Gear & Reviews
The Last Thing You Pack (and the First Thing That Fails): A Serious Guide to OCR Socks
August 12, 2026
Best Hydration Packs for OCR: How to Carry Water Without Slowing Down
Wall & Wire may earn a commission from links in this article. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence — we only recommend gear we’d actually race in. For Sprint-distance races, you can get away with …
Best Grip Gloves for OCR in 2026: Do You Need Them, and Which Ones Actually Work?
Wall & Wire may earn a commission from links in this article. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence — we only recommend gear we’d actually race in. The grip glove debate in OCR is almost …
Best OCR Shoes for 2026: 5 Trail Runners That Can Handle Mud, Water, and Everything In Between
Wall & Wire may earn a commission from links in this article. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence — we only recommend gear we’d actually race in. Your shoes are the single most important gear …
How to Train for the Barbed Wire Crawl: Faster, Smarter, Less Painful
Difficulty: Beginner Equipment: Bodyweight (optional: resistance band, stability ball) Obstacles This Helps With: Barbed wire crawl, low crawls, tunnel obstacles, any ground-based obstacle The barbed wire crawl is one of those obstacles that looks straightforward …
The Bucket Carry: How to Train for OCR’s Most Deceptively Brutal Obstacle
Difficulty: All levels Equipment: Sandbag, heavy backpack, or actual bucket with gravel Obstacles This Helps With: Bucket carry, sandbag carry, atlas carry, tire drag, any loaded carry obstacle Nobody fears the bucket carry before their …
How to Get Over the Wall: Technique and Training for OCR’s Most Iconic Obstacle
Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate Equipment: Bodyweight, box or bench for step-ups Obstacles This Helps With: 4-foot wall, 6-foot wall, 8-foot wall, inverted wall, slip wall Every OCR athlete has a wall story. Maybe it’s the …
Your First Spartan Race: A No-BS Training and Race Day Guide
Difficulty: Beginner Equipment: Bodyweight + basic gym equipment Target Audience: First-time Spartan racers You signed up. Maybe it was a New Year’s resolution, a dare from a friend, or a social media rabbit hole that …
5 Grip Strength Exercises Every Obstacle Racer Needs
Difficulty: All levels Equipment: Pull-up bar, kettlebell or dumbbell, towel Obstacles This Helps With: Monkey bars, rope climb, Twister, multi-rig, Tyrolean traverse, bucket carry, atlas carry Here’s a truth that every experienced OCR athlete learns …
How to Crush the Rope Climb: A Complete Guide for OCR Athletes
Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate Equipment: Climbing rope (or gym alternative), pull-up bar Obstacles This Helps With: Rope climb, Tyrolean traverse, any vertical climbing obstacle You’re on mile 7, your forearms are pumped, your grip is …
How to Get Better OCR Race Photos (Without Slowing Down)
Let’s be real: half the reason people do OCR is the photos. The muddy finish-line shot, the mid-obstacle action photo, the team victory pose — these images are the social currency of the OCR community. …
How to Actually Stick the Spartan Spear Throw (And Stop Doing 30 Burpees)
The spear throw has the highest failure rate of any Spartan obstacle. Estimates vary, but most course reports suggest over half of all racers — including experienced ones — miss the target on any given …
The OCR Race Day Checklist: Everything to Pack, Do, and Know Before You Line Up
Race morning is not the time to discover you forgot your shoes. Or that your bib needs to be picked up at a location 30 minutes from the venue. Or that the parking lot is …