On your recent social media scrolls, you’ve no doubt come across some gritty images of people you follow panting while on the ski erg or grinding their teeth as they pull a sled. It’s likely they were competing in or training for the most popular competition in fitness right now: Hyrox.

Even if you don’t follow any fitness influencers, you might have seen people in your circle talking about Hyrox. With over 90,000 competitors across the world and a focus on including ‘everybody’ in its events, Hyrox is taking over from standard fitness challenges such as marathons and assault courses. It’s even partnered with gyms across the country, from affordable chains such as The Gym Group to elite fitness facilities like Third Space, developing training programmes that help those competing to tackle the Hyrox race. 

Hyrox describes itself as “the ultimate showcase of functional fitness, putting all that work you do in the gym, at home or outdoors to the test”. 

Each race starts with a 1km run, after which you do a functional movement from sandbag lunges to wall balls, which is repeated eight times.

You can compete:

1. As an individual, completing the whole race alone
2. As a pair, where you and a partner share the exercises but both run
3. As a relay, in which each member of your team does two runs and two exercises. 

According to Hyrox, 52% of gym members say that ‘fitness’ is their primary sport, which makes working out the most popular sport in the world. That’s why the competition was developed, says Mintra Tilly, global head of sports at Hyrox. 

“We noticed that there were so many people going to the gym and never having anywhere to showcase that. It’s like having football practice every day and then never playing a game. The goal behind Hyrox was to give those into fitness something to work towards, a sense of achievement and a community [of] people who play sports,” she says.

This was the case for Hyrox competitor Lisa Brown. Despite exercising regularly since childhood, her training would have less direction without Hyrox, she says.

 “Having something to work towards has been really important for me and my doubles partner. As well as loving the social aspect of working out together, it’s a really good way to focus our training – we trained really hard with the aim of shaving a few seconds off our 2022 race time, but we managed to complete it four minutes faster,” says Brown. 

All Hyrox movements are based on ‘human movements’, explains Tilly. “From when you’re first able to walk, you can lunge and squat, and you shouldn’t lose that ability as you get older. There’s also an endurance element, with the run, row and ski erg. So it’s well rounded in terms of training, and probably one of the best things you can do for your body,” she says.

Perhaps that’s why the allure of Hyrox is so strong: training for the competition isn’t just about performing well on the day but feeling more mobile and stronger in your daily life. This was true for Denise Brazier, who finished third in the world in the women’s doubles at the Las Vegas Hyrox World Championships. 

“I’ve always been into fitness, but after my daughter was born, I got really into taking on hard challenges like ultra-marathons with my workout group,” she says. Five years ago, with a two-month-old son and 10 days out from taking on a 44-mile race up Pen Y Fan mountain, Brazier suffered a mini-stroke. 

“I had to stay in a stroke ward for five days and all I could think about was this event. The consultant told me not to do it as I was at risk of suffering another stroke, but I thought I was safer on a race course surrounded by medics than I was at home, so I did the race anyway,” she says.

While Brazier clearly has a steely dedication to challenging herself, discovering Hyrox a few years ago changed how she moves. “Everything we do in our training for Hyrox feels beneficial. We do aerobics and weightlifting and incorporate so many different aspects of training than when I was just running. I feel stronger, fitter, faster and more powerful.

“There are aspects of Hyrox that are more beneficial for me as a perimenopausal woman than just long, long runs,” she says. “I feel lucky that I can run and lift weights because I know people who’ve had injuries or illnesses and they can’t exercise in the way I can, but Hyrox makes me feel so strong.”

You don’t need to be already fit like Brazier to compete in Hyrox. While there are many pro Hyrox athletes, they only account for 15% of the total competitors, meaning the rest are the ‘everyday person’. 

“You’ll see like all shapes, sizes and abilities and that’s exactly what makes the energy so great because you will be cheered on if you are really racing down the track or just walking the course,” says Tilly.

That might be hard to believe when most of the Instagram posts from Hyrox are of shredded people carrying heavy-looking objects. But Brown agrees: “One of the big draws of Hyrox is how inclusive it is,” she says. “There are all these amazing elite athletes there but there are also people of all ages, shapes and sizes.”

Brown got into Hyrox after reaching out to strength coach Aileen McCann, who just so happened to be the women’s doubles world champion. “Aileen and Hyrox changed my perception of what fitness is. I always thought you already had to be really good at everything to take part, but then she told me I could use Hyrox as an opportunity to get better. 

“It’s changed my outlook, knowing that I can still take part and be welcomed without being the best,” says Brown. 

More and more women seem to be attracted to the sport for this reason. Between 2022 and 2023, there’s been a 100% increase in women starting a Hyrox race and a 150% increase in women’s doubles starters. “It feels like women are really supported at these events. Everyone cheers for each other and no one feels left out,” adds Brown.

The training you do depends on your goals for the competition. Do you want to get around and enjoy it or do you want to hit a personal best? “If you are already active, you could compete in Hyrox right now as you are. But for beginners or those who want to train specifically for the race, we have free training programmes or classes available with our partners that will tailor your workouts to be sport specific,” says Tilly. 

Natasha Swan’s gym journey didn’t start until 2019 when she started doing HIIT classes at Dual Fitness in Horsham. After keeping up the classes via Zoom during lockdown, she decided to hire a personal trainer to show her the strength training ropes in 2021, and a year later competed in her first Hyrox race. 

“We were all inspired by one person at the gym who competed and managed to get to the World Championships, so a whole group of us decided to give it a go. Even though she’s super fit and in her 20s, and I’ve recently turned 50, I fancied the challenge,” Swan says. 

“The event was really tough, but it’s a unique experience – it’s a bit like a party, with a DJ and loads of people. But the nicest thing is that everyone minds their own business. No one has any idea if I am going to finish the course in an hour or three – they all just cheer.”

Swan has signed up for two more Hyrox competitions in 2023, and she won’t be alone: over 40,000 women are expected to cross the start line of the race that’s taking the fitness world by storm. Would you do it? 

Images: Getty; Hyrox