RESOLUTION: more sex, less beer, smaller waist..

What’s the Spartan secret?
Hint: It’s Not Beer
By Joe Desena, Founder, Spartan Race, Inc.

Extreme athletes who compete in the Spartan Race series, believe that they have the secret to returning humans to peak performance. Founded in 2005 amongst the mountains of Vermont the series was expanded to its present full schedule in 2010. The founders of the race series maintain that they have found a formula for making people happier, healthier, and more driven.
Unlike fabled corporate secrets of urban legend, like the formula for Coca Cola or The Colonel’s recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken, those who have run a Spartan Race already know what it takes to lose weight, drink less, look better, feel better and have more sex. What it takes is a goal, the sweat-inducing effort required to train for an obstacle race unlike any other – a Spartan Race.

In 2012 the Spartan race is expected to attract 150,000 people to 32 events across the US, Canada and UK.
After polling over 200,000 Spartan Racers about their health and lifestyle regimes and asking questions about their diet and workout habits, Spartan Race organizers have come to the conclusion that a Spartan Racer is unlike any of the athletes you will find in other more pedestrian sports.

The following facts have been unearthed from this study of Spartan Racers:
Marital status::   42% single, 58% married
Gender:             65% male, 35% female

Time spent working out:
Over 25 hours/week:     5%
15-25 hours/week:         12%
10-15 hours/week:         45%
5-10 hours/week:         32%
0-5 hours/week:         6%

This Spartan group consumes less beer than participants in other obstacle racing events and other sports in general. Only 20 percent of the Spartan Racers surveyed said that they would want a beer at the finish line, versus 58 percent of competitors in other mud runs, marathons, and organized sports who crave a post-race brew.
Spartan Race participants also claimed that they lost an average of 8 to 12 lbs. from the time they signed up for a Spartan Race to the time they crossed the finish line. Of that group, 48% said they did not belong to a health club or gym instead, they prefer to spend their time exercising outdoors and therefore don't need a gym. They carry rocks or do pull-ups in a park and use their environment to train.
The Spartan Racer survey revealed that 38% of those interviewed were part of a running group and that they preferred the company of others to help keep them motivated and training at their peak. Indeed, when running and training with others they found themselves driven to push harder.
Factors that could have contributed to weight loss include: a healthier diet, drinking less alcohol and working out on a regular basis. These Spartan Race participants claimed that they were more health-conscious, that they work out an average of 10 hours per week and that they sleep better. 
Spartan Racers in a relationship enjoy more sex, almost twice the amount of sex others not in this Spartan group claimed to be having . They report having sex eight times per week, almost three times the frequency of more sedentary people in the same age bracket.
To us, this seems to be the best reason imaginable to start training.

For more details on the upcoming Arizona event on February 11 visit spartanrace.com

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Spartan Race, based in Pittsfield, Vermont, plans 32 obstacle races in 2012 in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. For more information visit: spartanrace.com, spartanrace.tv, Facebook.com/spartanrace.