Almost nobody fails a HYROX on the rules. What happens instead is quieter and more expensive: people lose thirty seconds here and a minute there getting reps sent back, usually at the end, usually when they are too tired to be precise.
So this is not a lawyer's guide to the rulebook. It is the list of things I have watched cost people time, and what to do about them.
The rules people break by accident
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Where the time actually goes
- Sandbag lunges: knee not touchingThe trailing knee has to make contact with the floor. Under fatigue people start hovering an inch above it and get sent back.
- Most common
- Wall balls: squat depthHip crease below the top of the knee, every rep. The first fifty are fine. The last twenty are where depth quietly disappears.
- Most expensive
- Wall balls: missing the targetThe ball must hit the target. A near miss is a no-rep and you throw it again, with the same legs.
- Costly late
- Burpee broad jump: not clearing the distanceEach jump has a minimum. Small tired hops add reps to a station already measured in metres.
- Adds up
- Sled: crossing the lineThe sled has to fully cross the marked line at each end. Stopping a fraction short means going back to it.
- Frustrating
- Carries: putting it downYou can rest, but you resume from where you stopped, not from where you would like to have stopped.
- Rest, do not cheat
Every one of these is a rep repeated, not a penalty. That is precisely why they are worth training out: they cost you the same time as any other rep, and you have already paid for them once.
Station by station, what the judge is watching
Ski erg and rower. The simplest stations to judge. Complete the distance shown on the monitor. The only thing to be careful about is starting the machine properly and not sitting down before the number is reached.
Sled push and sled pull. The sled must fully cross the line at each end. Judges are watching that you complete the full distance, not how you look doing it. There is no style mark on the sled.
Burpee broad jump. Chest to the floor at the bottom, and each jump must cover the minimum distance. Two feet take off and land together. Stepping through is not a broad jump.
Farmers carry. Carry the full distance. You may set it down and rest, and you restart from that point. What you cannot do is move forward while it is on the floor.
Sandbag lunges. The one worth practising to standard. Trailing knee touches the floor on every rep, and the bag stays where it is meant to be on your back or shoulders. This is the station where fatigue quietly turns lunges into something that is not quite a lunge.
Wall balls. The station that decides races and the station with the most reps to get wrong. Hip crease below the top of the knee at the bottom, ball hits the target at the top. Both, every rep, one hundred times.
Nobody no-reps their first wall ball. The problem is rep seventy-eight, when your legs have gone and your squat gets four inches shallower without you noticing.
How to train the standards out of the problem
The fix is not learning the rules. Everyone reading this now knows the rules. The fix is being able to hold the standard when you are wrecked, and that is a training problem.
Penalties, and what actually happens
The word penalty makes people nervous, so let me deflate it.
In the vast majority of cases, a fault is called at the time and you repeat the rep. The judge tells you, you do it again, you carry on. It is not dramatic, nobody is annoyed with you, and it happens to almost everyone at some point.
The more serious outcomes exist and are genuinely rare. They involve things like missing a station, cutting the running course, taking outside assistance, or ignoring a judge. If you are running the race honestly, none of these will happen to you by accident.
The one thing worth knowing: do what the judge says, immediately, without arguing. They are managing a lot of athletes and they are not out to get you. Arguing costs more time than the rep would have.
Before your first race
Read the official rulebook once. It takes twenty minutes and it removes the low-level anxiety of not quite knowing what is allowed, which is worth more than the rules themselves.
Then practise the two standards that actually get enforced under fatigue: wall ball depth and the lunge knee touch. Everything else on this page will look after itself.
If you want that built into a plan rather than remembered as a list, our free plan maker programmes station work with the standards in mind, and puts the wall balls where they belong, at the end of a session when you are tired. That is where the reps that count are made.
For the full weights and distances by division, see the station weights guide.
[ FAQ ]
Frequently asked
What happens if you get a no-rep in HYROX?
You repeat the rep. A judge will tell you at the time, usually by calling it and holding up a hand. It costs seconds rather than a penalty, which is exactly why sloppy reps late in the wall balls are expensive.
Can you be disqualified from HYROX?
Yes, though it is rare and usually involves cutting the course, missing a station, outside assistance, or refusing a judge's instruction. Ordinary movement faults get no-repped and corrected, not disqualified.
Can you put the sandbag down during the lunges?
You can rest, but you must resume from where you stopped and the standards still apply when you start again. Dropping it and walking forward is not allowed, and that is the version people get caught doing.
Do both knees have to touch the ground in the sandbag lunges?
The trailing knee must make contact with the floor on each lunge. Hovering above it without touching is the most commonly no-repped fault at that station, and it happens most when people are tired and rushing.
Are the rules the same at every HYROX event?
Yes, that is the point of the format. Standards are published in the official rulebook and applied globally. Check the current rulebook for your season, because details can be adjusted between seasons.
Written by
Benjamin SutherlandFounder · HYROX Elite 15 athlete
Ben races in the HYROX Elite 15, competing in Doubles with his brother Harry. Pro Doubles wins include Rotterdam and Glasgow. He coaches athletes from their first race to professional level.
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