My First HYROX (Doubles) Experience

Last weekend I travelled to Oslo, Norway to compete in my first Hyrox race.

Over the last few years I have trained for different challenges such as a fitness photoshoot, returning to play American football and 10k road races - each one has massively helped with keeping me motivated and training with purpose, and required me to learn a lot more about my body and performance.

If you've been living under a rock the past couple of years, you may not have heard of Hyrox, but after reading this, I can guarantee you'll start seeing and hearing it mentioned everywhere...

This blog post will hopefully give you an idea of what it is, the type of training and preparation leading up to the event, and my play-by-play experience of it all - the good AND the bad.

So, what is Hyrox?

The race itself is the same format, wherever you compete in the world:

1km Run

1km Ski Erg

1km Run

50m Sled Push

1km Run

50m Sled Pull

1km Run

80m Burpee Broad Jump

1km Run

1km Row Erg

1km Run

200m Farmer's Carry

1km Run

100m Sandbag Walking Lunge

1km Run

100 x Wall Ball

There are different divisions in which you can compete, and the weights for some of the stations vary by division/ gender:

Solo - male or female - you tackle the race on your own.

Doubles - male, female or mixed - run together, but you can split the exercise stations however you'd like.

Relay -  male, female or mixed - 4 team members, each completing 2 runs and 2 exercises each.

Pro - each of the above divisions, but heavier weights.

I competed in the male doubles division with client and friend, Joe!

My Training Preparation

We booked our tickets over 4-months out from the event, which gave plenty of time to be able to get 'in-shape' for the demands of the race.

My training split didn't actually change too much to how i've been training over the past year, besides adding in a full conditioning session:

2 x Full Body Strength (optional 3rd session some weeks)

1 x Run (4-8km)

1 x Conditioning

The strength sessions included my 'bread and butter' movements; pressing, pulling, squatting, deadlifting etc. I'd consistently hit these twice per week, aiming to gradually increase the intensity and get stronger overall. If I had time, or just wanted to do extra arms, i'd do a short session here and there for enjoyment.

I'd already been training for 10k races and a Tough Mudder earlier this year, so I committed to one dedicated run per week. Often this would be a 4-5k, focussing on speed and running faster. Closer to road races, I'd increase the distance to around 8k, and the odd 10k.

I don't count myself as a 'runner', but i'm learning the more I get out there, about pacing and technique - which really has helped with Hyrox style training.

Once we signed up for Hyrox, I made sure to prioritise a conditioning session each week.

Each of these sessions were built around the exercises from the Hyrox race, as well as lots of shorter runs between 600m-1km.

We didn't have a progressive structure on the lead up, week to week... but instead building the sessions on the day before warming up, choosing exercises we felt weaker in, or adjusting the order for extra difficulty. Often the weights, distances and reps were more than our division!

Joe and I would aim to do this session together every weekend, with a focus on technique and making sure we were repping the exercises to the judge's requirements of the actual event.

We didn't simulate the full race at all beforehand.

Travelling To Norway

We flew out to Oslo on Friday afternoon, with our race start time being Sunday morning.

The flight was 2-hours and the train to our city centre hotel took 20-minutes - we used the trains a lot during our trip, and can highly recommend if you ever visit the city... super easy to get around, reliable (unlike the UK), and clean.

Friday evening we just walked around the city, had some nice food and chilled out.

Saturday morning was more sightseeing, with the highlight for me being an apple muffin and cinnamon pastry from an insane bakery for breakfast!

The best advice I read before the trip, was to visit the Hyrox event a day before to get a feel for the course and environment.

... I can highly recommend this!

Saturday afternoon we bought a spectator ticket and got our first glimpse of what it was going to be like the following day... and WOW!

Side note; my first impression - these guys love a backpack they can stick finishing patches to and tie wristbands around, like badges of honour 😂

Music is pumping, people are running about all over the place to warm-up, and I would say collectively, it was easy the largest group of 'in-shape' people I have ever been a part of, more so than general fitness/bodybuilding expos.

We spent a couple of hours there, watching each station and listening to how the judges were directing the athletes. Visualising and talking about the order of each, and what to expect with the running track and how many laps we'd need to run.

By the end, I was absolutely itching to get going in the morning!

Bad Guts N' Carbin' Up

I'll write another post about carb loading, but if you aren't sure what it is, here is the summary...

Endurance events require consuming more carbohydrates the day(s) before racing, to help increase energy stores within your muscles. Think of it as fuelling the body.

After spectating we headed back to the city centre and went straight for food. I ordered a salmon poke bowl - high protein, moderate fat and high carb. Perfect.

From there, more sightseeing... we racked up 25k steps per day just getting around the city by foot.

For our evening meal, and the last 'big meal' before racing in the morning, we decided on pasta. I went for gnocchi and Joe, the tagliatelle. Both with a side of 'pizza bread' - basically pizza base (more carbs).

Now, in my head, I somehow got mozzarella and parmesan mixed up.

I thought my pasta would come with the gentlest dusting of cheese...

What arrived was a dish of molten dairy goo.

It was delicious and I very much enjoyed it, however...

Me and (even just) moderate amounts of dairy don't always sing off the same hymn sheet, if ya know what I mean.

It took exactly 10-minutes after finishing the meal for my guts to feel like a washing machine full of shoes on a high spin.

We'd just picked up fruit and water supplies for the morning, and were a good 0.5 mile from the hotel. I won't go into anymore detail, other than saying it was a turbulent hour or so once we'd made haste back to the room.

Race Day

A few days out from the competition we received our start time, 10:50am.

Knowing that, we planned our journey ahead of time to get to the venue about an hour before to check-in, drop our bags and warm-up.

Another common piece of advise I'd read online was to not get to the venue too early with it being such a hyped up environment, it can drain your energy/nervous system ahead of actually starting.

Normally I would have porridge first thing, but for convenience it was just a protein bar and then as we walked from the train, a banana.

Checking in was straight forwards. We had our e-tickets and ID ready, was handed the ankle timing chip and just had to have our start time written on the arm in marker, to be able to gain entry into the starting tunnel.

Although I hadn't felt it at all up to this point, I could feel the nerves kicking in and my stomach let me know about it.

... two toilet trips later and we were ready to drop our bags and start warming-up.

The baggage area was very efficient. We handed them over and they zip-tied our bags together as we were doing the doubles event, which was handy! Then they just wrote the shelf number on the end of our start time on our arms, after taking that to match up with the bags.

One thing to note if you ever travel for an event and are checked out of your hotel - you can't have any loose items, they all have to be packed. This was challenging with a weekend's worth of clothes in a tiny cabin bag, but I made it fit!

Finally it was time to warm-up.

I think we may have given ourselves 20-minutes after everything else was ticked off.

First we did a couple of laps running up and down the length of the convention entrance, before heading into the warm-up area.

Here they have all of the equipment that will be used in the race, so you can familiarise yourself with it and get all the movements properly warmed up and muscles 'switched on'.

We spent time mobilising and stretching, before working the ski and row ergs, then getting plenty of reps in on the legs.

One bit of kit we wanted to get a feel for beforehand was the sled...

Reading the Facebook groups, many people mentioned how the carpets were notoriously grippy, making the sled stations feel much tougher/ heavier than in their training.

Unfortunately they were in use the whole time we were warming-up and it was about time to head to the starting pen, so we'd find out just how tough they were on the actual station!

Go Time!

The starting pen was directly next to the warm-up area; show your arm markings and then you're in and waiting to go.

At this point my body temperature felt through the roof in anticipation for starting.

There were lots of neon lights, a tv showing a hype up video and a running countdown clock, but all I can remember was Joe's face, looking like he'd seen a ghost 😂

3, 2, 1... Go!

Out of the tunnel and onto our first run. The pack was fairly tight and moving at a steady pace.

Each 1km required 3 laps of the track, which we surprisingly kept good count of throughout. There was also a screen which updated your progress in real time via the ankle chips, directing you where to go next (run or next station).

#1 SKI ERG

Joe took the first 500m and I took the second 500m.

This wasn't too taxing at all, but it was important that we didn't go balls to the wall, as it was going to be a long race.

We each found a steady pacing and focussed on hinging at the hips, rather than squatting and bending at the knees to save the legs.

Just over 4-minutes and we were back onto the track for the next run.

#2 SLED PUSH

Not gonna lie, I was slightly nervous for this one. All I could think about on the run beforehand was if i'd pull a leg muscle - they felt tight, but couldn't tell if I was just in my own head.

We were about to find out if all the online chatter was true about the carpet...

Joe went first again, and he made it look EASY - which had me just a little more nervous, but I didn't have time to think as he was that quick.

As soon as I leant into it, I knew straight away that there was nothing to worry about.

Men's doubles weight is 150kg, which was the minimum weight we trained with. The carpet didn't feel an issue at all, and if anything, it was easier than the track at SP!

The track length is 12.5m, which meant 4 total lengths, 2 each.

This was our fastest station overall... back we headed onto the running track.

#3 SLED PULL

The confidence carried over to this station, even though we hadn't gotten a feel for the weight in the warm-up area.

I did the first length. Automatically I defaulted to purely pulling with my upper body, hand over hand - which was surprisingly okay at 100kg.

However I quickly changed to gripping the rope and walking back a few steps for more of a full body movement to save the arms.

This was the first time we also had a couple of warnings from the judges...

We weren't fully aware that you cannot step on the line (not even a toe nail's length) which outlines the box you can pull from.

As Joe was on his first pull, the judge mentioned it was our second and final warning, which makes me believe a judge at the other side had flagged me on my first pull.

From here we were squeaky clean (until the very last station...), and learned to communicate with the judges at each station for what they're looking for to avoid penalties.

Back to the run.

#4 BURPEE BROAD JUMP

At this point we were in a good rhythm and communicating really well. Too much of a good rhythm, as I had no idea it was burpees next until we finished our run.

Out of all the stations, this was the toughest for me.

I'd practiced them a lot during my training, but it really didn't prepare me for how arduous it would be for the distance, at the halfway point of the race!

80-metres is a longgg way to hit the deck, get back up, jump and repeat.

Joe and I didn't really have a strategy for this one, but rather agreed to go in bursts and tag in when needed.

Tell you what though, some of the other competitors were like frogs and absolutely blitzed it!

Fortunately there weren't any photos captured of us on this station.

The run after this sucked, and it took me at least 50% of it to get my breathe back and under control.

#5 ROW ERG

... But not as much as the run after the row!

Same distance as the ski - 1,000m total, which we split evenly 500m each.

Joe went first a hit a strong, steady pace - getting it done in around 2:15.

I jumped straight on and kept to a similar pace, just as in training. Nothing overly exerting.

Now, having read a lot online, many people mentioned how this station can be used as 'active recovery', being the only station where you're sat down.

Which Joe took the added opportunity to sit on the floor after his initial effort 😂

But as I mentioned before, this was the toughest run for me (and the following one) because my left thigh slowly started to cramp!

It could have been my technique (which I hadn't ever considered - it's just rowing, right?)... because I was sliding all the way forwards, thus bending fully at my knee, it was stimulating the quads quite a bit...

Now I was worried about my leg locking up and it becoming my worst nightmare, just after halfway through.

#6 FARMER'S CARRY

"If I stop moving now, both my quads are gonna cramp."

By the end of the run and going into the next station, BOTH of my thighs were twinging, and Joe couldn't shake a stitch whilst running.

Just over an hour in and with each element, the it was starting to become more of a battle. Fatigue was setting in. We hadn't trained past his point.

Luckily it was the easiest station - pick up a pair of 24kg kettlebells and walk 200m.

We split it into 50m segments with quick transitions, and used this station to breathe a little for the last time until finishing.

... legs were still twitching and ready to cramp, the next station would be make or break.

#7 SANDBAG WALKING LUNGE

I'm very confident with this movement. Anyone that has trained with me knows my go-to is single leg exercises.

However on this day, I knew it would either flush my quads out and actually rid me of the cramps...

Or have me crawling on all fours on the last run.

I lead us in, throwing the sweat-drenched 20kg sandbag over my shoulders and setting off like a mad man.

Again, we split this up into quarters, alternating sets of 25m each.

Our legs were pretty shot at this point, which made the second set gruelling and slightly slower - especially with a judge following us all the way down to ensure the back knee was touching the floor each rep.

But we got it done and it was onto the final run - which was our fastest! All gas now, let's finish the job!

#8 WALL BALL

This last station was set away from the main 'Roxzone' - where the other 7 stations were in a chronological line.

The rig where the balls and targets were was enclosed by two tier stands, where Joe and I spent time watching the previous day.

The spectators were loud and cheering everyone on as we ground through 100 reps - but to be honest, that was drowned out and the only focus was hitting the centre of the target each time.

I started us off with an unbroken 20 reps, absolutely gasping for air as we exchanged.

Joe struggled with depth on this and the judges were very keen to enforce it - which we had noticed yesterday. For roughly every 3 reps, he was getting a no rep. They were strict on the hip crease going below the knee when squatting.

It really was a slog as we rotated - I was hitting 15-20 at a time, but wasn't necessarily keeping count - the screen above did that for us, we just had to get 100 clean reps.

All I remember is getting to 85 and leaving the remainder for Joe to take us home, which he fought for every rep and nailed it!

The judge gave us the nod and we legged is as fast as we could up the ramp and across the finish line.

Reflection

The experience as a whole far exceeded my expectations!

The atmosphere was electric. Yes, I was nervous as it came closer to starting, but that quickly faded once we got going.

Some people go to battle for the podium, but the vast majority of participants simply took on the challenge for themselves - just like any race event.

I mentioned how it was the largest gathering of 'in-shape' people i'd been a part of, but what impressed me more was the amount of people who you wouldn't expect to be taking part, just going for it.

Massive respect to anyone that puts themselves that far out of their comfort zone - and I would recommend it to anyone as something to sign up for and train towards.

I now have two targets going forwards...

To crush our time in another doubles race, and attempt a solo!

Besides the burpees, none of the stations surprised me after my preparations, and I know there was another gear in me to run faster.

My training split will remain very similar going forwards, but with more emphasis on running. Hopefully I can get a couple more Hyrox races booked next year!

However I still refuse to buy a new backpack for the patches 😂

If you are on the fence about signing up, or looking for something to train towards, I can highly recommend! Its very inclusive and simple to train for. And if you need any advice, my inbox is always open.