What’s Hyrox? How to train for the global hit indoor fitness race

Sunday, 2 February 2025

Hyrox first launched in 2017, and this year’s world champs are here in Aotearoa. Amberleigh Jack, pictured centre, joined a gym class to find out what it’s all about.

**Amberleigh Jack is a freelance lifestyle writer. She tries out the latest health and wellbeing trends in a **monthly feature for the Sunday Star-Times.

If you’ve ever wondered if an out-of-shape, ageing, injury-prone journalist could step from the couch straight into global fitness race, Hyrox, on a whim - the answer is: not this journalist.

It’s a shame. Especially having promised my editor a Hyrox experience story. They probably want more than, “I looked it up and I’m not fit enough for that”.

A futile attempt may have been entertaining, but spending more than $200 to prove my sheer lack of fitness to a crowd of thousands wasn’t on my 2025 Bingo card. I also enjoy being able to use my arms and legs without crying post failed workout tears for days.

Luckily my former gym from my fitter days - Auckland’s Carbon Method CrossFit - has recently become Hyrox-affiliated. I may not be gasping and suffering at Auckland Showgrounds’ Hyrox Auckland race this weekend - but jumped at an invite to watch as head coach and owner, Mark Holyoake, ran his members through a simulated race, before joining them in a class as they prepared for the event.

The trend

Not Amberleigh: Jordi Duff, left, has been training at F45 for seven years and has more recently been involved in the Hyrox competition.

What even is Hyrox? It’s an indoor fitness race. It’s grown since starting in 2017, and events are held globally every year. There are even world champs. This year the world champs are in Chicago, but for the first time Aotearoa is this weekend hosting one of four qualifying events (the others are in Turin, Maastricht and Las Vegas).

It’s sold as perfect for all ages and fitness levels, but there’s still plenty of work involved. You run 8km (some opt to walk, Holyoake assures me), but each 1km leg has a work station at the end. You’ll use a SkiErg and push and pull a heavy sled. You’ll do burpees at one station, rowing at another. There are farmer carries and lunges. The brutal-sounding finisher is 100 wall balls (squat holding a medicine ball and throw it at a target as you stand - they’re no fun).

Auckland’s Carbon Method CrossFit head coach and owner, Mark Holyoake, left, watches as a member trains.

The current fastest time is held by US athlete Hunter McIntyre who finished in a little more than 53 minutes in 2023. For most mere mortals, it’ll take a while longer.

Holyoake’s (remarkably fit-seeming) athletes seemed to work for around 1.5 hours. He spends the morning darting his eyes to check everyone know where to lift, lunge or jump next. He tells me Hyrox is still new in NZ, but he could see it taking off.

He’ll probably keep the Hyrox-specific classes going at the gym after the Auckland race. What he loves about it, is its accessibility. You don’t need the high skill or extreme fitness required for CrossFit competitions (something I - who never mastered the art of walking on my hands - can attest to). And the classes (and race if you get there) are a great “entry-level” introduction to CrossFit.

Not that you can’t push yourself to the limit here. Those prepping today encompass a range of ages - all working hard enough to be sweat-drenched and breathing heavy (except the dog, who just seemed stoked to be included).

Amberleigh Jack, left, is pictured before class with coach Lisa Osborne.

The experience

There’s something very intimidating about walking into an established group fitness class knowing your fitness is dire.

Add the fresh memory of those in the race simulation - powering through what looked to be a brutal workload? I’d have turned around if that was an option.

But to train for Hyrox, you’re not racing Hyrox. Classes are designed to prepare for the event, says Holyoake. There’s conditioning, pacing and strength plus - no doubt - the actual movements. There’ll be running. If you enter a race you can show off the work. If you don’t, you’ll still get some high fives and fitness.

The bulk of my class was cardio intervals, with a focus on pacing and consistency. I also dangled from a rope in a pitiful attempt to pull myself up during a warm-up circuit to get muscles firing (failed rope pull or not, I still felt that in my biceps for days).

Amberleigh Jack cycles during the class at Auckland’s Carbon Method CrossFit.

I’m also prone to run-related injuries. Not keen to risk my first attempt in… a long time… in front of half a dozen strangers, I took a spot on a bike while the class hit the pavement.

Having never mastered pacing, I started slow. Getting deep in conversation with someone passing by indicated maybe a little too slow, so I found a pace hard enough to hurt, but not truly suffer.

I did attempt a run around home a few days later. Let’s add that to the list of things that need work this year, yeah?

We ended as small CrossFit-style classes often do - with high fives and encouraging smiles from the day’s coach Lisa Osborne. I got the endorphin hit, without hitting the “I don’t ever want to come back” wall. Nobody judged my sad-looking rope dangling. I realised I miss this.

The class takes a moment to celebrate post-workout.

It’s the community aspect that one woman told me will keep her returning to the same style of training long after the race. Plus, there’s the chance her fitness can take her “around the world”.

Am I blatantly cheating by writing about a race I never attempted? Probably. But - trust me - nobody wants to see that.

What the experts say

The good thing about Hyrox, says Angad Marwah - head of physical performance at Auckland Cricket - is there is “no pressure or high skill involved”.

It’s a fitness race made of movements that don’t require a great deal of technique or mastery, so it’s accessible for high-level athletes and those just wanting to put their fitness training (and mental fortitude) to the test.

You should have some training behind you, he says. It’s not a race you’d wake up, get off the couch and decide to do. (Noted. Thanks.)

“It’s highly accessible and quite simple,” he says, adding that competitors can tackle the race at their own pace.

And the training road can be varied and fun. He’s even used Hyrox-inspired ideas for his team’s pre-season “f… you Friday” sessions - a brutal session of circuits and plenty of running.

“They loved it because it was something different,” he says. And allowed them to push both their physical and mental fitness to the limit.

The verdict

I left Carbon Method CrossFit frustrated - because watching those simulate a race gave me serious FOMO. I wished I’d started this earlier.

I left smiling and missing competition and getting fit with like-minded people.

Whether Hyrox will return to New Zealand is anyone’s guess. But I’d be keen to start from the beginning and see if I can work my way there - just in case.

I call that a win.

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