This is the question I get most from people who have just entered their first race, and it is almost always asked with more anxiety than it needs.
People look at the eight stations, see specialist kit, and assume they need to find somewhere that has all of it. Then they either pay for a second membership they do not need, or they put off entering because they think their gym is not good enough.
Neither is usually true.
Audit what you already have
Before you look at anything new, work out what your current gym covers. Run through this at your gym rather than from memory, because most people are wrong about at least two of them.
[ CHECKLIST ]
Equipment audit: what your gym actually has
8 items
Ticks save on this device only.
If you ticked the first two and any two others, you can train for this race properly. Everything else is convenience.
What actually matters, in order
Not all eight stations are equally important to train, and not all of them need the exact equipment. Here is how I would rank the gaps if you cannot have everything.
[ BREAKDOWN ]
How much each gap actually costs you
How much it matters if your gym lacks this, on a scale where 10 means it will genuinely hold your race back. Coaching judgement, not a measured figure.
- Running access10/10Half the race is running. Without this, nothing else saves you.
- Rower7/10Common, hard to substitute well, and a full kilometre in the race.
- Something heavy to carry6/10Covers farmers carry and most sandbag work. Dumbbells are fine.
- Wall ball target5/10The last station and the one that breaks people. Any wall and a med ball.
- Ski erg4/10Nice to have. The rower builds most of the same engine.
- Sled3/10Feels essential, is not. Trainable by proxy, then practise the technique once or twice.
That sled ranking surprises people, so let me defend it. The sled is a technique station more than a fitness station. What it demands is heavy leg drive with your heart rate already high, and you can build that with steep treadmill work, heavy carries and long split-squat sets. What you cannot build without a sled is the feel of it, and that takes one or two sessions, not twelve weeks.
Find a sled once about six weeks out, learn the body position, and you have solved it.
People spend months worrying about the equipment they do not have and almost no time on the running, which is half the race and available to everyone.
Substitutes that actually work
For each station, what to do if you cannot do the real thing.
[ BREAKDOWN ]
If your gym does not have it
- No ski ergRow instead, or use a cable machine for the pulling pattern. The engine transfers well.
- Rower
- No sledSteep incline treadmill walking with a heavy pack, or push a loaded plate across a smooth floor on a towel.
- Incline work
- No sandbagA dumbbell in the front rack, or a heavy backpack. Awkward is the point, not the exact implement.
- Loaded lunges
- No medicine ballThrusters with a dumbbell. Same legs, same lungs, same reason it hurts at the end.
- Thrusters
- No farmers handlesHeavy dumbbells or kettlebells. Grip is grip.
- Dumbbells
- No treadmillOutside. Genuinely better for this race anyway.
- The pavement
None of these are compromises for a first race. Several are what I would programme even if the equipment were available.
When it is worth finding somewhere else
There are two situations where I would tell you to look for another gym.
You genuinely cannot run. No treadmill, and nowhere safe or sensible to run outside. That is a real problem, because half of this race is running and the running is the part that separates finish times. Solve this one.
You want the race-simulation environment. Some gyms run HYROX-format classes with the full station setup. That is genuinely useful, mostly for learning pacing and transitions under something like race conditions rather than for fitness. If there is one near you, a session every few weeks in the back half of a training block is worth it. It is a nice-to-have, not a requirement.
Beyond those two, a second membership is usually money that would be better spent on programming.
What to actually look for locally
If you are searching, ignore the branding and check three things:
- Can you run from the door, or is there a treadmill you can get on when you need it? Peak-time treadmill queues have derailed more training blocks than missing sleds have.
- Is there a rower you can use for twenty minutes without someone hovering?
- Will they let you do slightly odd things? Carrying dumbbells for two hundred metres, throwing a ball at a wall, dragging weight. Some gyms are relaxed about this and some are not, and it is worth finding out before you join rather than after.
That third one matters more than any equipment list. A gym with everything that will not let you use it properly is worse than a basic gym that leaves you alone.
Where a coach fits in
The honest position: what limits most people is not their gym. It is not knowing what to do in it.
The plan matters more than the postcode. Someone training three sensible sessions a week in a budget gym will beat someone doing unstructured work in a fully equipped facility almost every time, and I have watched that happen repeatedly.
If you want a plan built around the equipment you actually have rather than the equipment a generic programme assumes, the free plan maker asks what you have access to and works within it. If your setup is genuinely awkward and you would rather talk it through, book a call and we will work out what is realistic where you train.
Either way, do not let a missing sled stop you entering. It is the least of your problems, and it is not much of a problem.
[ FAQ ]
Frequently asked
Do I need an affiliated HYROX gym to train?
No. Affiliated gyms are convenient because they have the full setup and usually run race-simulation classes, but nothing about the race requires you to train at one. Most people I coach prepare in an ordinary commercial gym and do perfectly well.
What equipment do I actually need to train for HYROX?
Somewhere to run, a rower, and something you can load and carry. That covers most of it. A ski erg and a sled are useful and neither is essential, because both have workarounds that build the same qualities.
Can I train for HYROX at a budget gym?
Yes, and most people do. Budget chains almost always have rowers and dumbbells, which covers the majority of the work. The gaps are usually the ski erg and the sled, and both have substitutes that get you most of the way.
What if my gym has no sled?
Train the quality rather than the movement. Heavy sustained leg drive with a high heart rate is what the sled asks for. Steep treadmill walking with load, heavy carries, and long sets of split squats all build it. Then find a sled once or twice before race day to learn the technique.
Should I join a gym specifically for HYROX?
Only if the one you use now genuinely cannot cover the basics, and check that it is not just the sled that is missing, because that is the easiest gap to work around. Try the equipment audit below before you pay for a second membership.
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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