Good morning! I hope your May is going so well. This week’s newsletter topic comes from my friend Victor H., who I’m hoping to crush in a HYROX competition later this year.

A friendly reminder: Pretty please (with a 🍒 on top) click on the advertisement below! You don’t have to do anything more than click, and I get paid. This week’s ad is particularly lucrative, so you can buy me an iced coffee with just the click of a button. I greatly appreciate your clickage, pals. ✊ 

(If this email was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive this weekly newsletter, sign up below!)

Your best practice starts with accepting insurance

When looking for a mental health provider, over half of patients want one who takes their insurance.

Headway helps you do it with ease. Get credentialed, secure better rates with top plans, and earn a steadier income with bi-weekly payments.

It's all on one free-to-use platform, no commitment required.

Join our network for free

HYROX 101

Have you heard of HYROX? It’s a fitness race that’s rapidly growing in popularity, combining running with functional exercises. It’s a test of both endurance and strength, and it could be the fitness challenge you’ve been waiting for—whether you're looking to compete or simply enhance your training.

HYROX is a standardized indoor fitness race consisting of 8 kilometers of running (broken into eight 1-kilometer segments) with 8 functional workout stations between each run. Each station tests your strength, endurance, and mental toughness. The standardized workout stations include the ski ergometer, sled pushes and pulls, rowing, wall balls, a farmers carry, weighted lunges, and burpee broad jumps, with by a 1 km run between each station. Check out the graphic below for an outline of the race:

Every Hyrox event is the same worldwide, which allows athletes to track their progress and compare results globally. There are different divisions which involve different weights for the movements, with Singles Division weights outlined in the graphic below:

A brief history: HYROX was founded in 2017 by Christian Toetzke, an experienced mass participation event organizer, and Moritz Fürste, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in field hockey. The idea was born out of Toetzke's observation that millions of people were training in gyms but lacked a competitive event tailored to their fitness routines. He envisioned a race that combined running with functional exercises, reflecting the workouts many gym-goers were already doing. The name "HYROX" is a portmanteau of "hybrid" and "rockstar," symbolizing the blend of endurance and strength in the competition. 

Why should you consider giving HYROX a try?

• Full-body fitness: HYROX challenges both your cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength for a complete workout.

• Track your progress: Compete against yourself or others by tracking your performance across events.

• Accessible for all levels: From beginners to elite athletes, HYROX offers divisions to suit various fitness levels.

• Build community: HYROX is as much about having fun and meeting new people as it is about competing.

HYROX vs. CrossFit: A Quick Comparison

When you think of a functional fitness community, CrossFit may be the first to come to mind. While both HYROX and CrossFit involve functional fitness, HYROX is a standardized fitness race, with a fixed format of running and functional exercises that you can measure progress against. CrossFit, on the other hand, focuses on general fitness through varied workouts that constantly change. While CrossFit incorporates a wide range of movements, including Olympic lifting, HYROX training is specifically geared toward preparing you for a single, specific, timed event combining endurance and strength.

CrossFit is like a buffet of fitness, offering a wide variety of exercises that challenge every aspect of your strength, speed, endurance, and agility. Just like a buffet has something for everyone, CrossFit’s constantly varied workouts ensure you’re constantly learning and improving in different areas.

HYROX, on the other hand, is like Thanksgiving dinner. It’s a singular, special meal with familiar staples you know you’re going to encounter. It’s a structured race format where every movement and every mile has a purpose. Just like planning your appetizers, roll intake, and turkey portion size while leaving room for pie, HYROX is all about pacing yourself and pushing through set challenges, with the goals of A. just getting through it all and B. improving your performance over time. 🦃 

Training for HYROX: Key Strategies

Training for a HYROX event involves building a blend of endurance, strength, and functional fitness. HYROX combines running with exercises that challenge your muscles and aerobic capacity. Since the event includes a set format, preparation is about training both the running and functional exercises, while also building mental toughness to push through the entire race.

Here are the key training strategies:

1. Interval Running & Pacing

One of the most important aspects of training for HYROX is preparing your body to run 1 km at a time—but not just at any pace. The challenge is sustaining a challenging pace through multiple rounds of running and exercises. This requires a combination of speed work and endurance training.

• Speed Work: Incorporate interval training (such as 400m repeats) at race pace or slightly faster. This builds your speed and VO2 max, both crucial for pushing yourself during those 1km runs.

• Tempo Runs: Practice running at a consistent pace just below your race pace for longer periods, like 4-5 km. This will help you maintain endurance while working on mental toughness during race-day discomfort.

• Longer Runs/Rows: Include long, slower runs or rowing in Zone 2 (lower intensity) to improve your aerobic base, just like you would for a marathon or long-distance race. This type of cardio builds your endurance and prepares your body for the total race distance.

2. Strength and Functional Movements

HYROX has stations that target different muscle groups and require full-body strength. While you won’t be lifting maximal loads, you’ll need functional strength for exercises like sled pushes, lunges, rowing, and wall balls, with a particular focus on muscular endurance. Training for this requires a focus on compound movements and movements that mimic the event itself.

• Sled Pushes & Pulls: Mimic these movements with leg presses or sled pulls in the gym. Focus on pushing power with the legs and core stabilization. These moves work on your lower body strength, explosive power, and muscular endurance.

• Wall Balls: Include squats and overhead presses in your training. Wall balls require strength and endurance in the legs, shoulders, and core, so include full-body movements like thrusters (a combination of squat and overhead press) to prepare.

• Farmers Carry and Lunges: These movements require grip strength, core stability, and leg strength. Incorporate lunges and heavy carries to train your body for these exercises. Hold weights in each hand for a long distance, mimicking the movement in HYROX.

3. Event Simulation & Mental Toughness

The unique part of HYROX is its structured format, where each run is followed by a functional exercise. To prepare, simulate the event itself!

• Full Event Simulation: Once or twice a month, try completing the entire race simulation. Run 1 km, followed by each exercise station (in order). Start at a moderate pace and try to replicate the intensity of a race environment. This helps you build pacing and get used to the intensity of the race.

• For those new to functional exercises, try adding one new movement per week and gradually increase your training volume.

What If You Don’t Want to Compete? How to Use HYROX Training to Boost Your Fitness

Not interested in competing? No problem!

You don’t need to sign up for a race to benefit from HYROX-style training. Here’s how you can use its principles to boost your fitness:

• Improve endurance and strength: Incorporating running with functional strength exercises like sled pushes, rowing, and lunges will help you develop a well-rounded fitness routine.

• Get out of your comfort zone: HYROX training challenges both your body and mind. It’s a great way to push past plateaus in your fitness journey.

• Mix things up: If you’re tired of the same old gym routine, the variety in HYROX workouts will keep you engaged and motivated.

Whether you’re adding intervals, functional movements, or simulating part of the race, HYROX-style training is a great way to break through fitness plateaus and keep things exciting.

Ready to take your fitness to the next level?

Whether you’re training for a HYROX event or just want to add variety to your routine, this challenge will push your limits and improve your overall fitness. Have questions or need help getting started? Reach out—I’d love to help!

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Begin incorporating some of the functional exercises, or running intervals, into your training.

Level 2: Try workouts that alternate between expressions of strength and expressions of cardiovascular effort. It’s a whole new level of fatigue and pushing yourself!

Level 3: Sign up for a HYROX and get to training, baby!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Sorry, pals, I got nothin new for ya this week! If you have any cool links, resources, podcasts, articles, etc., please send them my way to consider including in future newsletters.

Stay well, train hard.

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).