Hyrox Workout Plans: Your Ultimate Guide to Hyrox Success

So you’ve decided to take on the Hyrox fitness test! Now it’s time to figure out how to perform at your best come race day. We’ve taken all of our tricks, hacks and top training tips for Hyrox and put them all in one place for you. There is bucket loads of coaching gold in here and a guaranteed PB for those who make it to the end of this blog post.

Before we dive into the real Alpha, let’s just remind ourselves of what Hyrox actually entails.

The Workout

The fitness race that’s sweeping the world of adult PE includes no less than eight, one-kilometer runs. Sandwiched by those runs, you’ll find 8 workout stations you need to tackle. These stations will test all facets of fitness and make those runs tougher and tougher.

The Functional Workout Stations

Ski Erg

The first HYROX workout station is 1000m on the Ski Erg. This erg predominantly targets the arm, shoulder & core muscles, however when done efficiently, it also involves muscles in the lower body – making the Ski Erg a full body workout.

Sled Push 

The second workout station is 50m of Sled Push. This is one station you do not want to come unprepared for… so make sure you try it out at least once before your race and invest in some grippy shoes! This movement targets the lower body muscles, including the entire posterior chain, core & anterior thigh muscles in particular.

Sled Pull 

Get ready to use your glutes, back, biceps & the entire trunk during workout station three – 50m of Sled Pull.

Burpee Broad Jumps

The fourth workout station is the dreaded burpee. Some pretend to love burpees, but we know deep down that laying down and standing up is tough! Then Hyrox makes you jump between your reps too! You’ll cover 80m doing these before you’re back out on the run loop.

Rowing

Station number five is the second ergometer in this fitness race. 1000m of rowing marks the beginning of the second half of your HYROX race.

Farmers Carry

For 200m of Farmers Carry, engagement of your upper back muscles, core & grip strength is required. This workout station is easy to practise on your weekly shop…

Sandbag Lunges

10, 20 or 30 kilograms on your back whilst lunging? Welcome to workout station number seven. Primarily targets the thigh and glute muscles, this one is a burner…

Wall Balls

The final station… Wall Balls. With the finish line in sight, it’s time to finish your race in style and hang on for dear life! The very best will go unbroken, can you!?

How to get faster at Hyrox Exercises

Every workout station is an opportunity to save time and pick off a few athletes in your category. But to do so you’ll not only need to be fitter, faster and stronger. But, you’ll also need to understand how you can perform each exercise efficiently, how to conserve energy and ultimately what your strengths and weaknesses are.

We’ve pulled together stacks of top tips for you here on every Hyrox workout station so you can prepare yourself for the event. 

Workout Station # 1: Ski Erg 

There are three keys to Ski speed…

Tip #1 Bend Your Arms

A common mistake for skiers is to pull with straight arms. This makes it harder to generate power as you progress through the pull, robbing you of speed. Instead, keep a slight bend in your elbows at the top of your stroke then drive your elbows down in a straight line – elbows pointing down not out.

Tip 2: FAST at the top

Being efficient on the SkiErg means creating powerful strokes that are timed to perfection. This keeps the flywheel moving as quickly as possible for as long as. Let’s think about how we’re producing that power…

Each stroke has two phases: 

1. The Pull: Driving the handles from the top, down. 

Most of the power is generated at the top of the Ski pull. It’s crucial to hit the stroke hard at the top by fixing yourself to the handles. When you reach up, take a deep breath in and brace as if you’re about to get jabbed in the stomach! As you hinge at your hips try to move at your fastest in the first second on the stroke.

The power curve drops off quickly on a Skierg stroke – the power you generate is huge to start, then quickly lessens the further into the pull you get – this means you need to work HARD at the start of every stroke then can immediately think about your recovery.

2. The Recovery: bringing the handles to the top 

Once you’ve finished your pull, you have about a second to find your way back to that powerful starting position. As you do, take a deep breath in again, don’t rush! The fly wheel is spinning and churning through the meters for you. It’s important that you get back to a powerful position and make the most of every stroke – no wasted energy.

Tip 3: Find Your Rhythm

Finding a cadence on the SkiErg is tough! Your height and limb length will have a huge impact on your strokes per minute, so it makes it very hard to generically coach. But the rhythm of your stroke and the rate at which you breath during the ski isn’t so difficult to generalise. 

Hyrox isn’t a quick event, on average you’ll be working for 93 minutes. This means that we should be working at just below ‘threshold’ – a pace that it touching on uncomfortable to maintain, but one that enables us to hold control of our breathing throughout the event.

This means your rhythm of movement on the ski, your cadence, needs allow you to breath. As a general rule of thumb, we suggest trying to maintain a one breath per stroke approach to the ski. Exhale as you pull, inhale as you recover. 

With enough practice, you’ll find a rhythm that feels natural and efficient. And with a little bit of time and effort, you’ll be dominating the SkiErg in no time!

Workout Station #2: Sled Push

Trick 1: Practice! 

Sounds daft and obvious, maybe it’s not much of a trick at all. But the average time taken to complete the sled push and sled pull are the slowest of all stations. It’s the one bit of kit that is hard to replicate and that most wont go out of their way to find and practice. You’ll really set yourself up for success if you can get your hands on one!

Trick 2: Don’t watch anyone else! 

You’ll see all sorts of tekkers… straight arms, bent arms, people pushing with their shoulders and the odd numpty trying to use their noggin for a little extra nudging. If you’ve practised, stick to what you know. 

If you didn’t manage to find a seld, get close and get low. Shoulders as close to the sled as possible and arms as low as possible. Too high and you’ll be pushing the front of the sled into the ground. Too far away and you’ll be unnecessarily taxing your shoulders. 

Trick 3: Push until it burns, then count 6 steps. 

Sleds are a mental challenge. You won’t be moving quickly even if you’re an absolute ninja. This poses a mental battle that matches the physical requirements to push. Get stuck in! Just keep stomping those feet and when it starts to burn, make yourself stomp 6 more times before you take a break.

How to train sled pushes without a sled

For some, access to a sled pre-race is just not possible. Fear not! Whilst you can’t train for anything optimally without doing the very exercise you’re training for, there’s plenty of things you can do to prepare you as best as possible.

Strength exercises 

The sled push does require the legs to work in tandem. but the stepping motion of the exercise puts some emphasis on one leg at a time. You can replicate that motion with any exercise that simulates a walking motion – Step Ups, Walking Lunges, Farmer’s Walks – even just climbing lots of stairs! Progression for these exercises would involve adding weight. 

The sled push is likely to take 3-5 minutes so try to relicate that time domain with sets of 40-60 seconds with a short rest. 

Another powerful alternative is “The dead treadmill”. Turn off the treadmill and try to move the belt around without the machine’s assistance. This is frowned upon in some gyms so don’t get told off! If it’s a no-go in your gym don’t worry, finding a big hill and doing some hill sprints will also be a great substitute too. 

Here are some exercises to help improve your sled push

1. The Banded March The Banded March
2. The Banded March Carry Banded March Carries – YouTube

Workout Station #3 Sled Pull 

Workout station three is the killer! Consistently taking longer than any other workout station in UK in the 22/23 season. We think that’s because of similar reasons to the Sled Push, it’s often not prepared for in the same fashion as the other workout stations. 

There’s typically three techniques to try on the sled. Each has its merits and will favor different types of athlete

Three Sled Pull Techniques

There are three techniques to the Sled Pull, we’re going to use all three during each 20m length on race day..

1. Hand-over-hand: The first 5 meters

When you arrive at the sled pull you should be well recovered in the upper body from the Ski. We’re going to utilise that in the initial few meters of the seld with the hand-over-hand pull.

To do it, set yourself in a half squat whilst. Pull the sled towards you using your arms only – hand over hand. Make the pulls short, make them smooth but pull strong. 

2. Hip Drive: 5-15 meters

Once the upper body pull fatigues it’s time to start utilising the hips and your body weight. 

This technique is a little easier than the arm pull, but it also puts more emphasis on the lower body, don’t let that catch you out. Starting in the same position as the hand-over-hand technique, drive your feet into the floor and as you feel tension build in the rope lean back and pull with your arms at the same time. Run the hands down the rope and repeat. 

It’s a start-stop technique but you’ll be taking chunks of distance out with every pull.

3. The Leg Pull – the final 5 meters

At this point we want to be thinking about the next length and conserving the upper body. 

For the last few meters, grab hold the rope and use your legs to pull the sled towards you. Be careful not to step outside your box!

How to train for a sled pull without a sled 

There are tons of exercises you could utilise if you don’t have access to a sled, here are just a few:
Barbell Bent-over rows: The sled pull catches people out for a number of reasons, but a consistent reason it’s often looked at as a purely pulling movement – it’s far from it. The sled is heavy and very few people can hand over hand pull the sled. The technique 

Single-arm dumbbell rows: Also known as a Gorilla row, will help you balance and stabilize your core whilst pulling just like you’ll need to on the Sled. Set two dumbbells on the floor, get into your push up position with your hands on your dumbbells and then row one dumbbell at a time to your rib cage

Plate Gun Hold: The biceps play a big role in the sled pull, they’re fixed in a position and pumped as we drive with the legs in techniques two and three – prepare them! A plate gun hold involves holding a bumper plate (ow a DB) on it’s sides – at three and nine o’clock, then lowering the plate until the elbows are at 90 degrees… and hold… and hold… and hold. Aim for 30-45seconds in that fixed position.

Workout Station #4: Burpee Broad Jumps

First things first, check the rule book! As movement standards are different for each category.

After you’re clear on what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, the burpees are all about pacing. At this point in the race you’re going to be feeling it. But you can ALWAYS do another burpee! 

Tip # 1 Stay in control of your breathing

The aim of the game during the burpees is to keep moving forward. Whichever category you’re in, every thought you have and body part you move needs to be helping you go forward. To do that we need to stay in control and be able to think about what we are doing and not be frantically worrying about how tired we are. 

Our top tip for the burpees is to think about your breathing. You want to be moving at an “RPE7”, that is your rate of perceived effort is a seven out of ten. Check out the video below if you haven’t heard of the RPE scale before

Tip #2 Fall forward 

As you stand up from each burpee, as your feet land together, imagine yourself falling forward – there’s never a moment in which you’re just standing. 

If you’re stepping out of your burpees, roll from heel to toe as your foot lands, then jump down straight down for the next rep. 

If you’re jumping up from the floor with both feet, cushion the landing with bent knees then keep bending them so that you fall to the floor. 

Try to never just stand and stop.

Training for the burpees at Hyrox 

Getting to grips with what we just said will take time and practice. The best format of training to find your burpee pacing strategy is an EMOM – every minute on the minute.

EMOM – Every minute on the minute

It is a type of interval training that involves performing a set number of repetitions of an exercise at the top of each minute. Pick an easy number to start and complete that number of reps every minute for 10 minutes. Complete this workout once a week until you find a number that you can’t complete every minute for 10 minutes. 

Workout Station #5: Rowing

The second of the erg workout stations is on the Concept 2 Rowing machine. As with our SkiErg there are some points of performance that are vital to practice and get right on the day. At this stage in the race you’ll need to be efficient and conserve as much energy as possible. 

The first thing to note is athletes can choose their preferred damper setting before starting the exercise. However, they must stick with that setting for the entire duration of the exercise. Finding the correct dampener setting for you will take some practice. In essence, we’re looking for a damper setting that enables us to maintain an efficient stroke and control of our breathing. 

The perfect rowing technique 

Check out this video for a whole bunch of rowing technique tips and get practising!

Pacing the row

In every workout station, we are effectively playing a game of too fast or too slow. Hopefully, by the time you get to the race day you’ll be well aware of how quickly you can row 1,000m. But rowing under fatigue is a whole different ball game and you can’t predict how you’ll feel when you sit down on that seat. 

Three top tips for pacing your hyrox row

Tip 1: Have your rowing pace goal but be prepared to adapt on the fly. Remember our RPE scale from above, you should be rowing at an RPE7/8. If your rowing goal pace feels higher than that you’ll need to take it dow a notch. 

Tip 2: Always be thinking what’s next. After the row you will still have about 30 minutes left of the event including three runs. Overcooking the row could really cost you! Rowing 10 seconds faster is great, but if you run 5 seconds per kilometre slower after this station, you’ll end up with a slower time. Keep it controlled and move efficiently!

Tip 3: Chunk it. You’ve got 1,000m to row, let’s break that into four 250m chunks

1st 250m: row slightly under your target pace (or an RPE6)

From 250m – 500m: gradually build the pace to your target pace and note how it’s feeling, from there you can decide whether you can hold it or if you’re on one and can go just under.

From 500m – 900m: Keep at the pace you’ve decided feels like an RPE7/8 for today

From 900m – 1,000m: back it off slightly, breathe! And prepare yourself to get off and get to your target running pace as fast as possible.

Workout Station #6 Farmers Carry

The farmer’s carry is deceiving, it’s a test disguised in simplicity. Pick something up and carry it… you do that every day! How hard can it be? But 40ish minutes into a tough workout, even the simplest of tasks become difficult. 

Grip and rip!

There’s no secret to fast farmers carry. No tricks we can share to get you swiftly around the 3 switchbacks or even a grip hack that will see those kettlebells glued ot your hands. This is pure grunt work and your training for this workout station needs to be just that. 

Here’s our guide to the Farmer’s carry, as simple as the test itself…

1. Identify your race-day weight
2. Understand that slouching requires more effort than holding yourself tall, keeping your chest proud and pinning your eye on the next bend.
3. Begin in training with farmer walks. Using your race day weight, regularly cover the 200m (and some) with a brisk walk, breaking as needed.
4. Aim to progress that brisk walk into a shuffle, the shuffle into a jog and the jog into a run.

There’s no magic here, just hard work and hard work pays off!

Wokout Station #7: Sandbag Lunges

Now, before talk about how to lunge better than Stavros Flately, we need to make sure we all know the golden rule of lunges… DON’T PUT THE BAG DOWN! If you do, you’ll be disqualified. OK, now we know that, let’s make sure you’re too good at lunges to worry about that anyway!

Three Top tips for Hyrox Lunges

1. Chest up, eyes on the prize. This workout station can offer us a chance to breathe a little. Whilst lunges are tough on the legs, we can only lunge so quickly! Think about keeping your chest proud, you can also do this by keeping your eyes locked on a point in the distance just above hed height. With this upright posture, you can now think about your breathing.
2. Breathe in as you go down and out as you come up. This will help to create a rhythm and prevent your respiration rate from getting too high.
3. Break the lunges into lengths. The layout of the lunges will see you go up and back twice. We can use this change in direction to chunk the lunges.

Length 1: Having just sprinted 1,000m with your legs spinning, we’ll want to take the first few lunges steady. Regain control of our breathing and compose ourselves. 

Length 2 and 3: now you’re back in the room, try to find a  cadence e.g. four quick lunges… breath or two quick lunges… breath. 

Length 4: Avoid the burn. It’s time to think about the run. Moderate your effort/ cadence so that you avoid the real deep burn in the legs. Sure, you’re a warrior and you can take the pain. But a few seconds shaved here going deep into a hole will come back to bite you after. Steady as she goes.

Workout Station #8 Wall Balls

At last, you’ve made it! You’re 20 feet from the finish line and all that stands between you and the glory of the finishing shoot and EPIC photo op on the grandstand is… a lot of Wall Balls. But fear not! We’ve got a game plan for you right here that’ll get you through these faster than you can make a cup of tea.

Yeah, making a cuppa does take a minute, but so does a lot of wall balls. In fact, in London 2022 it took the average male 7:05 to complete the 100 Wall Balls (6kg ball) and the average female 4:48 (3kg ball) in the open category.

Let’s break that down:

Open Male Average = 14 Wall Balls per minute

Open Female Average = 16 Wall Balls per minute

Three top tips for Hyrox Wall Balls

Tip #1

EMOM your Wall Ball training. Using our Hyrox Calculator you can see how long you have to complete the Wall Balls to achieve your target time. Take that time, divide the wall balls evenly across the minutes and there’s your training goal – can you consistently complete that number of wall balls per minute, every minute, until you’ve finished 100 wall balls.

Tip #2 Have a Plan A, B and C

All the training and strategy in the world can prepare you for the Hyrox event on paper, but in reality, things don’t always feel how they did in training. The EMOM strategy is effective. 

When you get to the wall balls start your first set with the intention of completing the number you practiced in tip #1. If they feel tougher today than usual, immediately go to plan B – drop the number by 3-5 reps.

Tip #3 When the going gets tough, get going!

When plan A, B and C don’t work and you’re really struggling, the aim of the game is to chip away at the wall balls in bite-sized chunks. Pick a very small number, 2 or 3. Then every 15 seconds try to complete that number. You can always do a couple of something and as you chip away your judge is going to start shouting a smaller and smaller number of remaining reps. The end will soon be in sight and you’ll have conserved a smidge of energy nibbling away at the wall balls for a finish line sprint.

Finish in style!

There you have it folks! The finish line, slap a massive smile on your face, throw your arms in the air and celebrate like you just won gold at the Olympics. Whether you hit your target time or not, completing the Hyrox fitness test is no easy feat and you should be proud of the effort you put in today.

Wow, that is a lot of info! More tricks and tips that you can remember we’re sure. Remember our Hyrox programs share all of this stuff and more! Our coaching team have worked with first time athletes and World Championship contenders so we’ve got a plan for you wherever you are in your fitness journey. 

If you’re just here for the tips and tricks, head over to our Youtube channel where we upload this kind of content every week.