Is Hyrox Good for You? Here's What You Need to Know.

With CrossFit more or less done for, there’s a new fitness obsession in town: HYROX. The event alternates eight one-kilometer runs with eight different workout stations: SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jump, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunge and wall balls. It’s very popular: the 2024–25 HYROX season saw 650,000 participants competing in 40 races from London to Cape Town.

Earlier this year, I traveled from England to Chicago to cover the HYROX World Championships, eight days in which the city was taken over by sweaty, shirtless athletes with nary a deep dish in sight. It was an experience both inspiring and exhausting. Inspiring because, yes, HYROX athletes are fitter than I’ll ever be — but exhausting because they’re all so serious about it. They exhibit a level of dedication I’m not sure I’ll ever unlock.

Back home in Brighton, an hour south of London, even my crappy high street gym now has an official HYROX section, with trainees hoping to be the next Tim Wenisch or Lauren Weeks taking up all the treadmills during peak hours.

On the face of it, people getting into fitness has to be good. But with HYROX offering such a rigid formula, I started to wonder if there were significant markers of fitness being overlooked. HYROX can teach you to excel at specific things, but what about the movements not covered in competition? And, surely there can’t be a real-world application for one’s ability to run a kilometer then immediately complete 100 wall balls? I called up the experts to find out.

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Why Is Everyone Crazy for HYROX Right Now?

As a former Marine, Ruben Belliard, founder of HYROX-centric gym The Training Lab NYC, knows a thing or two about fitness. He’s been in the hybrid training sphere for almost a decade, having opened his gym in 2016.

“When HYROX first came to New York in 2019, it immediately clicked with what we were already doing, blending strength and endurance in a way that prepares athletes for real performance,” he says.

Belliard says that one of the key benefits of HYROX is its low barrier to entry; official events hold plenty of beginner competitions and because the HYROX stations are the same across every race, it’s easy to focus on the stations and build progression. So: big ticks for accessibility and scalability.

Belliard says HYROX really is a great all-round workout regimen. “It fills the gap between endurance racing and functional fitness,” he says. “A lot of people think it’s just about lifting heavy or running long, but the race quickly reveals the gaps. That’s why it resonates: it demands the full picture of fitness, not just one side of it. You can test yourself, come back a few weeks later, and see real progress.”

So far so good: progression is a key marker of a decent fitness plan. As for real-world applications, Jason Smith, a 55-year-old personal trainer and the owner of Fit in Midlife, began his fitness journey at 50 and only recently discovered hybrid sports like HYROX. He specializes in helping midlife men and women improve their health and fitness. Smith says that HYROX in particular has a lot to offer them.

“Focusing on just one form of exercise has a price,” he says. “Excessive cardio will do nothing for your muscle mass and strength, both of which reduce as we age. And excessive strength training does nothing for your cardiovascular health and fitness. But mixing both gives you the ability to live a full and functional life.”

Isn’t It Pretty Restrictive?

HYROX adherents love the word “hybrid,” which, in this case, refers to the melding of functional movements like burpees with cardio and weighted exercises like the farmers’ carry. The idea is that unlike people who focus solely on running or lifting weights, hybrid athletes get the best of all worlds.

For Tommy Hatto, a HYROX amateur with a year’s worth of training behind him, training for HYROX has not only motivated him, but opened him up to accessory work too: additional exercises designed to strengthen his HYROX performance.

“I combine HYROX with traditional strength training and other exercises so my routine is varied, and it keeps me challenged,” he says. “I’m not the biggest fan of cardio, and I find that is the one thing that HYROX gives me is the cardio. From the mix of running, ski ergs, burpees and sled — it doesn’t feel like a chore to burn calories.”

Belliard agrees that HYROX can have an impact on other areas of fitness. “You run better, recover faster and your body can handle more,” he says. “For our members, it’s been a game changer. They don’t have to overhaul their lives to do it; all of the training can happen in the gym, folded into their regular routine. HYROX gives them a clear goal to chase and that extra push is where the breakthroughs happen.”

Which is all well and good, anecdotally, but is there any data to back this up? Turns out, there is. A study published in AHA Journals looked into the impact that different training modalities had on cardio fitness by reviewing data from over 4,000 individuals. The authors concluded that “combined training was the most effective modality and hybrid-type training the second most effective in improving cardiometabolic health-related outcomes in these populations.”

In other words: hybrid training like HYROX is more beneficial that steady state jogging or traditional weight training when it comes to maintaining a healthy heart and lungs.

What Else Does the Science Say?

It’s easy enough to say “I do sport X and I feel great,” but I wanted an objective take. I reached out to Dr. Nicolas Berger, a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at Teesside University, who studies elite sports performance, training adaptations, recovery and environmental physiology. If anyone would know about the health benefits of HYROX, it’s him.

“Training for HYROX alone would in theory give you a very solid foundation for health,” he says. “It combines endurance running with functional strength work, so it covers the basics of cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance and overall conditioning.”

Meanwhile, Belliard explains that for his clients, HYROX training is much broader than just learning how to sprint or perform the perfect burpee.

“We don’t just rehearse the race,” he says. “If all you do is repeat the eight stations, you’ll hit a ceiling quick. At TTL, we build both the engine and the chassis. That means long intervals, threshold runs, compromised running where you lift heavy then run under fatigue, along with mobility and structured strength cycles.”

All of which covers general strength training, but does that really provide a complete picture of health? Berger doesn’t think so.

“HYROX training doesn’t necessarily include mobility, agility, flexibility or maximal strength or speed (sprint) work,” he says. “Yes, HYROX can make you fit and healthy, but adding in some variety around recovery, stretching and different movement patterns would keep you balanced and reduce injury risk.”

Looking at the long-term, Berger says it’s vital to also consider nutrition and lifestyle factors, such as sleep, stress management and a balanced diet: “HYROX training alone cannot provide [these things].”

Train with someone who knows their stuff, like Belliard, and all of the above will be taken into consideration and worked into your training plan. Go it alone, or sign up for sessions at a less reputable gym, and you may find your HYROX program lacking — and the injuries stacking up. Which brings me to my final question.

Yes, HYROX can make you fit and healthy, but adding in some variety around recovery, stretching and different movement patterns would keep you balanced and reduce injury risk.
Dr. Nicolas Berger

Aren’t HYROX Athletes a Bit Too Obsessive?

People who do (sorry, train) HYROX don’t just like it; they love it, to the point that it can become their entire personality, which is tiresome to say the least. The thing is, HYROX isn’t alone in this. We saw it with CrossFit, we see it in cycling…and have you ever spoken to a runner? Yeesh.

“I don’t believe [being obsessed with HYROX] is more common than in any other sport,” says Belliard. “Runners overtrain, cyclists burn out, CrossFitters chase PRs until they break down. HYROX is no different.”

The risk, he says, is when HYROX fans “treat every session like race day” or start with poor form that only gets worse over time.

“We remind beginners and seasoned athletes alike to cycle intensity, prioritize recovery and understand that real progress comes from patience, not punishment,” says Belliard. “When done smart, I feel HYROX training can actually lower injury risk because you’re building both strength and endurance instead of specializing to an extreme.”

Berger says that when training starts to become an obsession, it can go from functional overreaching to non-functional overreaching — or even overtraining.

“As there are so many ‘stations’ to HYROX, this could easily be done if someone focuses heavily on improving in each area,” he says. “Physiologically, that means chronically high stress hormone levels, blunted adaptation and reduced performance rather than improvement. Mentally, it can narrow focus so much that other important areas, such as relationships, career or general wellbeing, get neglected. In the end, health and performance come from balance; too much volume or intensity without recovery doesn’t just halt improvements in fitness, it can actually reduce quality of life.”

Crucially, Berger says that “Specializing in any sport inevitably creates gaps; the body adapts to the demands placed on it. For example, runners optimize cardiovascular fitness but typically have poor upper-body strength, and cyclists often see reductions in bone mineral density due to the non–weight-bearing nature of the activity.”

“In reality, HYROX is not a true sport in the traditional sense, and much of its appeal comes from the culture around it: aesthetics, competition and the spectacle of people pushing themselves,” Berger adds. “The danger is that people treat it as all they need, when in truth, a more balanced approach to training is always healthier in the long run.”

Ultimately, there is no sport that covers all bases. To excel in one field naturally means neglecting another element of fitness. So by all means, sign up to your local HYROX gym — just remember, maintaining a healthy body demands a lot more of you than simply shaving seconds off your HYROX time.