Some Thoughts On Hyrox

At the end of last year I achieved my primary goal for 2023 which was to be able to bench press 100kg. For a while I was uncertain I was going to achieve it, so I hadn't really thought much further ahead than that goal. However once I reached it I quickly found myself a bit uncertain of what goal to chase down next. Sure there's lots of things I could do and chase down, but I've found myself a bit indifferent to a lot of them.

With that in mind my personal trainer asked me if I wanted to go and spectate Hyrox which was taking place in Manchester towards the end of January. He had taken part in Hyrox in London earlier this year and loved it, and wanted to give me something different to consider aiming for.

What is Hyrox?

Hyrox is essentially a crossfit-esque circuit of where you do a 1km run followed by one functional workout and you do that eight times. Each functional workout is different to the previous one and they all focus on different skillsets - So some of them are more strength based, others power and some others speed with many of them a good mixture of all of three. Unlike Crossfit though, Hyrox is a standardised event, meaning that the workouts never change. This makes it easy for people to compare how they've done from event to event, year on year.

There's a number of different categories you can enter depending on what suits you. You could enter as a solo participant, doubles or in the pro categories. The pro categories only differ in the difficult of the functional workouts, typically the items you have to carry are a heavier weight than the standard ones. The below video will give you a good idea of what it's all about.

All competitors are also given a tracker to wear so that they can time how long each run and functional workout takes with all of that data publically available on the Hyrox website. It also shows where you rank for each part too. I thought this was a really cool idea as it gives you a nice way to see just how good you were at each stage but also gives you some insight into how good others are doing. There's no hiding or pretending you're better than you are.

My Impressions

One of the first things that struck me about Hyrox and seeing the participants was just how athletic and in shape people were, even amongst the regular participants. This wasn't like a marathon where you see a really broad range of abilities. It was clear from just getting there that people take this all pretty seriously, which I thought was neat. People are turning up to do their best and work hard rather than just meme about. I found this to be inspiring and intimidating in equal measure - Everyone competing looked in pretty good shape and I feel a long way off from that right now.

Something else that struck me about Hyrox was that there's a pretty clear subculture surrounding it. It definitely attracts the hybrid athlete types who all wear the same type of brands - There's lots of Represent, 247 and Marchon there. This isn't surprising given the attention those specific brands give the event, with the owners of those brands regularly competing and sponsoring some of the pros.

While Hyrox could be seen as a competitive race against other participants, I actually found for most people it was all about competing against themselves. For people taking part for the first time their focus was all on "can I complete the entire circuit?" whereas those who have competed before were focused on beating their previous time. Most people really couldn't care less about other people taking part or beating other people. Participants are being competitive with themselves rather than with others. Sure, at the end of the race people are comparing times and I'm sure some people are really gunning to beat others but overall it's all about the individual.

I spent the entire day at Hyrox spectating the different categories and in the evening it was time for the pros to take part. I was really intrigued to see how different the standards were compared to the regular participants. The big draw for a lot of people was Hunter McIntyre, who holds the world records and was setting out to claim the doubles world record with his partner Michael Sandbach.

While watching Hunter and the other pros warming up, it was pretty clear these guys were here to take it seriously. They weren't messing around. Once they got started the speed they moved at was something else compared to the regular participants. This wasn't just in the running, but the functional workouts too where they made some of them look straight up easy despite the increase in weight. Hunter and Michael set the new world record of completing the doubles in 50:14, which was insane. The average Hyrox double time is around 1:20 so these guys are 30 minutes faster!

I came away from the day feeling pretty inspired, if not also a little intimidated at the idea of taking part. My impression is that Hyrox is easiest to pick up for those who have a good endurance base like runners and cyclists who have then supplemented some strength rather than vice versa. I absolutely don't fit that category right now, but it gives me a good reason to pivot my workout goals to include more cardio. A few years ago I wrote about my experiences being a new runner, but I never really maintained it after moving to Manchester. Running in a city or on a treadmill is so much less fun than running in nature, but perhaps Hyrox will give me the push I need to focus on this more.

While I don't think I will be ready to take part in Hyrox in 2024, I'm quietly optimistic if I work hard on my cardio, lose some weight and maintain my strength this year I could realistically take part in 2025. It's something completely different and outside my comfort zone and that's exactly why I should take part.

Tom