BLOG 1 : HYROX HACKS, 5 pro-tips to crush your debut event
With Hyrox events gaining global momentum , an official event locked in for Perth in September, and a huge Chamber contingent already registered to have a crack. The timing couldn’t be more perfect than now to drop a few nuggets of knowledge which will have you primed to dominate the course on the day and power through for Hyrox success.
1) Rome wasn’t built in a day:
In most amateur fitness events or races, we commonly see panic set in early and fear of failure kick into overdrive for enthusiastic competitors. This leads to doing too much too soon and a host of burnout and overuse injuries that won’t go away. Hyrox Perth is still 7 months away, you have more time than you think to build the volume steadily and get yourself in peak condition for the event without cooking yourself.
Consistent and gradual progression will always get the bread so don’t stress, play it smart, bring the heat on race day.
2) Build the base
Running makes up a significant portion of the event ( 8 x 1km intervals ), and the race in its entirety is likely to take in the vicinity of 60-90 minutes.
Training the skill of running, becoming enduring and tuning the engine is clearly of high priority, often times though novices make 2 huge mistakes:
a) Trying to run long distances to soon
b) Trying to run too fast too soon AKA Chasing the Strava Kudos
We want to flip this in reverse if we are to reap the regards of our time and effort and give our body the very best chance to perform.
a) Start with smaller distance runs, building volume over time allowing your body to adapt
b) Run SLOW. It’s a hard pill to swallow I know, but, if you are serious about becoming enduring and building the necessary aerobic system, slow, sustained low heart rate efforts will get you there.
3) Strong like a bull
Yes, Hyrox is an endurance event, however, it does have a unique mix of Strength / Strength Endurance tests blended within. Heavy Sled Pushes, Sled Pulls and 100 Wall balls to name a few. Knowing this, it will more than pay off to continue to spend adequate time dosing Strength and Power work to maintain current strength levels, or slowly increase over time.
We also know how important strength training is when it comes to creating a more robust and resilient body, allowing you to keep on the track while the running volume increases. Win Win!
4) Practice and Play
Running with interference and uncommonly performed movement combinations ( for those in Crossfit gyms ) will provide the biggest challenge for most. With so much time still to prepare, regularly exploring and playing with these movements and movement combinations will not only allow for your body to become more accustomed to them, your confidence and self belief will grow knowing you have had plenty of practice prior to race day.
5) Recovery
With overall volume / output going up for most, what you put back into your body is just as important, if not more important than your output.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day, it’s up to you to find the pockets of time in your life which you can squeeze the most juice out of the lemon that is recovery. The low hanging fruit its where we want to begin:
- Sleep : Can you go to bed 30 minutes earlier each night?
- Nutrition : Are you feeding adequately to perform and to recover ?
(Hint : You should be eating more ) - Stress : Is the stress cup overflowing? Can you find ways to empty it a touch ?
( Meditation, breathwork, reading, unplugging ) - Hydration : Are you hydrating adequately and increasing H2O and electrolyte intake?
If your mailing all the above, the extras like ice baths, massage etc can play a roll too but take stock of the basics first, then build in the fancy stuff if and when it fits
So, there you have it, my top 5 tips for rookies looking to embark on their first hyrox challenge. Tick these off consistently and you will give yourself the very best chance to crush your first Hyrox event. Good Luck and may the Hyrox Gods be with you!
