Hyrox, the new ultra-fitness craze
Want to go one better than a Parkrun? Billed as ‘the global fitness race for everybody’, there are no entry requirements and no restrictions on finish time.
Have you heard about Hyrox? Billed as “the global fitness race for everybody”, it is the talk of the gym among those who want to go one better than a Parkrun or have had their fill of hardcore obstacle courses, such as Tough Mudder, in which you dunk yourself in an ice pit or crawl through electrical wires.
The hype about the exercise challenge of 2024 is huge because the target market of Hyrox is not your sporty triathlete or seasoned marathon runner, but simply regular gymgoers seeking an outlet for a previously untapped competitive streak. There are no entry requirements, no restrictions on finish time and the races are run in waves of starters throughout the day so you don’t have to worry about finishing last.
Since its launch with a single event and 650 participants in Germany seven years ago, Hyrox has spread to 14 countries. Christin Totzke, its founder, says his ambition is to see it become the gymgoer’s equivalent of the London Marathon for runners.
Already more than 175,000 people are due to take part in 65 of its races this year, packing out arenas such as the NEC in Birmingham and London ExCel. Entries to the London Olympia event from May 4 to 6 (which costs each person an average of pounds 104) sold out months ago with 12,500 people expected to take part.
Since you can also race with a partner or as part of a four-person team, you don’t have to endure the challenge alone. And because the Hyrox format is standardised, you know what to expect: run a kilometre, usually around the perimeter of an arena, then complete a functional exercise – from sandbag lunges to wall ball throwing, a sled push to a farmer’s carry – and repeat eight times. In total you will cover 8km of running and eight functional exercise stations, leaving muscles burning and lungs bursting.
Although the fastest competitors will complete it in less than 60 minutes and, in doing so, qualify for a world championship race that takes place in Manchester this year, the slowest can take more than four hours.
That is all part of the appeal, says Jenni Tardiff, a master trainer at the Gym Group in Glasgow where she helps people to prepare for Hyrox races. Unlike CrossFit, another indoor training phenomenon in which you can progress towards complex handstand walks and Olympic lifts, the movement challenges aren’t highly technical and don’t require brute strength but are pitched so that even people with little circuit training experience can have a stab at them.
Roughly evenly split between men and women, it’s most popular among the 35-39 age group, but there are age categories up to 85-89.
“It’s easy to get hooked on it as a whole-body challenge at any age,” Tardiff says. “You can keep improving even in your seventies and eighties, knowing it is also boosting your aerobic fitness, functional movement patterns and mobility.”
Athletes love it too. Denise Toner, 45, a Masters World and European champion 800m and 1,500m runner from Northern Ireland, says it has helped to take her training to another level. “Hyrox has a good endurance element which suits runners, but I’ve found the strength exercises complement my other training.”
In Cycling Weekly magazine, cyclists are raving about Hyrox’s ability to bring performance gains on the bike by boosting strength, flexibility and muscular endurance.
As word spreads the commercial partnerships are rolling in. In 2024 the official equipment provider for Hyrox races will be Centr, the app and wellness brand founded by the actor Chris Hemsworth, who played Thor in the Marvel films. There are also plans for digital Hyrox training programs. In the meantime, a growing number of Hyrox classes, designed to get you race-ready, are cropping up at branches of 1,400 affiliated gym chains around the world, including Body Fit Training, the Gym Group, Fitness First, Gymbox and the Third Space.
These 45-60 minute sessions, a teaser of the full-scale competition, also constitute a workout in their own right, as I found out when I tried one at the Gym Group in Watford.
Working with a partner, I spent an hour doing repetitive 50-second bursts of movements that mirror those in a Hyrox race, from shuttle runs, the weighted sled push and a SkiErg machine to wall sits, treadmill running and walking lunges completed with a weighted sandbag on my shoulders.
At each station there were two exercise options that we rotated between us for five minutes before our instructor, Matt Waters, blew the whistle that meant we were to move on. Killer moves included burpee broad jumps, a Hyrox staple of a standing long jump and burpee combo that is torture for the glutes and quads and kettlebell swings to simulate the kind of strength and power needed for wall ball throwing.
There is no reprieve. By the warm-down stretch, I was a quivering heap, yet regulars assured me it becomes more manageable. Notably, at 55 I was not the oldest in the class and a third of the 15 participants were over 45.
“Initially we do offer people easier options of exercises if needed when they start,” Waters says. “But quite quickly people improve so age and prior experience are never an issue. I see members who are in their sixties with better functional strength after a few weeks than newcomers in their thirties.”
Everything ached the next day but not to the point of pain. Will I be back? My overriding fitness goal is to be running when I am in my seventies and I do see that Hyrox could be a positive influence on my running.
It speaks volumes that when I got home I googled the nearest gym that holds Hyrox classes and found one less than two miles away. I’m drawing the line at competing, but watch this space. “Everyone starts the classes with a little trepidation but tend to get drawn into trying a target race,” Tardiff says. “Before you know it you will be signing up.”
The Times
