There’s a reason why MH cover star Jake Dearden is a Men’s Doubles champion, not to mention a serious threat in the solo field. The 26-year-old British athlete trains hard and often, combining old-school heavy lifting with gruelling running workouts and Hyrox simulations.
But his top piece of advice for fellow competitors isn’t about technique or pacing; it’s about working to your personal limits.
‘The best piece of advice I can give is to train as much as you can recover from,’ he tells Men’s Health. If the demands of a busy job and home life are hindering your ability to bounce back from sessions, he adds, ‘it’s just not going to work’.
The importance of prioritising recovery is a lesson Dearden learned the hard way. A long-time endurance athlete (he ran his first 100km ultramarathon aged 19), he admits that R&R used to be low on his list. ‘I was stupidly running miles and miles and miles, and then doing fitness events for fun,’ he says. ‘Not prioritising recovery is probably the thing that I regret most.’
Want to follow the exact training plan Hyrox champion Jake Dearden used to prepare for the World Championships? Sign up below to gain full access, and build the strength, speed and stamina needed for peak race-day performance. As a member of the MH SQUAD, you’ll also unlock over 2,000 workouts from Fiit, the no. 1 fitness streaming platform, plus receive both print and digital copies of your favourite magazine, along with unlimited access to the Men’s Health UK app.
The biggest mistake he ever made? ‘When I slipped two discs in my back in a race [in April 2023],’ he says. ‘That definitely haunts me. I’m still hurting from that now, I’ve still got back issues. That was just from neglecting my mobility and not looking after my body.’
Of course, mobility and rest are just one piece of the puzzle. To learn more about how Dearden trains for his world-beating performances, sign up to the Men’s Health SQUAD, where you’ll gain access to his full four-week programme.
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Scarlett Wrench is the Senior Editor at Men’s Health UK.
With more than 12 years’ experience as a health and lifestyle editor, Scarlett has a keen interest in new science, emerging trends, mental well-being, and food and nutrition. For Men’s Health, she has carried out extensive research into areas such as wellness in the workplace, male body image, the paradoxes of modern masculinity, and mental health among school-age boys.
Her words have also appeared in Women’s Health, Runner’s World and The Sunday Times.