MEN’S FITNESS ONLINE

HYROX Workout: The Real Format, Plus a Version for a Normal Gym

See the actual HYROX workout, official Open-division loads included, plus a version using standard gym equipment if you don’t have a sled or ski erg.

Todd Cole
Overhead view of a full HYROX event floor with competitors racing through stations


Sharkskin Thermal Flex wetsuit

A HYROX workout is 8km of running broken into eight even 1km efforts, each one followed immediately by a functional station: no rest, no pause to recover, just straight into the next thing while your legs are already cooked from the last. That combination, endurance racing stacked directly on top of strength work, is what makes it feel so different from a normal gym session or a normal run.

HYROX competitors on rowing ergs during the race
Rowing is one of two cardio-machine stations in the official format, alongside the SkiErg.

The actual race workout

These are the official loads for the men’s Open division. Women’s Open is 102 kg and 78 kg on the sleds, 2 × 16 kg kettlebells, a 10 kg sandbag and a 4 kg wall ball; Pro is heavier (all of them are in HYROX weights by division).

  1. Run 1km, then SkiErg 1000m
  2. Run 1km, then sled push – 152kg including the sled, 50m
  3. Run 1km, then sled pull – 103kg including the sled, 50m
  4. Run 1km, then burpee broad jumps – 80m
  5. Run 1km, then rowing 1000m
  6. Run 1km, then farmers carry – 2x24kg kettlebells, 200m
  7. Run 1km, then sandbag lunges – 20kg sandbag, 100m
  8. Run 1km, then wall balls – 6kg ball, 100 reps to finish

The fastest racers finish in under an hour; the average is about 1:35 for men and 1:50 for women across more than 700,000 results (HyroxDataLab). The honest answer to “which part hurts most” is usually the run straight after the sled work, not the sled work itself.

HYROX competitor carrying a 20kg sandbag during the sandbag lunges station
The sandbag lunges station: 100m carrying a 20kg sandbag in the Open men’s division.

A HYROX-style workout for a normal gym

Most commercial gyms don’t have a sled track or an official HYROX setup, which is most of why “hyrox workout” gets searched so much: people want to know what to actually do without the specialist gear. This version keeps the structure, running plus a station, eight times through, and swaps in equipment most gyms already have:

  1. Run 1km, then rowing machine 1000m (stand-in for the SkiErg)
  2. Run 1km, then loaded treadmill push or heavy prowler push, 50m
  3. Run 1km, then sled pull with a resistance band or rope, or a heavy backward-walking sled drag, 50m
  4. Run 1km, then burpee broad jumps, 80m (needs no substitute, it’s bodyweight)
  5. Run 1km, then rowing machine 1000m again, or a ski erg if your gym has one
  6. Run 1km, then farmers carry with dumbbells or kettlebells, 200m
  7. Run 1km, then walking lunges holding a sandbag, plate or dumbbell, 100m
  8. Run 1km, then wall balls or thrusters, 100 reps

Scale the loads down if this is your first time through the whole thing. The point of a first attempt is finishing the format intact, not matching Open-division numbers you haven’t trained for.

HYROX competitors pushing weighted sleds during the sled push station
The sled push: 152kg including the sled in the Open men’s division, and where most first-timers lose the most time.

How to pace it without blowing up

The single most common mistake is treating the first two or three rounds like a normal training session, because they still feel easy. They won’t feel easy by round six. Run the first kilometre at a pace you could hold for the whole session, not a pace that feels good because you’re fresh. The sled stations are where most people lose the most time relative to their fitness level, since sled work rewards technique as much as raw strength, so it’s worth practising the push and pull specifically rather than assuming general leg strength will carry you through.

Where to go next

For a deeper look at any single station, see all 8 explained individually. This is one workout, not a training program: see how to actually build one if you’re preparing to race, not just trying it once. If you’re actually preparing to race, our free eight-week HYROX training plan for beginners builds toward this exact format properly, and our HYROX explainer covers the full official rules, divisions and where events are actually held in Australia.

Three shorter HYROX workouts to train with

You don’t need to do the full race in training. These three each take under an hour and target the parts that decide race day:

  • Half HYROX: four rounds of 1 km run plus one station (sled push, sled pull, farmers carry, wall balls at 50 reps), at race weights. The best test of how your legs handle running after the sleds.
  • Compromised running intervals: 6 rounds of 20 wall balls or 20 lunges straight into a 1 km run at goal race pace, 2 minutes’ rest between rounds.
  • Station EMOM: 30 minutes, rotating every minute through 15 cal SkiErg, 15 cal row, 10 burpee broad jumps, 20 m farmers carry and 15 wall balls. Builds station efficiency without a full run.

Scale the weights for your first few weeks, then build toward race loads.

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