AusFitness Expo Sydney is back at ICC Sydney from 11–13 September 2026, and this year the event has added something that should get the attention of anyone who trains for more than mirror approval: the Deadly Dozen Fitness Race and the Deadly Fitness Test.

Deadly Dozen was founded by and designed by Jason Curtis, a former British Army Physical Training Instructor, which tells a lot about what it’s going to be like. Don’t worry, its scalable, meaning everyone can have a crack. The race is a centrepiece for AusFitness, a show that’s morphed into part expo, part live sport, and part fitness festival. More on that at the bottom.

The Deadly Dozen Arrives in Australia

The Deadly Dozen is a hybrid fitness race that started in the UK in 2024 and has since expanded internationally. It’s a catchy name that pricks at the ego of every man. Pfff, Deadly Dozen. Let’s see how deadly, says every male immediately.

The Deadly Dozen format is built around running and functional strength work, with accessible standards and scalable intensity. That means it is not just for elite athletes. Beginners can have a go, while fitter competitors can push hard enough to find out exactly where the holes are.

At AusFitness Expo Sydney, Deadly Dozen will also run the Deadly Fitness Test, or DFT. It is an alternating run and functional strength workout completed as fast as possible to set a benchmark time. Think of it as a condensed hit-out that tests both cardiovascular fitness and strength endurance.

Or, less politely, a very efficient way to discover that your cardio and your ego are not the same thing.

Why Hybrid Racing is Having a Moment

Back in the day, gym culture was split into tribes: runners, triathlets, lifters, bodybuilders, powerlifters and those whacky Crossfitters. Everyone quietly judged everyone else’s shoes.

Hybrid fitness racing cuts through that. It rewards the jack of all trades, something the military has been doing every since we picked up a spear. The better adapted human for survival is the human who can run, lift, move and, most importatbly, keep fucking going, no matter what. Legs burning? Keep going. About to vomit? Go ahead, but keep going.

That is why events like HYROX, DEKA and Deadly Dozen have taken off. They turn general fitness into something measurable, something primal. You are not just training vaguely to “get fitter”. You are training for what we were meant to do. Your meat-suit has been evolving to do this for millenia. It’s a profound visceral pleasure to make to our bodies do what they was designed for. Male, female, old young: it doesn’t matter. We are all the same.

Importantly there is no hiding in a hybrid race, especially from yourself. If your strength is good but your running is poor, the race will find you. If your cardio is strong but you never train for loaded movement, the race will find you too.

Fitness racing is fair like that. Cruel, painful, sometimes brutally, but always fair.

How fit do you need to be?

The good news is you do not need to be an elite athlete to try a Deadly Dozen-style event. The less comforting news is that you do need to be honest about your training.

A race like this rewards the person who can combine aerobic fitness, strength endurance and pacing. It is not enough to run a decent 5km. You need to handle repeated bouts of work, then get moving again before your body has fully forgiven you.

That last one matters more than people think. The athletes who fall apart are often not the least fit. They are the ones who panic when the real discomfort arrives. It’s going to hurt, don’t be that guy.

How to prepare for your first Deadly Dozen Fitness Test

If you are thinking about signing up, do not overcomplicate it. You do not need a secret military program, a $300 online coach or a supplement stack that requires its own spreadsheet.

You need to run. You need to lift. You need to practise doing both while tired.

Start with two or three runs a week. One should be easy, one should include intervals or tempo work, and one can be a longer aerobic run if your body is coping well. The easy run matters. It builds the engine without smashing you.

Then add two strength sessions a week focused on useful, repeatable movement. Think lunges, squats, carries, rows, push-ups, sled work if you have access, kettlebells, dumbbells and core work.

The magic is in the combination. Once a week, practise compromised running. That means running after strength work, not when you are fresh. For example, do a short run, then a functional movement, then run again. Keep it controlled at first. You are training the skill of moving under fatigue, not trying to win Instagram.

A simple starter session might look like this:

Scale the movements. Scale the load. Keep the quality high. The aim is to finish better over time, not to crawl to your car and call that character building.