People type "HYROX workout" into Google expecting to find a session they can do. What they usually get is either a full race simulation, which is far too much for a normal Tuesday, or a random circuit that happens to involve a sled.
Neither of those is what training for this race looks like.
What the race actually demands
Before the sessions, the thing they are all built around. A HYROX asks for three qualities at once:
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The three qualities the race tests
- An aerobic engineEight kilometres of running plus two ergs. This is the biggest single component and the most neglected.
- The foundation
- Strength enduranceNot maximum strength. The ability to keep producing force when tired, across sleds, carries and lunges.
- The differentiator
- The ability to switchGoing from a station straight into a run without falling apart. This is a trainable skill, not just fitness.
- The skill
Almost everyone trains the second one hardest because it is the most fun. The first one decides more races.
The four sessions that matter
Everything worth doing falls into one of these four categories. A sensible week picks three of them.
1. Easy aerobic running
Conversational pace, thirty to sixty minutes. Boring, and the most valuable thing on this list.
This is where the engine gets built. If you can only do one type of session, do this one. Athletes who neglect easy running spend the whole race at a heart rate they cannot sustain, and no amount of sled work fixes that.
2. Compromised running intervals
The signature session for this race and the one that separates prepared athletes from fit ones.
The pattern: do a station, then run, then repeat. Something like a 500m row, then 800m running, four to five times through. Your legs will feel completely unlike they do fresh, and getting used to that is the entire point.
Your fresh 5k time is nearly irrelevant to this race. What matters is what you can run 400 metres after a sled push, and you only find that out by doing it.
3. Strength endurance work
Not heavy singles. Long sets, moderate loads, short rests, aimed at the stations that hurt: lunges, carries, sled-adjacent leg drive, wall balls.
Think sets of ten to twenty reps with enough load to be genuinely hard by the end, with the rest kept short enough that you never quite recover.
4. The simulation
The full race, or a meaningful chunk of it. Once every four to six weeks, not weekly.
This is a test, not training. It tells you your pacing, where your technique falls apart, and what your realistic finish time is. Then you go back to the other three sessions and fix whatever it exposed.
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Where your training week should go
Rough weekly emphasis for someone preparing for a first or second race. Coaching judgement, not a prescription, and it shifts as a race gets closer.
- Easy aerobic running40%The engine. Boring, essential, most commonly skipped.
- Compromised running25%The race-specific skill. Nothing else substitutes for it.
- Strength endurance25%Stations that hurt: lunges, carries, wall balls.
- Simulation and testing10%Once every four to six weeks, not weekly.
Three sessions you can do this week
Real sessions, scaled for someone with a race in the diary and a normal gym.
Session A, compromised running. Five rounds of: 500m row, then 800m run. Rest ninety seconds between rounds. Keep the row honest but controlled; the run is the point, not the row.
Session B, strength endurance. Four rounds of: 20 walking lunges holding a dumbbell, 200m carry with something heavy in each hand, 15 wall balls or dumbbell thrusters, 250m ski erg or row. Rest two minutes between rounds.
Session C, easy running. Forty minutes at a pace where you could hold a conversation. If you cannot hold a conversation, you are going too fast, and going too fast makes this session worse rather than better.
Three sessions, and between them they cover every quality the race asks for.
What about the sled?
Notice there is no sled in the three sessions above. That is deliberate.
The sled is a technique station, and the fitness it demands is built by the strength endurance work. If you have access to one, add a few pushes to session B every couple of weeks to keep the movement familiar. If you do not, our guide to training without the kit covers the substitutes properly.
What you should not do is build your week around the one station you find most intimidating. That is a very common way to arrive at a race with a good sled push and eight kilometres of running you cannot handle.
Putting it into a week
The simplest structure that works for three days: one easy run, one compromised running session, one strength endurance session. Spread them out. Do not stack the two hard ones back to back.
If you have four days, add a second easy run rather than a second hard session. Almost everyone's instinct is the opposite, and almost everyone's instinct is wrong here.
If you want this built around your actual race date, with the balance shifting properly as the race gets closer, the free plan maker will do it in about three minutes. And if you have a specific target time and want to know what the week needs to look like to hit it, work out your splits first and then book a call and we will build backwards from there.
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Frequently asked
What is the HYROX workout?
There is not one. HYROX is a race format, not a workout, so 'the HYROX workout' usually means either a full race simulation or a session that mixes running with functional stations. The training that prepares you for it is a mix of four session types, described below.
Can I just do the race as my training?
You can do a full simulation occasionally and it is genuinely useful, but it is a test rather than training. Doing it weekly leaves you tired and not much fitter. Once every four to six weeks is about right.
How long should a HYROX training session be?
Most sessions land between forty-five and seventy-five minutes. Running sessions can be shorter. Only a full simulation needs to approach race length, and you should not be doing many of those.
How many days a week should I train for HYROX?
Three well-chosen sessions a week will get most people to a solid first race. Four is comfortable. Five is for people with the time and the training history to absorb it. More is rarely better if the sessions are not organised.
What is compromised running?
Running when you are already tired from a station, which is the only kind of running that happens in a HYROX after the first kilometre. It is the single most important thing to train and the most commonly skipped.
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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