If you’re unfamiliar with Hyrox, it’s a challenging fitness competition that blends functional strength and endurance training. Competitors take turns running 1 kilometre and participating in functional fitness workouts at specified stations. There are eight one-kilometre runs and eight functional exercises. The race format is standardised to ensure uniformity across all events worldwide.
To prepare for a Hyrox race, one must follow a comprehensive training regimen targeting multiple fitness aspects. Let’s break down the critical components.
Strength Training: Give priority to compound exercises that engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, such as squats, deadlifts, push-ups, and rows. Focus on progressive overload. Gradually increase the weight or reps as strength improves. Prioritise exercises that mirror the functional movements used in the Hyrox stations.
Cardiovascular Endurance: Include endurance training like zone 2 running and cycling to build stamina and improve cardiovascular health. Implement fartlek training, which involves adding bursts of high-intensity intervals into longer runs.
How do you put your training and efforts to the test?
Many gyms affiliated with Hyrox offer two types of tests: the Hyrox Physical Fitness Test (P’F”T) and the Hyrox full simulation. Although P’F”T is designed to help athletes indicate which division they fit best, the full simulation provides an experience similar to race day.
Who is Hyrox full simulation for?
Literally, for everyone. You can enjoy simulation workouts without a plan of racing at all. Some fitness classgoers do two classes back-to-back for added challenges, which may feel very similar.
If you are considering participating in a Hyrox race, the simulation will provide you with a realistic experience to help you decide how much time you’ll need to prepare. As races take place weekly worldwide, you can book tickets, flights, and hotels and start your prep journey.
Finally, if you are already preparing for an event you have booked, the simulation will provide you with many insights. You can predict your finish time, identify areas for improvement and gaps in performance and gain experience to ease race-day anxiety.
My personal experience with Hyrox simulation
I’m very lucky that my local gym organises regular Hyrox classes and simulations. TransFit Widnes also uses Hyrox original equipment which I find reassuring that nothing will surprise me on the race day. The experience was amazing, and I gained loads of information that made a fundament for my preparation programme. First, my wallball technique is shocking. I decided to sacrifice extra time to improve my performance in this. The goal is to complete 10k reps across the next few months. This means I’ll have to add wall balls to my workouts very frequently. Secondly, burpees defeated me, which I wasn’t expecting. However, a team from TransFit gives you feedback on your technique and how to improve certain things. I’m taking advice on how to preserve energy on BBJs. Running is not as bad as it sounds, but it’s still not easy. According to the guys from the RoxZone Podcast, running makes up more than 50% of the race, reaching 60% in some divisions. Currently, I’m a bit too heavy to be swift and fast, but this is something I committed to improve and sacrifice some time to train in Zone 2.
Generally…
The Hyrox full simulation is an incredible experience that I would highly recommend to anyone. Even though I did it for a specific purpose, I had a lot of fun and burned a lot of calories. TransFit Widnes is planning to make the simulation a regular event, so if you’re local, I highly recommend giving it a try. You can also check if any of your local gyms or CrossFit boxes are affiliated with Hyrox and offer simulations.
