
The Atlas Carry is a loaded carry — typically a 70–100 lb stone sphere that you deadlift off the ground, hug into your chest, and walk 10+ meters, then set down, complete a burpee, pick it up again, and carry it back. The demand is a combination of hip hinge mechanics, upper-back tension, lat engagement, and a crushing bear-hug grip. Your biceps, rhomboids, rear delts, and erectors all take a beating.
The rope climb is a pure vertical pulling challenge. Most courses use a 15-foot rope, sometimes knotted, sometimes not. A proper J-hook or S-hook foot technique reduces the upper-body burden significantly — but your lats, biceps, and forearms still need to handle multiple reps under fatigue.
The Hercules Hoist is an overhead pulling movement — you’re hauling a weighted bag (typically 80–100 lbs for men, 60–70 lbs for women) up a pulley system using a hand-over-hand rope pull. It’s one of the most grip-intensive obstacles on any course, and it specifically punishes athletes who haven’t trained pulling endurance.
The multi-rig — also called the rig or monkey bars depending on the race series — tests grip strength across multiple transitions: rings, balls, T-bars, hanging bars. One failed transition usually means a 30-burpee penalty. The demand here is dead-hang endurance, shoulder stability, and the ability to shift grip dynamically.
The Muscle Groups You Need to Prioritize
Most intermediate OCR athletes undertrain two areas: grip endurance and scapular stability. Standard gym programming focuses on strength at fresh, in controlled ranges of motion. OCR demands strength when fatigued, under load, in awkward positions.
The key muscle groups to train for these four obstacles:
Lats and biceps — the primary movers for both the rope climb and Hercules Hoist. Rows, pull-ups, and lat pulldowns build the base. Neutral-grip variations tend to carry over best.
Grip flexors and forearms — arguably the most undertrained area in most OCR athletes’ programs. Grip is the limiting factor on the multi-rig and Hercules Hoist. Hanging work, farmer carries, and dedicated grip training address this.
Rear delts and rhomboids — responsible for shoulder stability during hanging transitions and during the Atlas Carry’s high-tension hold. Face pulls, band pull-aparts, and chest-supported rows all work here.
Erectors and upper back — the Atlas Carry is a back-intensive movement. Heavy barbell rows and Romanian deadlifts build the posterior chain durability you need to not crumble when you pick up a 100 lb stone at mile eight.
Core and bracing — every one of these obstacles requires you to stabilize under load. Hollow body holds, farmer carries, and loaded carries train the anti-rotation and bracing capacity that keeps you upright.
Accessory Exercises That Actually Transfer
Rather than just telling you to “do pull-ups,” here are the specific variations and exercises that carry over most directly to OCR obstacles.
For the rope climb: Towel pull-ups and rope pull-ups develop the thick-grip pulling strength that a standard pull-up bar doesn’t. If you don’t have rope access, hang a gym towel over a pull-up bar and do strict pulls. Rope rows — lying under a suspended rope and pulling yourself up — also train the pattern without the full vertical demand.
For the Hercules Hoist: Hand-over-hand rope pulls using a weighted sled or bucket are the gold standard. If you don’t have equipment for that, battle rope work and lat pulldowns with a thick grip simulate the demand. Standing cable pulls from low to high mimic the overhead pull angle.
For the Atlas Carry: Sandbag carries are the closest gym proxy. Load a duffel or grab a sandbag and hug-carry it for 20–30 meter lengths. Zercher squats and Zercher carries train the bear-hug position with a barbell. Stone work is ideal if your gym has it.
For the multi-rig: Dead hangs and passive hang holds build the foundational grip endurance. Progress to brachiation — swinging hand-to-hand across a bar — and ring transfers. If you have access to a rig or monkey bars, practice grip transitions: switch from an overhand to underhand grip while hanging, reach to a ring, return to a bar.
Programming for Intermediate Athletes
If you’re 8–16 weeks out from a race, here’s how to fit this work into a 3–4 day strength program.
Day 1 (Push-Pull primary): Start with vertical pulling — weighted pull-ups or lat pulldowns — as your A movement. Follow with horizontal rows (barbell row, chest-supported row) and rear delt accessory work. End with 2–3 sets of dead hangs for max time.
Day 2 (Carry day / loaded conditioning): Program 3–4 sets of loaded carries — mix farmer carries for grip, sandbag carries for the Atlas position, and suitcase carries for lateral bracing. Treat these as conditioning, not just strength work. Keep rest short (60–90 seconds).
Day 3 (Pulling endurance block): Higher-rep rows (15–20 reps), towel pull-ups, and hand-over-hand pulls. The goal here is metabolic stress on the pulling muscles — training them to function under accumulating fatigue, not just under peak load.
Weekly grip work: Add 10–15 minutes of dedicated grip training two or three times per week. This doesn’t need a full session — bolt it onto the end of a workout. Wrist roller, plate pinches, and timed bar hangs all work. Consistency here pays off enormously on course.
One programming note: avoid hammering pull-ups every single session. Elbow tendinopathy is common among OCR athletes who overtrain pulling without adequate recovery. If your elbows are talking to you, back off the frequency and add more scapular work (face pulls, band pull-aparts) before returning to high-volume pulling.
Putting It Together on Race Day
All the training in the world only helps if you execute smart on course. A few tips that save athletes on obstacles:
On the rope, lock in your foot technique before you get tired — the J-hook reduces arm demand significantly. If you can’t get the foot wrap, go hand-over-hand fast rather than slow; hanging at half extension is where forearms fail.
On the Atlas Carry, brace before you lift. Take a full breath, lock your lats, and hinge — don’t round into the pick. Keep the stone as close to your body as possible throughout the walk. That’s a physics problem as much as a strength problem.
On the multi-rig, flow forward rather than fighting for control. Stiff, jerky movements bleed more energy than smooth transitions. If you need to reset your grip, pause at a stable hold (ring or T-bar) rather than the middle of a swing.
The Bottom Line
OCR’s hardest upper-body obstacles are trainable — but they reward specificity. Generic gym programming builds a fitness base; targeted pulling endurance, grip work, and loaded carry practice build OCR performance. Add two dedicated upper-body obstacle sessions per week in the 8–12 weeks before your race, and these obstacles will start to feel like advantages rather than anxiety points. Train them right, and the rope climb might just become your favorite part of the course.