Hyrox · Guide
A Hyrox training week for people who already lift
Who this is for
You already lift two to four times a week. You can squat, hinge and press with good form, and you know roughly what you can lift for five reps. What you do not have yet is much running, and a Hyrox race is 8 km of it, broken up by eight stations that tire your legs before each run.
This guide is a starting week for that person. It is not a full programme and it is not tailored to you. If you are new to running, coming back from injury, or have a health condition, check with a professional before adding training. Treat every number here as a starting point you adjust.
The principles
Keep two heavy days. Your strength is an asset in Hyrox: sleds, carries and lunges all reward it. Two strength sessions a week is usually enough to hold on to it while you build the running. Keep the main lifts heavy and cut accessory volume if your legs are not recovering for the runs.
Add running gradually. Running is where most lifters are weakest, and it is also where sore shins, calves and knees come from when it is added too fast. Start with less than you think you need. Add a little each week, not a lot at once, and hold steady for a week whenever something aches.
One compromised running day. Hyrox asks you to run straight after a station. Once a week, pair runs with station work so you practise running on tired legs. Keep the station loads moderate: the point is the run that follows, not a station personal best.
One easy aerobic day. One session a week should be easy enough to talk through. It builds the base the hard days sit on, and it is the session most lifters skip.
Rest days stay rest days. Two full rest days give the new running a chance to settle in.
A sample week
| Day | Session | Blocks used |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Lower-body strength | Strength, Strength, Strength |
| Tuesday | Easy aerobic run, 30–40 minutes | Cardio |
| Wednesday | Upper-body strength and a short erg piece | Strength, Strength, Cardio |
| Thursday | Compromised running | Cardio, Circuit |
| Friday | Rest | — |
| Saturday | Stations for time | For Time |
| Sunday | Rest | — |
If you can only train four days, drop Saturday and keep the rest. If Thursday leaves you wrecked for Saturday, swap them around and see which order suits you.
Building each day as a template
In One Rep Closer, a session is a chain of blocks, and a template is that chain saved so you can run it again. Each training day above becomes one template.
Monday: lower-body strength
Three Strength blocks, one per lift: a squat, a Romanian deadlift and a single-leg exercise such as a split squat. Something like 4 × 5 on the squat, 3 × 8 on the Romanian deadlift and 3 × 10 a side on the split squat is a reasonable place to start. Set the rest you want between sets on each block.
Tuesday: easy aerobic run
One Cardio block with Run, set by time: 30 to 40 minutes at a pace you could hold a conversation at. If running that long is new to you, use the Rounds field instead: for example 4 rounds of 6 minutes, with a short rest between each round.
Wednesday: upper-body strength and a short erg piece
Two Strength blocks, for a press and a pull such as bench press and pull-ups, then one Cardio block on the rower or SkiErg. A steady 1000 m on the Rowing (Erg) or SkiErg, set by distance, gives you a feel for the race distance on each machine. The block records how long the piece took.
Thursday: compromised running
Start with a Cardio block: an easy 1000 m Run to warm up. Then add a Circuit block with Rounds set to 4, and three movements:
- Run, set by distance: 800 m.
- Wall Ball, set by reps: 20.
- Farmers Carry, set by time: 1 minute.
During the session the screen names each movement in turn, so you never have to remember where you are in the round. The run and the wall balls wait for your tap when you finish them. The farmers carry, set by time, counts down and moves on by itself when the minute is up. The farmers carry and wall balls are set by reps or time because, inside a block, the app has no distance setting for them; runs, sleds, ergs and burpee broad jumps can be set by distance.
Saturday: stations for time
One For Time block, Rounds set to 2, with the movements in the order you want them:
- Run, 1000 m
- SkiErg, 500 m
- Sled Push, 25 m
- Burpee Broad Jump, 40 m
- Sandbag Lunge, 20 reps
A block takes as many movements as you add, and the same exercise can appear more than once, so you can make this longer as the weeks go on. One clock runs from the start of the block until you tap the last round done, and the app records your time.
Keep this template as that single For Time block, with your warm-up done outside it. When a template is a single For Time block, the summary shows your time against the last time you ran it, and your fastest time is kept as a benchmark record. Add a warm-up block to the same template and you lose that comparison.
If you do not have a sled, swap in another station you can load, or run the block without it. Hyrox stations are all in the exercise library: SkiErg, Sled Push, Sled Pull, Burpee Broad Jump, Rowing (Erg), Farmers Carry, Sandbag Lunge, Wall Ball and Run.
A note on templates and the free plan
This week uses five templates. The free plan keeps a limited number of templates, so on the free plan you would need fewer of them: for example, one full-body strength template that you run on both strength days, in place of separate lower- and upper-body ones. Premium removes the limit. See pricing for the details.
Progressing week to week
Strength. When you start a template again, last time’s sets, reps and weights are already filled in. If you made every rep last week with good form, add a small amount of weight; if you did not, repeat the weight. That is all the progression the two heavy days need for a while.
Running. Add a little at a time: a few more minutes on Tuesday, or one more round of the Thursday circuit. Change one thing per week, not three. Every fourth week or so, hold the running steady or ease off, and see how your legs feel.
Saturday. Run the same For Time template for a few weeks and watch the time against last time on the summary. When it has come down and the session feels controlled, make it longer: a third round, or a full 1000 m on the SkiErg. Once a month or so, you could swap Saturday for a half simulation; the simulation guide shows how to build one.
Runs, stations and lifts all land in the same history, so you can look back at a month and see whether the running has grown without the lifting slipping.
Where to go next
The Hyrox page covers what the race asks of you and how the app handles each station. When the week feels settled, the simulation guide takes you through a full or half race in one template.