The world is filled with several unorthodox sports, often overshadowed by more popular activities. The Olympics occasionally sees one or two of these with new events like breaking, and most people might not know that racketball exists when the more popular sport of tennis operates similarly to it. However, one new sport recently started strong with a rapidly growing fanbase of nearly 200,000 athletes over the last few years. The sport of “fitness racing,” or HYROX, has more or less taken Europe and the U.S. by storm. But what exactly is HYROX?
The founding of HYROX occurred relatively recently. According to an article by Compromised Running, the event started due to an idea by Christian Toetzke. In 2015, he felt inspired by the attitudes of people who often attended cycling classes, as they stated “their sport is ‘working out.’
This prompted Toetzke, alongside colleagues Michael Trautmann and Moritz Fuerste, to craft a sport that revolved around working out. HYROX first sprung up in Germany around 2017, but its first event wouldn’t happen until 2018. According to BBC News, the initial event saw decent success with 650 attendees.
Its initial and rapidly growing popularity gave it enough influence to extend its reach to the U.S. the year after its first event. Currently, HYROX stands as the “fastest growing fitness sport in the world,” hosts events in “11 different countries,” and wants to start hosting events in northern regions of Europe.
The sport of HYROX acts similarly to a triathlon but with more repetition. The HYROX website describes how their “fitness racing” events involve athletes essentially going on a marathon interrupted by exercises. Every 1000m, a runner must stop and complete one of eight strength training activities, ranging from lunges while carrying heavy sandbags to “1000m of rowing.” The overall goal is to run 8000m and complete all eight exercises, ending with “wall balls,” where you toss a ball into the air and squat while catching it.
The rest of the exercises throughout HYROX are just as intensive and focus heavily on providing a full-body workout. “Farmers carry,” “sled pull,” and the sandbag-carrying exercise revolve around engaging the body while carrying or moving a heavy object, while activities like “SkiErg” and “burpee broad jumps” use several muscles at once.
While the activity sounds incredibly strenuous and tiring to anyone who isn’t a well-trained athlete, it does little to deter its participants. According to HYROX’s website, approximately “over 98% of [their] athletes complete their HYROX race.” They attribute this to the welcoming and friendly community the sport has fostered, as people encourage others to finish to the best of their abilities and no one else’s.
Above all else, the sport heavily invests in community and engagement. The HYROX website discusses how it avoids making people feel like they were the worst by continually starting new races every few minutes. Additionally, people can take on the races with a friend in the Doubles version of HYROX, or piecewise with the Rally variant.
Hyrox’s next major event will occur at Glasgow, Scotland, from March 12 to March 16.
https://www.compromisedrunning.com/post/the-history-of-hyrox
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68300338 https://hyrox.com/the-history/
