Training for a HYROX race?
- PRVN Fitness has just created a new program specifically for the fitness racing phenomenon, HYROX.
PRVN Fitness picked Australian HYROX athlete and coach James Kelly to write the program and prepare athletes of varying levels for race day.
This isn’t the first fitness brand, specifically of a CrossFit origin, to launch a HYROX-focused program. However, it does show the popularity of the fitness race and its crossover into the CrossFit space.
- Kelly placed third at the HYROX World Championship in 2024 and was the first athlete to run a sub-60 minute race on debut.
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He first met Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, co-owner of PRVN, a few months ago and trained with her while she prepared for her own HYROX debut in the doubles division with fellow Aussie, James Newbury.
- “I’ve been a HYROX coach all my time as a HYROX athlete, so I’ve been developing my business online and we’ve pretty much come together to join most of them and come out with our own PRVN HYROX training program,” Kelly told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview.
The details: The way the program works is its level-based programming.
- An example would be an athlete who thinks they can run a 75-minute race; they’d do the 75-minute program.
Kelly added that it’s built for all athletes from all walks of life. While he expects a lot of CrossFit athletes to “dabble” in the HYROX program, he also anticipates athletes from other sports like running and even weightlifting.
- “There’s a wide range of athletes in the HYROX space. So we’re trying to facilitate for all needs and all histories of training, not just one,” Kelly said.
Kelly credits the palpable energy and experience of the HYROX events as a key driver in its popularity. And its accessibility.
- “The way the event operates, you could be on the race track with someone who’s doing or trying to do a 60-minute HYROX or someone who’s doing a two-hour HYROX,” Kelly said. “At the end of the day, there’s no one finishing last because of how they operate the actual race itself and the event.”
Toomey-Orr and fellow Games athlete Newbury competed in the Melbourne, Australia, HYROX race in December 2024.
- They competed in the mixed doubles division and placed third overall with a time of 55:48.
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The big picture: Recently, a cadre of other elite CrossFit athletes took on HYROX in Las Vegas, Nevada, including 2024 Fittest Man on Earth, James Sprague, and two-time Fittest Man on Earth, Justin Medeiros.
- Kelly said the basis of his HYROX programming is on the athlete’s aerobic capacity and building their base.
And from there, the focus is on developing fundamental functional fitness like strength, stamina, and the ability to perform.
- “The biggest component to start with and focus on is aerobic capacity when it comes to HYROX racing and HYROX training. Whether you’re the best in the world or a first-timer, you’re going to be in your aerobic zone, your threshold for the whole duration of the race,” said Kelly.
When it comes to CrossFit and HYROX, it’s not really fair to compare the two, he adds.
The training that goes towards each is so different, as HYROX is the same race every time. It’s a more targeted approach.
- Whereas in CrossFit, aerobic capacity is important, but there are so many other moving parts and variables.
“There are components of the CrossFit methodology that we will be using because the CrossFit methodology is a very well-rounded approach. That’s what we as HYROX athletes want to do. We want to be as well rounded as possible as well,” he added.
The program is available now on the PRVN Fitness website. Once an athlete signs up they have access to an athlete-only Facebook group and access to Kelly directly through the SugarWOD app.
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Featured Image: PRVN Fitness
