Hyrox: Is It Worth the Hype?

The sun is scorching, the stadium is alive with music from Skrillex and Imagine Dragons, and I’m surrounded by thousands of people who are stretching rather than dancing. 

It's the start of June, and I'm at Pier 76 in Manhattan with 5,300 other participants for Hyrox, the fitness-racing sensation from Germany.

I'm already sweating as I weave through the crowd to reach the warm-up area inside a massive hangar next to the Hudson River before my 11:30 heat time.

We've signed up to tackle eight movement stations linked by one-kilometer runs—a combination of CrossFit, a half marathon, and an urban obstacle race.

The mix includes cardio exercises (like SkiErgs and rowers), strength challenges (such as sled pushes and farmer's carries), a CrossFit classic (wall balls), and grueling tasks (like sandbag lunges and burpee broad jumps).

While these exercises are designed to be approachable for all fitness levels, they are still challenging.

The average Hyrox finish time is around an hour and a half, but I'm aiming to finish faster.

By 11:20, my heat of over 20 men is ready to go. I'm competing in the Open individual division, which means it's all men.

(You can also participate with a partner or in a four-person relay team with mixed genders.)

Among us are lean, muscular guys typical of any intense fitness event, as well as others with knee braces and bellies.

We gather at the starting line, the clock hits zero, and I sprint off to the first station, the SkiErg.

Hyrox began as an idealistic concept where everyday exercisers could compete alongside top athletes, tackling every segment of the course.

While this dynamic exists in CrossFit's annual Open and in road and trail races, Hyrox co-founder and CEO Christian Toetzke, an endurance-racing aficionado, believed he could create a fitness sport with broader appeal.

Teaming up with Moritz Furste, a former German Olympic field hockey champion, they aimed to design a competition that would bring mass participation to gyms and running spaces.

The unique aspect of Hyrox is its combination of eight movements requiring strength, power, and endurance, engaging key movement patterns like pushing, pulling, running, throwing, and carrying.

Running is a core component since it’s universally accessible, and exercises were chosen for quick assessment by officials, safety under fatigue, and equal difficulty for men and women.

Launched in 2017, Hyrox's first event in Hamburg drew 650 participants. Almost seven years later, it’s set to host 45 events for 425,000 athletes across five continents this year.

With partnerships with brands like Puma, Centr, and F45, Hyrox has bolstered its corporate status and was named one of TIME's most influential companies for 2024.

The crowd around me demonstrates Hyrox's growth. I jog through the inflatable yellow gate into the "Roxzone," where attendants hand out water and sports drinks.

The run structure is confusing; I can’t recall if I need to run two or three loops per round, and I likely skipped a lap between the SkiErg and sled push.

The event space is a rush of running bodies, making it nearly impossible to track others from my heat as everyone runs at their own pace. This is ultimately a race against myself.

I approach Station 4, burpee broad jumps, one of the toughest challenges of the day.

From wall balls to SkiErgs to burpee broad jumps, it’s hard for anyone familiar with the last 15 years of fitness not to compare Hyrox to CrossFit.

The winners of Hyrox competitions, much like in CrossFit, often showcase lean, shredded physiques.

While Hyrox promotes itself as a race for everybody, it remains highly competitive, featuring an Elite 15 ranking of top men and women who vie for world championships.

Hyrox's growth mirrors CrossFit's trajectory, and the company is developing educational materials for coaches and working with affiliate gyms to standardize training, similar to CrossFit.

Hyrox plans to open Performance Centers and assist gym owners in optimizing their spaces for training.

You don't need an affiliated gym to prepare for Hyrox. A basic strength routine with cardio will suffice, especially since the race format remains consistent, unlike CrossFit.

During the penultimate event, the sandbag lunge, I experience both the positives and negatives of Hyrox's inclusive approach.

Running alongside diverse competitors is exhilarating, but bottlenecks at stations occur when slower participants pause.

I nearly collide with someone during burpee broad jumps and now lunge past others catching their breath.

Hyrox serves as a robust test of strength and stamina, fitting between hardcore CrossFit and social group fitness.

It eliminates CrossFit's technical barriers for casual exercisers and provides more tangible progress measurement than group fitness.

However, races are both mental and physical challenges. Completing the lunges emphasizes survival over strength-building, highlighting the event's demanding nature.

At the final station, Wall Balls, I’m exhausted but exhilarated as I complete 90 of 100 reps, then launch the 14-pound medball to the target.

Despite some hiccups like a missed lap and temporary water shortage, I’m finishing my first Hyrox.

With the crowd's encouragement, I dig deep for the final 10 reps and jog up the ramp to the finish line.

I’m now a Hyrox finisher, a status that might soon be as prestigious as completing a marathon or Ironman.

For now, I need a seat, a cold drink, and maybe an ice plunge. This might be a race for everybody, but it wasn’t easy.

Source: menshealth

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.