The sun was shining, Skrillex and Imagine Dragons blare in the stadium, and a crowd of scantily clad people crowd around me. Instead of dancing, we’re stretching. It’s June 1st and I’m at Pier 76 in Manhattan, joining 5,300 other participants in HiRox, a German fitness-racing phenomenon. Just pushing my way through the crowds to reach the warm-up area inside a giant hangar by the Hudson River before the 11:30am qualifying rounds begin is enough to make me sweat.
We’re signed up for a series of eight exercise stations, one kilometer at a time, that’s part CrossFit event, part half marathon, part urban obstacle race. It’s a mix of cardio (ski-erg and rowing), strength training (sled push-pull and farmer’s carry), CrossFit staples (wall balls) and some full-on punishment (walking punching bag lunges and burpee broad jumps). The exercises are designed to be manageable for any gym-goer, but they’re still tough. The average time to finish the Hyrox is about an hour and a half. I want to get faster.
Participants for each heat gathered at the starting line under an inflatable tunnel.
By 11:20, the 20-plus participants in my heat are fired up. Because I’m running in the open individual division, it’s all men. (You can also mix it up by running the course with a partner or in a four-person relay team.) Some of the guys in the group are lean and muscular, the sort of guy you’d expect at a masochistic fitness event, but others have knee braces and ripped abs. We gather at the finish line, the clock strikes zero, and I sprint to the first station, the SkiErg.
HYROX is The ideal concept: an event where everyday exercisers share the same space as top athletes, where everyone can challenge themselves on every side of the course. This dynamic exists in CrossFit’s annual open events and road and trail running races, but Christian Toetzke, co-founder and CEO of Hirox, a long-time event organizer and endurance racing enthusiast, thought he could make a fitness sport accessible to a wider audience. He devised a competition that would bring large numbers of people to gyms and running spaces, and teamed up with German Olympic field hockey champion Moritz Furste.
Hyrox features a combination of eight movements that require a blend of strength, power, and endurance. It practices the main movement patterns (pushing, pulling, running, throwing, carrying). Running is a must, since (almost) anyone can do it, but Toetzke and Furste, with the idea of hosting large waves of competitors, also chose exercises that course officials could quickly assess. Movements should be (relatively) safe to perform even in a state of fatigue, and not more difficult for women than for men (box jumps were ruled out for the former reason, monkey bars for the latter). Hyrox was born in 2017.
The first event was held in Hamburg in November 2017, with 650 participants. Nearly seven years later, Hyrox expects to host 45 events this year for 425,000 athletes across five continents, according to company statistics. The company also has a healthy crowd culture, with 7,000 spectators attending its New York event in addition to more than 5,000 competitors, company representatives said. Puma (Apparel), Chris Hemsworth Center (Equipment), and F45 (Group Training) strengthened Hyrox’s corporate position. TIME magazine named the company one of the world’s most influential companies for 2024..
The crowd around me shows how much Hyrox has grown. I jog through an inflatable yellow gate from the running course into the “Roxzone,” an area behind the barriers where attendants hand out glasses of water and sports drinks. The structure of the run is confusing. I can’t remember if I have to do two or three laps of the course per round, and I’m sure I accidentally skipped a lap between the first station (ski ergo) and the second (sled push). The event space is swarming with runners, and the race is run at each person’s own pace, making it nearly impossible to keep track of others in your heat. In the end, it’s a race against yourself. I turn to the grassy station four, do some burpee long jumps, and trudge off to tackle one of the toughest challenges of the day.
From the wall From balls to ski ergos to burpee long jumps, it’s hard to describe Hyrox without comparing it to CrossFit if you’ve been following fitness for the past 15 years. Look at the winners of the Hyrox divisions and you’ll see the same lean, muscular bodies atop the podium as you would in a CrossFit competition (incidentally, elite CrossFit athletes like Chandler Smith and Lauren Fisher also competed in the Hyrox event in New York). Although Hyrox bills itself as an “all body types” race, it’s still a highly competitive event. There’s the Elite 15, a ranking of the top male and female individual competitors who compete for the overall victory at the World Championship event (recently held in Nice, France, where Austria’s Alexander Loncewicz won gold in 56 minutes, 21 seconds).
Station 3, Sled Pulling. Men’s open competitors pull a sled loaded with 103 kg (about 227 lbs) for 50 meters.
Hyrox’s growth trajectory is also similar to CrossFit. David MagidaMagida, the 2023 North American champion and global programming director for Hyrox 365, said the company is currently developing materials for coaches and working with partner gyms to provide programming. It’s similar to CrossFit’s top-down organizational structure. The company says 2,000 gyms and trainers around the world are already part of its affiliate network. But there are plans to make Hyrox more standardized than CrossFit, where gym owners typically get to decide how their spaces look. Magida said the company plans to open a performance center with a floor plan dedicated to Hyrox training, and also to help gym owners understand how to remodel their spaces to best train for races.
You don’t need to go to a “Hyrox affiliated” gym to prepare for your first Hyrox meet – if you have a basic strength training regimen with some cardio, you’ll be able to get through this meet, especially since the race won’t change (especially not like CrossFit).
When I hit The penultimate event, the sandbag lunge, shows the good and bad of Hi Rocks’ open-for-all mentality. It’s thrilling to run with all kinds of competitors, but there’s a logjam at the station whenever a slower competitor catches a breath. I nearly jumped into the back of someone’s leg in a burpee, and now I’m lunging past competitors, out of breath. I try to keep moving.
Hyrox is actually a good event to test your strength and stamina. The race fits right in the middle of group exercise. On one end, you have CrossFit and people who train hard and take on super tough workouts. On the other end, you have people who like group fitness for the social aspect. But CrossFit can be technically challenging for casual exercisers, and group fitness training doesn’t really let you measure your progress. Hyrox fills that gap.
But the race is equal parts mental and physical test. M.H. Advisory board member David Otey, CSCS, points out this about lunges: “Completing a 100-meter course may require more than 50 lunges per leg. It’s not about building strength, it’s about survival. ‘I see it as a great test of a person’s fortitude,’ Otey says. In other words, hi-rocks is a good challenge, and hi-rocks training will improve your strength, but it won’t build strength or muscle the way traditional lifting training will.”
Vendors and activities like these ice water tubs gave competitors space to recover during the event.
By the final station of the course, Wall Ball, I was exhausted but exhilarated as I squatted down for the 90th time out of 100 total, then rose energetically to tossed the 14-pound medicine ball into the target. I had some issues along the way, including missed laps, backups in the field, and at one point the aid station ran out of water. But I was finishing my first Hyrox. I felt my excitement building as I slowed my pace. The crowd behind me cheered me on, and I struggled to find the strength to do the final 10 in one go. I dropped the ball and ran up the slope the short distance to the finish line. I was now a Hyrox finisher. This status may soon be talked about in the same way that marathoners and Ironman competitors consider participation in these events an essential aspect of their identity. I was so excited.
But for now, we need a seat, a cold drink, and an ice plunge. This may be a race for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy.
3 Exercises to Train Your HYROX
Adding a dose Incorporate Hyrox into your workouts (and prepare for your first race) by incorporating these three moves from David Magida into your training: Do each one twice a week.
Sled Push Alternative – Single Leg Bench Step Up
Do 2-3 sets of 8-10 repetitions per side.
The Hyrox 50 Meter Sled Push engages your quads, glutes and core. Get started with single-leg step-ups. Hold a dumbbell at your side and place your right foot on a bench, step or chair. Stand upright over a box and press your right leg down with control. Complete 2-3 sets of 8-10 repetitions per side.
Sled Pull Alternative – Romanian Deadlift
Aim to do 2-3 sets of 6-8 repetitions.
The 50-meter sled pull that follows is not rocket science; you’re pulling something heavy. The deadlift prepares you for the big pull and also works your forearms. Stand with heavy dumbbells at your sides and push your hips back, lowering your torso until it’s at a 45-degree angle to the ground. Squeeze your glutes as you stand. Repeat for 2-3 sets of 6-8 repetitions.
Alternative Wall Ball – Thruster
Aim to do your sets by time rather than repetitions – think 3 sets of 60 seconds of exercise.
Get ready for wall balls. Wall balls are thrusters, where you squat down and throw a ball at an overhead target. Hold dumbbells at shoulder level, push your hips back and bend your knees into a squatting position. Stand up and push the dumbbells over your head. The goal is to build endurance, so keep the weight as light as possible. Focus on time, not reps, and do three 60-second sets.
Men’s Health Senior Editor Brett Williams is a NASM-CPT certified trainer, former professional football player, and technology reporter. His work has also appeared in Mashable, Thrillist, and other outlets.
