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Inside the ultimate fitness challenge: Victor Hoffer guides us through WFP
French standout Victor Hoffer takes us behind the scenes of the World Fitness Project, showing how pro athletes train, compete and recover at the world’s toughest functional fitness event.
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We now live in the age of functional fitness. Across the world, the traditional gym has been redefined as a space where performance and versatility take precedence over pure aesthetics. It's no longer just about how you look, but the work you can actually do.
This evolution has found its ultimate expression in the World Fitness Project (WFP), a professional league designed to bring order to the world of competitive fitness, swapping one-off events for a season-long narrative. With paid pro contracts and a transparent points system that mirrors the ATP or Formula One, the WFP offers a clear pathway from the community floor to the elite ranks. Here, it’s about more than just a leaderboard; it is a structured season that values integrity and athlete welfare as much as the weight on the bar.
Victor Hoffer offers his support and coaching during the WFP Finals
© Esben Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull
Victor Hoffer understands the demands of this new era better than most. The 22-year-old French standout is part of the new generation who have grown up alongside the sport of functional fitness. He's built a reputation on the circuit for his relentless engine and technical mastery, and believes the magic lies in that balance. As he puts it, "the most interesting part is that we do not have to be excellent in one thing, but we have to be good at everything,” he says. “We are the fittest because we can do almost everything."
While an unfortunately timed injury forced him to watch this year’s WFP finals in Copenhagen from the sidelines, his insight into the grit required to compete at this level is unparalleled. In a sport where being a specialist is a weakness and versatility is the only true currency, Hoffer is the perfect pilot to guide us through what really happens on a WFP competition day.
Victor Hoffer in front of the hotel and competition arena of the WFP Finals
© Esben Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull
Inside the game: follow a pro athlete through a WFP competition day
Inside Copenhagen’s Bella Arena, the air thick with chalk dust and anticipation, we see elite athletes sprawled in recovery zones and refuelling between events. Just metres away, the next heat is already redlining on the competition floor. The buzz of a knowledgeable crowd - spectators who live this lifestyle themselves - fills the space as fresh equipment is hauled into place for the next gruelling tests.
Laura Horváth during a workout at the Wolrd Fitness Project finals
© Esben Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull Content Pool
Despite it being well into the run of things, competition day starts long before the first barbell is loaded. If the first event kicks off at 10am, Hoffer is awake by 7am to begin the process of priming his engine - a calculated routine of fuelling and focus. He explains that breakfast is built around performance. "My breakfast is a lot of carbs,” he says, so he can have a strong base for “the whole day.”
As for the physical preparation, that happens in a tighter window. Athletes have a specific rhythm to maintain their edge without burning out before the whistle. "The warming up will start 45 minutes before the first event," Hoffer expands. From there, the day becomes a repetitive cycle of "carbs, warming up, competition time, resting, sleeping and then we go again.”
Crowds cheer for functional fitness pro Jonne Koski during a workout
© Esben Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull Content Pool
In Copenhagen, logistics play a significant role in the athletes’ recovery. The proximity of the athletes' hotel allows for a level of rest that other venues often lack. Hoffer quickly points out that this set-up is a "perfect combination because the hotel is on the side, so athletes can finish the workout and just go to sleep if they want to."
Finding that rest is as much a mental battle as a physical one. The pressure of a major final can keep even the best athletes awake, adrenaline surging, but Hoffer has found his own way to manage the load. "Personally, it’s hard for me to sleep the night before the competition starts," he admits. "But once it begins, I can sleep just fine." Once the first event is under his belt, the nerves settle, the athlete takes over and the real work gets done.
A season-long battle that rewards consistency, not just a single weekend
The WFP is not just another weekend throwdown. To get to this point, each athlete must grind through a season-long war of attrition that demands consistently elite performance over several months. Hoffer explains that the system is designed to provide different steps of competition where athletes accumulate points. Unlike other formats that define a winner in one short weekend, this is an endurance test - it mirrors Formula One or tennis, Hoffer explains - with a ranking system over the year. The stakes peak in Copenhagen, where the final stop carries double points and the ultimate champion is decided. “We determine who is the fittest person in the world,” he says.
Victor Hoffer cheers with Belgian fans at the WFP final
© Esben Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull
The variety of tests at each tour stop is designed to expose any weakness. At the opening stage in Indianapolis, athletes were hit with a high-skill sprint involving five rounds of 600m runs, ring muscle-ups and snatches. By the time they reached the final day, the test had shifted to a grinding sprint of calorie rowing, burpees over a block, and heavy dumbbell thrusters finished with a 15m overhead walking lunge.
To survive the cut, an athlete must master the ability to switch between technical gymnastics in one heat and a multi-modal endurance piece the next. As Hoffer puts it, ‘the most interesting part is that we do not have to be excellent in one thing but we have to be good at everything.’ It is this balance between swimming, running, lifting, and gymnastics that defines the world’s fittest. ‘We are the fittest because we can do almost everything.’
The mental edge: what separates champions from the rest
Winning at this level requires more than just a massive lung capacity; it demands a psychological resilience that can withstand a four-day battering. For Hoffer, the mental edge is the "full package" that separates the podium finishers from the rest of the field. He looks to Laura Horváth - who would go on to win the WFP in Copenhagen - as the blueprint. "She’s strong at everything - lifting, gymnastics, endurance - but overall, has a strong mindset," he notes.
Laura Horváth won the inaugural World Fitness Project title
© Esben Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull Content Pool
This mental grit is best personified by his training partner, Jelle Hoste. Hoffer describes Hoste as a "good fighting guy" who sets the standard for intensity in the gym. The philosophy is simple: no shortcuts. It is a relentless pursuit of improvement that doesn't allow for excuses, even when the body is screaming to stop. Even while sidelined, Hoffer is using the finals to sharpen his own perspective. "I realised how much we still have to work if I want to get there," he admits. "People are getting fitter and fitter every time."
From spectator to pro athlete: learning from the elite in real time
The WFP is unique competition, and one of the first of its kind, because the line between the spectator and the athlete is built on a shared language. In most professional sports, the crowd is there to watch a game they may have never playedl, or at least having played since their school days. In Copenhagen, those in the stands are often students of the movement. "Most of the people were spectators, but spectators who practise functional fitness themselves," Hoffer says, having coached many of them first-hand in his WFP activation classes.
Hoffer enjoys coaching the functional fitness community
© Esben Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull
This creates a community of observers who aren't just watching for entertainment; they are there to digest how the elite operate under fire. They see the pacing, the technical efficiency, and the transitions, taking those lessons back to their own gyms on Monday morning. "People who come are already involved in the sport," Hoffer explains. "They would love to be on the floor as well and that's why they are here to watch what's happening."
Hoffer has a passion for coaching
© Espen Zøllner Olesen/Red Bull
For those looking to bridge the gap and start their own journey, Hoffer’s advice is stripped of any ego. "It’s simple - go on Google, find a gym close to you, and just jump in for a drop-in workout to see how it feels."Albeit he was first introduced to functional fitness by his parents, this is still pretty much exactly how a world-class athlete like Hoffer started, and in this sport, the community is always ready to welcome the next generalist.
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