Monkey Bar Techniques / How To

Monkey bars can be one of the hardest challenges at obstacle races and require a certain level of upper body and grip strength. However there are a few techniques that can help you along your way. We're joined by Doug "The Beard" Spence from Dirty Dozen Races for this tutorial.

[SuccessforLifester]

Need to do this during my standard obstacle course in the army. With helmet, webbings and rifle

[gerardt]

So easy to do as a kid, much harder as a heavy adult

[SwanySwan]

The first time I made it across the Sawtooth bars at the savage race it felt like pure awesomeness! I'm only 5'3 so I went with the straight on approach bicycling my legs the whole time. Wish I could bottle that feeling up and drink it everyday!

[cpy]

I saw plenty of people fall doing #3. The bars and your hands will be wet, and you can easily slip out

[trinitylivingston]

I've tried and I think it might have to do with the fact that I have very little upper body strength. Thanks for the techniques though.

[edwardglenn]

I do this down the kids park. Great fun, hard at first but feels great once you get it. Good mental challenge too as you have to not worry about looking like the weird man in the park.

[longliveharambe]

I can do it even though i weigh a lot, just cant hang in one place, gotta keep swinging

[Ethrael]

As a kid between ages 6-9, I woke up every day it didn't rain and was at the park swinging on the monkey bars. I started out slow and had hands covered in carpets of blisters. As time went on, I became stronger, faster, and I stopped getting blisters more serious than surface level. The technique I mastered was bunch my legs up under me and using each bars momentum to propell me to the next and twisting my body to compliment the counterweight, skipping one bar in between. By the time I was 9, I was moving across the bars faster than people could run. So fast that at the end of the 30 bar stretch I had a choice (assuming I was not holding back), to either latch the last rung and use my momentum to lift my body above the bars and step up or to let go and fly out 15 or so feet. The exhilaration one feels from the joy of doing something so well is beyond words. It ended when I outgrew the span between the bars, causing my forehead to connect and lay me out, staring up at the sky with a broken heart. For years after, though, it left me with ridiculous upper body strength. 7 one arm chin ups at 10 isn't bad! To this day I have very pronounced shoulders. The secret to building the speed is not holding on with more than one hand at any point. I enjoyed your video though!

[LiveAnabolic]

I'm loving the videos! Gearing up for my very first Spartan Race and recording every step of my training and nutrition on my channel. Any input you have would be welcome! Again, great stuff!

[Candle_Silverspoon]

When I was a kid I didn’t know how to climb the monkey bars oh wait. I am still a kid.

[jakemccoy]

It should be highlighted that the first technique (sideways) is the safest for slippery bars. I have fallen using other techniques on slippery bars in mud races, and my grip is strong.

[andyrojas]

I used to be able to do that all the time when I was elementary school and now I’m 21 I can barely hold on😭😭😭

[roaduser]

Never been able to do these with any technique sadly.

[sleepycacti]

I do the orangutan swing ! #1& 2 can only do a Couple of them

[TheAristump]

I can't do it because I not strong enough to hold my weight

[akornman]

I’m 13 and I can do all the monkey bars. I use the last technique hella

[artfx]

I still hoped the second guy would have faceplanted into the hole

[rithe]

I'm 22 and I've never been able to do monkey bars, even as a kid. And I was a pretty healthy kid too, always playing sports and exercising. Idk what it is about monkey bars...

[JustSmileAndWave]

Why is the first guy kicking forward as if he’s pedaling in a way? Does it help with something??

[pigga]

Dude when I was 7 my whole school raced each other on monkey bars and boy those kids were fast and they did "tricks" I became the fastest in my school lol.