Hyrox: The World Series of Fitness Racing

Hyrox Sydney has come and gone. 5600 competitors found their way to Sydney’s Homebush Park to run, push, pull, burpee, carry, lunge and wall ball their way around a course. It was hard work, lots of fun and a brilliant test of fitness. I raced amongst lots of familiar people including my partner Tanya Evans. There were loads of people I know from 98 gyms where I do most of my training and BeAthletic Brookvale where I enjoyed specific Hyrox training under Paul Walton’s  coaching. I managed to get to the race thanks to David Abi-Arrage at 4D Health and Performance who expertly managed a couple of minor niggles which allowed me to keep training and able to participate in the race on Saturday July 28.

What is Hyrox?

Hyrox is a fitness challenge that began in Hamburg, Germany in 2017. It now runs globally with races in dozens of countries annually. It is principally an event that tests cardiovascular endurance. There are weights involved, but first and foremost Hyrox tests endurance, speed and stamina. Hyrox is an 8 x 1km run and between each run there is a station. There are 8 stations in total and they are as follows:

1km ski erg

50 metres sled push

50 metres sled pull

80 metres Burpee broad jumps

1km row erg

200 metres farmer’s carry

100 metres weighted lunges

75/100 wall balls

The fastest of the fastest complete the race in just under an hour. There is a pro division and an open division. Men and women compete separately, except in the doubles or pairs where there are both men and women’s pairs and mixed pairs. The weights used set the difference between the two divisions. I did the open where the sled push was 152kg, sled pull 103, farmer’s carry 2 x 24kg, 20kg for the lunges and 6kg for the wall balls. My time was 1 hr 36 minutes, and I came 23rd in my age group.

The Farmer’s Carry is a test of grip strength

In the six weeks leading up to the race, I experienced a few setbacks. First, while doing some sprint training, I suffered a Grade 1 hamstring sprain. Despite the loud pop when it happened, I was very lucky that it was a mild strain. The injury meant I had to modify my training for a few weeks, and it had an impact on my ability to train for the sled push and the sled pull. As it turned out, I was fine with the sled push. The sled pull was a little more challenging but didn’t slow me down that much. Two weeks out from the event, I experienced a dull ache in my left knee which meant I was forced to reduce the intensity of my running right up until the event. I was really lucky that on the day, the body felt good, and I was able to compete with almost no issues with either my hamstring or my knee. The entire set up was very professional and very well organised. I arrived at the check-in at 9am and by 9:15 I was in and ready to go even though I wasn’t starting until 11. In the hour and a half or so between arriving and racing, I had time for a coffee, time to get my head around the way that the course was laid out and get in a good warm up (there was a great area for warming up).

Here I am at the start line.

My race started at 11. There were probably 30 or so in my wave (all day starting early and finishing late a different wave started every 10 minutes) and while most of the competitors were in their 20s and 30s, the number of athletes in their 40s, 50s and 60s surprised me. I have to say it was one of the joys of the day. The first 1km went well and so did the first 3 stations. The burpee broad jumps were hard work. My only gripe, and it is a minor one, of the entire day was that the so-called tough standards were not applied as strictly as suggested in the rule-book and pre-race examples. I felt that I adhered to the standards. I saw loads of people all day who didn’t. That did not detract from my enjoyment of the day or my overall view of the event. The next two stations, the row and the farmer’s carry were fine. At that point, I hit the lunges at just under 1hr 12 minutes and I thought to myself I was a great chance to get in about 1hr 25minutes. But the lunges burned me.

The lunges burned me.

It took me almost 9 minutes to get through the lunges and then the next 1km run took 6 mins 38 secs which was a minute slower than my next slowest 1km run and my wall balls, usually something I am adept at doing was a debacle, partly due to the fatigue caused by the lunges and partly because I was so sweaty the wall ball kept on slipping. I estimate about 15-20 no reps- that’s a lot of extra work to do. Even so, I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face and within minutes I was already thinking about the next race and how I’d prepare for it and race it a bit differently.

Greek philosopher Democritus said: ‘Vanquishing oneself is the first and foremost of victories.’ Vanquishing Hyrox comes close.

Before going, I want to say that as far as I am concerned, Hyrox is exactly the sort of thing that people my age and older should be doing. As I said to a good friend of mine, Hyrox is really one of those events that is kind to the older body. There’s a heap of running but nothing like a half marathon or a full 42km. You need to be strong to compete but to train for it you don’t have to lift ridiculously heavy weights. The Hyrox requires functional fitness- you need to be able to lunge and deep squat. And broad jumps are a good marker of lower body power while good grip strength is needed for the farmer’s carry. All in all, if you can do the Hyrox and do it in a competitive time, then you can be assured that you’re doing well as far as the most important health markers are concerned.

Maybe, I’ll see you at Hyrox in 2025.