I remember the first time I saw Hyrox, back in 2019. I thought it was a very cool concept. Competitive pay-to-play fitness was on the rise, and the idea of constructing a ‘fitness race’ was something I’d toyed with myself at several events I’d helped to organise.
One of the things that stood out to me the most was the sheer polish of Hyrox. From the outside looking in, it appeared very slick, and when I took part in my first race, it was clear that this was more than just a veneer. The event runs like a well-oiled machine.
No small surprise, then, that Hyrox has scaled at an unprecedented speed, to an unprecedented size. With a projected 600,000 competitors taking part this year, from across the globe, I feel comfortable saying that nothing this century has made the same-sized impression on the fitness landscape as Hyrox.
Recently there have been criticisms about the quality of the judging – from both inside and outside of the scene itself – but in the lifetime of a sport, it’s still very early days for Hyrox, and this is something that will no doubt be corrected for as time goes on, especially if the organisers are sincere in their claims that they want to take the race all of the way to the Olympic games.
But is it a good test of fitness?
What constitutes the perfect test of fitness is something that’s been argued over for years, especially since the advent of CrossFit who claim (in the sport of CrossFit at least), to be searching for the world’s fittest man, woman and team. But I didn’t say ‘perfect’, I said ‘good’ and, in my opinion, yes, Hyrox is a very good test of fitness.
Some argue that it suffers from a lack of true strength challenges. But strength can be tricky to test for, especially at scale, and especially when accounting for safety. But, as someone who has competed in strongman and pulled an articulated lorry, I’ll tell you – those sleds ain’t exactly light.
You may not have your endurance tested to its limits – at least, not in the same way you would running a marathon or an ultra – but ‘endurance’ is subjective anyway, and with the average finish time being around the 90-minute mark, it’s no sprint.
In my humble opinion, for the average person, training to complete a Hyrox, and then attempting to improve upon that time, provides enough of a challenge – and enough variety within that challenge – to upskill your body in a way that is truly enriching for the rest of your life.
If there is a truly perfect test of fitness, it’s beyond my abilities to dream up. I don’t think there’s a ‘right way’ to do fitness. I think there are just ways that are more or less appealing, for you. And if fitness racing is the thing that puts the wind in your sails, then unfurl and take full advantage of the Hyrox hurricane we currently find ourselves in.
Hyrox Workouts
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
