HYROX is a competitive athletic race for the everyman. While fit bodies are prominent in the brand’s imagery and “The World Series of Fitness” is its tagline, the sport differs from Ironman and other obstacle course races in that HYROX does not care what athletic background someone has. In their own words: “The world was missing a premium fitness competition designed for Every Body, not only elite athletes”
In addition to being open to all, it aims to be the competitive indoor fitness race for the winter season, an activity where anyone can compete against themselves or anyone else in the world.
Because no matter where you are on Earth, you’re doing the same workout.
What Is HYROX?
The brand has a clever way of fostering community: everyone does the same race, no matter where you are.
“At HYROX everyone around the world competes in the same race, on the same course and each HYROX event will host up to 3,000 participants per day in an indoor arena.”
What Does a HYROX Event Consist Of?
Every HYROX competition consists of three simple steps:
- Step 1 | One Kilometer Run
- Step 2 | One Functional Workout
- Step 3 | Repeat steps 1 and 2 – 8 times.
That’s it. Elite HYROX athletes have event run times of around an hour, the rest of us can usually expect ninety minutes or so. So endurance comes into play here: getting great at HIIT might not be all you need to maintain the cardiovascular strain.
This is a combination of endurance and functional fitness that is intended to be attainable for athletes, non-athletes, and everyone in between while maintaining the competitive atmosphere of other fitness contests such as Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, and Warrior Dash.
The functional workout section of the competition may vary from event to event, but here are a few examples of their workouts:
Example 1 – “Lewis”
Descending reps for five rounds: 12, 10, 8, 6, 4
- Bench Press (increasing the weight each round)
- Pull-Ups or Ring Rows
Example 2 – “Knight”
30 minutes, as many rounds as possible (AMRAP)
- 1000m Ski Erg
- 1000m Row
- 50 Burpee Broad Jumps
As you can see, there’s a lot of variety in the non-running parts. HYROX might employ basic barbell movements, kettlebells, dumbbells, bodyweight, the occasional wall ball — not completely unlike CrossFit, but HYROX eschews the more technical, hard-to-learn lifts like the snatch and clean & jerk.
HYROX Statistics and Divisions
When competing in a HYROX events, an athlete can choose their own goal. Whether that is to be the best HYROX athlete in the world or to best their previous HYROX scores.
During each event, participants wear timing chips to clock their personal time running the race. That time is then measured against every other HYROX athlete in the global rankings.
Here are the HYROX divisions:
- Singles
- Doubles
- HYROX Men
- HYROX Women
- HYROX Pro Men
- HYROX Pro Women
Each division is further divided into eleven age groups, each spanning five years (30-34, 35-39, etc.) except for 16-24 years olds and 70+ years old. The pro divisions, which consist of the top 20 ranked athletes by time in each age group, stop at 65+ years old. The doubles divisions have half as many age groups with each spanning ten years.
HYROX Events and World Championship
HYROX runs events all over the world on a nearly weekly basis and have entry fees usually in the range of $100 to $130 for individuals and $160 to $199 for doubles.
The 2020 HYROX World Championship is scheduled to take place on April 4th in Berlin, Germany. Athletes receive invitations to the World Championship by having one of the twenty fastest times in their respective division.
Wrapping Up
There you have it! HYROX is a new functional fitness competitive race series for any and all athletic backgrounds.
For more information about HYROX events, check out their website, HYROX.com. HYROX also has gym affiliates all over the globe, so you have the opportunity to try out one of their workouts before committing to a HYROX event.
FAQs
What is HYROX?
HYROX is a competitive indoor fitness race where anyone can compete against themselves or anyone else in the world.
Each race consists of 8 round of a 1km run and a functional fitness workout.
Where are there HYROX events?
HYROX events take place all over the world. Each event takes place indoors and can support 3,000 athletes competing per day.
How do you win a HYROX event?
HYROX events are won by having the fastest time in a given age group and division. Event times are calculated by a timing chip worn by every participant that is then ranked among everyone else in the world competing in that division.
How fit do you need to be for HYROX?
HYROX is intended to be for all fitness levels and backgrounds. There is an “elite” or “pro” division for the top athletes competing for a slot at the World Championships.
Feature image from HYROX’s Instagram page: @hyroxworld
