\u201cIt\u2019s like a dance party on steroids,\u201d says Sue Rogers, a 62-year-old Brisbane-based grandmother of five, soon to be six.<\/p>\n
What else could we be talking about other than Hyrox<\/a>, the indoors fitness competition that breaks up eight kilometres of running with eight workout stations? Across three days from Friday, spectators will flock to Sydney Olympic Park to watch athletes push and pull sleds, do burpees, squats, and lunges, throw medicine balls, carry sandbags and more in between spurts of sprints.<\/p>\n The sport has steadily been gaining acolytes around the globe since it was introduced in Germany in 2017, with gyms dedicating whole programs to preparing fitness buffs for race days (a big reason F45 Australia has made a quiet comeback<\/a>).<\/p>\n It sounds like a particular type of hell for people whose gym membership warrants nary a thought beyond guilty glimpses at direct debits. It\u2019s also highly likely that unless you\u2019re a gym rat, you\u2019ve never heard of it. But among the faithful, the only thing that\u2019s a hotter commodity than a spectator ticket is a ticket to participate; almost 10,000 racers<\/a> crossed the finish line in the Sunshine State in March. Rumour has it, more than double that figure has registered to race in Sydney this weekend.<\/p>\n Rogers won\u2019t be among competitors this time. After coming second in her age group at the Hyrox World Championships in Chicago weeks ago, she\u2019s taking a break. But a group of members from the gym Rogers trains and coaches at are flying down for it, and they\u2019re not the only ones with a long journey.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a sensational feeling,\u201d says John Hesse, 66, who is travelling from Melbourne to compete in three races this weekend after coming second in his age group at the world championships. In June, his two children travelled to Chicago to spectate, their cheers fuelled by pride for Hesse as much as the blaring DJ-crafted beats, food trucks, bars and stalls not unlike what you would see at a music festival.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n The roaring crowds are only a symptom of the camaraderie Hesse also feels among athletes at training sessions and competitions alike, helped in part by the fact that participants start their races in staggered waves, with no time limit for completion.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, you\u2019re competing against everybody\u2026 in the end, it\u2019s competitive, but you really are against yourself,\u201d says Hesse. On Sunday, however, it\u2019ll be Hesse and his Geelong-based son, Jack, 32, racing together against fellow men\u2019s doubles pairs, with the duo training at the same gym when Jack\u2019s in town.<\/p>\n Wednesday morning saw mother-daughter team Janine Garner, 54, and Taya, 19, doing the same, sneaking in one last session at their gym in Sydney\u2019s Northern Beaches before a pre-race taper.<\/p>\n Taya, 19, and Janine, 54, first raced together last year in Sydney. They\u2019ve spent the past 12 months preparing for their rematch on Sunday.Credit: Steven Siewert<\/p>\n \u201cIt slammed us, like we were the first in and the last out, I reckon,\u201d says Janine, who, at Taya\u2019s behest, signed up for Sydney\u2019s event last year not entirely knowing what she was in for. \u201cIt was so hard, I gave up, Taya had to jump in.\u201d<\/p>\n If you had asked Janine, mid-sled pull (the race\u2019s third station, where women\u2019s doubles teams share four 12.5-metre pulls of a 78-kilogram sled), what she thought of Hyrox, the business coach would have sworn she was never doing it again. Yet, two days later, Taya\u2019s phone lit up with a text message from her mother: \u201cSo, what about Perth?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite addictive,\u201d Janine says, and Taya agrees. The exercise and sport science student initially planned to study psychology with criminology when she left school, but picking up Hyrox during her gap year inspired her to switch degrees.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even run as a kid \u2026 always called in sick to athletics carnivals, swimming carnivals, never really had a joy for it,\u201d Taya says. \u201c[Exercise was] just something I did because you had to, I guess, so then finding actual passion in it, finding it fun and finding the community that is like me is a pretty cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHyrox\u2019s slogan is it\u2019s a sport for everybody \u2026 and I was like, \u2018This can\u2019t be for everyone.\u2019 So I messaged them and said, \u2018What\u2019s the go?\u2019 And then they messaged me back.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Jackson<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As with Spartan Race and Tough Mudder, Hyrox is relentless, says Janine. Clem Vertigan, who trains Hesse in Melbourne, says the half-marathon runner had to sit down in the middle of his first session. \u201cIt was a bit of a worry \u2026 but now he\u2019s head of the pack,\u201d Vertigan says. \u201cIt\u2019s just unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n Former commando Jon Wynn, 39, came fifth in the elite men\u2019s class at the world championships. With Hyrox designed to test both strength and endurance, Wynn says he finds the demand on his body \u2013 fatigue management during non-stop races, plus anaerobic threshold and heart rate training \u2013 on par with what was required during his time with Australia\u2019s special forces.<\/p>\n That admission, coupled with a cursory glance at the ripped racers flooding Hyrox\u2019s high-production social media channels, is intimidating. But, like Hesse from Melbourne, when Taya started, she found comfort in how, among the staggered crowd of all ages and abilities, she was camouflaged. So too does Adam Jackson.<\/p>\n Hyrox\u2019s race format*<\/p>\n * Rules vary across the four divisions. For example, how much weight required to be carried is different between pro and open races, and adaptive athletes may complete a station with a variant of the exercise. This also doesn\u2019t include \u201cno reps\u201d, which is when a rep doesn\u2019t count due to not complying with movement standards, so the racer has to do it again.<\/p>\n \u201cMy running\u2019s not pretty,\u201d says the 44-year-old Australian Defence Force veteran, who has deficits on his right side five years after surviving a stroke that left him partially paralysed. \u201cYou sort of blend in \u2026 run your own race.\u201d<\/p>\n The Invictus Games dual gold medallist was always active, but exercise took on a new meaning when it became a key part of his rehabilitation program. When his personal trainer suggested he and his wife, Kate, try Hyrox, Jackson\u2019s first port of call was the website.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked it up and Hyrox\u2019s slogan is it\u2019s a sport for everybody, and I was looking on their web page, and there wasn\u2019t any adaptive information,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018This can\u2019t be for everyone.\u2019 So I messaged them and said, \u2018What\u2019s the go?\u2019 And then they messaged me back.\u201d<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n At the time, Hyrox had an adaptive rule book in draft. Eighteen months later, Jackson was named World Champion in the adaptive men\u2019s class in Chicago. Because the course is standardised across every venue in the world (except in Auckland, which incorporated an outdoor running experience), it meant Jackson, thanks to his races in Brisbane and Melbourne, knew what to expect in Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t really see these people in front of you, and so for me, it\u2019s just about pushing my limits as hard as I can,\u201d says Jackson. \u201cAnd the atmosphere is astounding.\u201d<\/p>\n So what\u2019s the catch?<\/p>\n Two divisive words no Hyrox racer ever wants to hear<\/p>\n If you ask armchair experts on social media, it\u2019s Hyrox\u2019s \u201cmovement standards\u201d, both as they\u2019re laid out in the rule book<\/a> and then, as some allege, seemingly selectively enforced by referees and judges on competition days in the form of two shattering words: \u201cNo rep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why Hyrox is a joke. All the way down puts more stress and potential damage on the knee joints. 90 degrees is perfect,\u201d one TikTok user claimed in a comment published under a video<\/a> of a judge taking issue with the depth, or lack thereof, of a competitor\u2019s squat during the wall balls station.<\/p>\n \u201cSquatting deeper than 90 degrees is not inherently dangerous,\u201d says exercise physiologist Dr Ben Singh<\/a>, noting deep squats can be beneficial for improving strength, mobility and overall joint health \u201cwith proper preparation, progression, and technique\u201d. Risk of lumbar injury or excessive stress on knees does arise, however, mainly \u201cfor those who do not have the training or mobility required.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not applicable to someone like Rogers in Brisbane, whose preparation for the world championships hinged on her more than 25 years as a personal trainer and a 12-week program she bought specifically for the competition.<\/p>\n The dreaded \u201cno rep\u201d is something Janine and Taya found out about the hard way in Sydney last year, with the duo having to do 110 wall balls to hit the 75 needed to finish the race.<\/p>\n Wall balls are particularly gruelling \u2013 not only do athletes need to squat below 90 degrees, but they also have to hit the centre of a target, not above or below, with an at least six-kilogram medicine ball. It\u2019s also the final activity before the race\u2019s end, so \u201cyour form\u2019s going out the window\u201d, says Taya, making athletes extra vulnerable to no reps.<\/p>\n Taya and Janine, pictured at their gym in Dee Why, have a strategy for this year\u2019s race and have been practising extra wall balls after getting 35 \u201cno reps\u201d last year.Credit: Steven Siewert<\/p>\n Movement standards is a contentious subject online among voyeurs, and in real life among Hyrox athletes themselves.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s Jess Pettrow, like Wynn, is a professional athlete, competing in Hyrox\u2019s elite class. The 30-year-old came ninth in the world championships, and says elite racers should, unquestionably, be \u201cheld to the utmost level of standard when it comes to every single rule or movement\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBut their goal in the sport is to get everyone through the door to have a crack at it,\u201d Pettrow says. \u201cSo when you\u2019ve got someone out there who\u2019s 65 years old and is not necessarily getting into a full squat in their wall ball, it\u2019s like, should we really be criticising them when they\u2019re out there having a go, and they\u2019re not getting in anyone\u2019s way? Something like that really gets me upset.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, Taya and Janine are prepared. They\u2019ve been building up their strength and running on tired legs, strategising when they\u2019ll alternate reps, so the wall balls won\u2019t catch them again. \u201cWe know where our limit is,\u201d Taya says. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t want to hit that limit.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter<\/a>. Get it in your inbox every Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Taya,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/6064b3240a7310b887faa386bd1b5daca0a93ad1.jpeg\")
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