Fitness
Fitness Training
How HYROX pros balance running and lifting in their training
From building endurance and strength to managing recovery and intensity, discover seven training tips from top HYROX athletes to help you prepare for race day.
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Getting in shape for a HYROX race can be intense. Alongside mastering the eight stations, there’s a whole host of other factors to consider, from recovery and focused training to periodisation, and even how to deal with tired legs.
"In HYROX, the variability of the tasks makes durability even more obvious and even more decisive,” explains HYROX master coach Tiago Lousa. “The sport constantly tests your ability to perform under accumulated fatigue, and that is why durability plays such a central role.”
No two HYROX athletes are the same, and the best of the best know that there is no one-size-fits-all programme. However, there are some common approaches across their training. Here, to help you on your own way to HYROX victory, top athletes share their approach to when, how, and how hard to train – all of it based on their own experience.
01
A weekly plan is vital for HYROX training
Jake Dearden likes to plan out his weekly workouts
© HYROX/Red Bull Content Pool
Jake Dearden is one of the leading athletes in the HYROX Elite Men’s Doubles division, competing alongside his partner Jake Williamson. For Dearden, having a solid weekly plan is essential. Not only does it provide structure and allow for progression, but sticking to a plan can also help top athletes manage fatigue and avoid burnout.
“If you were training four or five times per week, I’d do one HYROX-style session simulating race day where you’re focused on compromised running, then I’d do one threshold session running at pace for 800-metre efforts, then I’d do a slower longer run, and finally a weights session,” says Dearden.
Others take a different approach. “My training week depends on where I am in the season,” adds Hidde Weersma, the first man to complete the HYROX course in under 53 minutes. “Roughly, I run 70/80km per week. If I'm in a building phase or in a race-specific phase, I have two strength sessions a week.”
This will be focused on ‘traditional strength’ like heavy back squats and basic lifts.
“The sessions get shorter as I get more towards the race,” continues Weersma. In the building phase, gym sessions might last 80 minutes each. Approaching a race, these may drop down to 45 minutes each. “You need maximal strength to make your muscles and tendons injury-resilient,” but you don’t want to overdo it before a race.”
Dearden agrees that slowing things down in training is important. Especially when it comes to tweaking your weaker moments. “You have to hone in on a couple of aspects; it might be you need to work on running under fatigue, or transitioning between stations.”
Hidde Weersma is a former triathlete and still works as a strength coach
© HYROX
It’s about focusing on the small areas that will move the needle on race day. “Ask yourself before every exercise, ‘How is this helping me achieve my goal?’” suggests Dearden. “If you can’t answer, don’t do it.”
02
The best HYROX athletes train their weaknesses
Dearden reached a new high in 2025, with a PB of 55:44 at the HYROX Glasgow. Then, in January 2026, he hit another milestone, running a 2:22:08 marathon in Houston. Other HYROX athletes might stick to their established plan after a PB. Dearden knew he could do better.
As a former ultra runner, he knew that his 1km laps needed work and set out to achieve that with some extra-curricular training that fed right back into HYROX. “Prioritise what you want to improve,” he says. “Work on one area, keeping the other on the back burner.
“While I’m running, I’d reduce my strength training from five sessions a week to two or three."
When he felt happy in his running, he was then able to readjust his training accordingly.
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03
The best HYROX athletes train to perform on fatigued legs
HYROX pros like Rončević will work on their weaknesses in training
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
Every Elite athlete has their own approach to weekly training. One of the best HYROX athletes in the sport's history, Alexander Rončević, explains that he does “20 to 25 hours a week, twice a day, with intervals, long runs, strength and technique". Meanwhile, Dearden does “two days of strength work, two days’ running work, focusing on speed and speed endurance. Then, I do one big conditioning session, building up that ability to move on fatigued legs”.
There’s a common theme among the best HYROX athletes, and that’s the need to run on absolutely shattered legs. “Ideally, in training, you should be running for the amount of time you think it’s going to take you to complete the entire course (at least 90 minutes),” says Dearden.
English HYROX Elite 15 athlete Lucy Procter adds: “Running makes up about 40-50 percent of my weekly training hours. Since HYROX is an endurance sport, aerobic training is key, but too much running can lead to fatigue or injury.”
But pounding pavements or treadmills can eventually become too much. "There’s a point where the returns diminish, so instead of overloading on miles, I balance it with other aerobic activities like cycling,” says Procter.
04
Periodisation is key in HYROX training
Lucy Procter balances running with a range of aerobic activities
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
Athletes like Hunter McIntyre, Megan Jacoby and Rončević regularly make history. There’s a reason they’re all frequent faces on the podium, and according to HYROX Academy Education Manager Piers Plowman, that's because the key to high-level HYROX success is periodisation.
Nailing down a HYROX athlete’s weekly training plan is tricky because it’s constantly evolving depending on where they are in the season. Each athlete has a different coach, different strengths and weaknesses, and different personal goals. Some may be racing alone; some may also be participating in Doubles, in which case their training needs to consider how that other person moves, thinks and reacts.
What is consistent across all top athletes is that they train across progressive phases. “They followed structured progressive overload,” says Plowman. “They incorporated deliberate recovery for long-term, sustainable consistency.”
But sometimes, stating consistent with fitness is about saying no to training when you’re not quite feeling it. “You need discipline to say no to that extra run, no to one more hard EMOM [Every Minute On the Minute, a form of workout structure],” explains Plowman. “Overreaching might feel like commitment, but it can wreck consistency.”
In other words, yes, sticking to the plan is vital, but being adaptable and trusting your own body matters most. And sometimes, that’s less about hitting weekly milestones and thinking big picture instead. “I tell my athletes all the time: you're not trying to win Monday, you're trying to win in six months," adds Plowman. "That's where consistency beats intensity.”
05
Good HYROX training relies on balance
Alexander Rončević trains between 20 and 25 hours a week
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
A crucial part of HYROX training is to remember that it’s about hybrid workouts. That means that your cardio and your strength training need to be complementary. Everything you do should be supporting everything else you do, all with the end goal of your HYROX race in mind. “Training should have a blended approach,” says Dearden.
In the past, Dearden’s week consisted of two days of running, two days of strength work, and one big conditioning session. All of this is precise, designed to fit together like a jigsaw.
06
Recovery is a key part of any HYROX training week
Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices. The best athletes know that it’s impossible to go all out all the time. Do that, and you risk overtraining, injury, and even burnout. It’s best to focus on small improvements on a week-by-week basis, rather than give 100 percent to everything.
Ida Mathilde Steensgaard takes on HYROX Chicago
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Don’t just do HYROX classes. Go once a week and use the remaining two days of training for strength and running
“If you want to focus on specific HYROX stations during your training block, you can’t be too fatigued from other things,” says Weersma. “If you focus on low-intensity work, with just one running interval session per week, this will give you the energy to really focus on the thing you want to focus on. You cannot push hard every day. If you do that, the training quality drops. I really believe that you should focus on two key sessions a week, and make sure those sessions go well. If you then feel you can add more work, cool.”
Recovery also comes down to building up mental fortitude, be that in training or when racing. Dearden has a tip. “When I’m in a dark place in competition, I think about all the people watching, all the people that have made the journey to come to support me. You won’t let them down.”
Can you train HYROX just three days per week?
The pros have offered some top-level insight into their own training regime. But HYROX is open to everybody. And not everyone is able to make training a priority. If that’s you, don’t worry. You can get away with dialling it back slightly, for your first race, at least.
“If the objective is to complete the race, keep moving throughout, run all 8km without walking and get through the workouts without feeling overwhelmed, then three well-structured sessions per week can absolutely work,” says Lousa.
Sleep, nutrition and recovery are equally as important as training
© Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool
“Don’t just do HYROX classes,” adds Ida Mathilde Steensgaard. “Go once a week and use the remaining two days of training for strength and running."
There’s a degree of wiggle room here; HYROX training is all about working on your own, unique weak spots, and playing around with what fits you best.
Lousa suggests breaking a three-session week down to a long session of ergs and running, or running and cycling to build up aerobic capacity. The next session should focus on strength, with an emphasis on HYROX movement patterns like lunges, squats, presses, thrusters, and carries.
Finally, lace up the trainers for one pure running session to develop pacing. As your first HYROX approaches, you’ll turn this last session into one focusing on running to and from stations to work on transitions and the ability to perform under fatigue.
“The biggest performance gains often come from doing the basics well,” adds Lousa. Sleep, nutrition, recovery, and stress management are key. “None of those are exciting, but they all matter.
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