Hyrox for beginners: how to train for your first race after 40

The first Hyrox race was held in 2017. By the 2022/23 season, around 90,000 people were already taking part. The appeal is easy to see. The format is the same in every city, the weights are fixed in advance and nobody has to qualify. You can compare your time in London with your time in Berlin. And for anyone who trains both strength and endurance, it is a race built to measure exactly that combination.

This guide is about your first race when you are 40 or older: what the race really demands, which division to choose and how an ordinary week of work and family can be enough. It builds on our guide to strength training and running, which explains why the two sometimes get in each other's way.

What is Hyrox?

A Hyrox race is a 1 km run followed by a station, repeated eight times. The order never changes, and you have to finish each part before you move on. Everyone runs 8 kilometres in total, whatever their division. The only thing that differs between divisions is the weights. Races are held indoors, and you start in waves with others in your division.

You run 1 km before every station. So the race starts with a run and finishes with wall balls.

The weights in each division

Hyrox has four singles divisions: women, women pro, men and men pro. The men's standard division and the women's pro division use the same weights. According to the rulebook for the 2026/27 season, they are:

The sled weights include the sled itself. The SkiErg, the row and the burpee broad jumps are the same for every division. Hyrox sometimes adjusts its rules between seasons, so always check the rulebook for your season on hyrox.com before you sign up.

The divisions: on your own, in a pair or in a team of four

• Singles. You do everything yourself: 8 kilometres and all eight stations.
• Doubles. Two people run all 8 kilometres together but split the work at each station however they like.
• Relay. A team of four. Each person runs 1 km twice and does one station after each leg.

There are no qualifying standards. You must be at least 16 on race day. Results are also ranked in five-year age groups, from 40 to 44 all the way up to 85 to 89. In practice, you are racing people your own age, not the 25-year-olds in your wave.

What the research shows: it is an endurance race

The first scientific study of Hyrox was published in Frontiers in Physiology in 2025. Researchers at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich had eleven recreational athletes complete a simulated race using the weights from the standard singles division. All of them had done at least one official race before. They were aged between 23 and 43, with a median of 33. This is what the researchers found:

• Running took the most time. The whole race took a median of 86.5 minutes. The running took 51 minutes and the stations 33.
• Almost the whole race was run at a very high heart rate. For about four fifths of the time, heart rate was above 90 per cent of the athletes' maximum. Nearly all of the remaining time it sat between 70 and 90 per cent.
• The last station was the hardest. Heart rate, blood lactate and perceived effort all peaked during the final station, the wall balls.
• The heaviest stations were the quickest. The sled push took around two minutes and the sled pull around two and a half.
• Fitness decided the result, not strength. Faster times were linked to a higher VO2 max, more weekly endurance training and a lower body fat percentage. Neither grip strength, muscle mass nor hours of strength training were linked to finishing time.

The study has clear limits. Eleven people is a small group. None of them was over 43. All but one had very good or excellent aerobic fitness. Anyone with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure or serious joint or back injuries was excluded. So the results tell us nothing certain about how the race feels for a 50-year-old beginner. But the direction matches how the race is built: no amount of arm strength makes 8 kilometres of running go away.

Choose your division for your life, not your ego

For most people doing their first race after 40, Doubles is the smartest choice. The running is the same, but you share 100 wall balls, 80 metres of burpee broad jumps and 100 metres of lunges. Those are exactly the stations that are hardest on knees and shoulders when your legs are already tired. This is coaching advice, not a research finding. But it follows from how the race is built: the fatigue piles up at the end, where the most repetitive movements are.

Doubles has one more advantage. Someone is counting on you, both in training and at the start line. Why that matters more than encouragement is something we explain in our guide to finding a workout buddy.

Relay suits you if you want to experience the race without running 8 kilometres, for example if you are coming back from an injury. Singles is the right call once you already run 5 km comfortably and have tried every station at least once at race weight.

What a week can look like

Three sessions a week is enough to get round a first race. Four is better if life allows it. The ground rule is the same as in all our training for people over 40: never increase volume, weight and speed at the same time. Raise one thing at a time and give your body a chance to catch up.

The easy run matters more than it sounds. Why it should feel almost too easy is explained in our guide to zone 2. Intervals are the seasoning, not the meal. How to dose them after 40 is covered in our guide to interval training. Which strength exercises protect a runner most is covered in our guide to strength training for runners.

The combo session: running after a station

The part of the race that surprises most people is not the stations. It is the kilometre after them. Your legs are heavy after the sled or the lunges. The first hundred metres feel like running through sand. You can get used to it, but only by doing it.

Start with three rounds: 1 km of easy running, one station at a light weight, then straight out onto the next kilometre. If your gym has no sled or SkiErg, a rowing machine, lunges with a dumbbell or squats with a medicine ball work well. The goal in the first weeks is not speed. It is learning what the switch feels like, so that it is not new on race day.

The stations at a lighter weight

Practise every station at a lighter weight than race weight for the first few weeks. Focus on technique: a flat back and short steps on the sled, straight arms and a still torso when carrying the weights, deep but controlled squats in the wall balls. Carrying heavy weights is also the same kind of training as rucking, and our guide to rucking explains both what carrying load does for you and where its limits are.

Twelve weeks to your first race

The starting point is that you can already run 5 km at an easy pace and have done some strength training. If you cannot yet, start with our plan to run 5K and push Hyrox a few months further down the road.

Notice that running volume stays put while the weights go up. That is the one-thing-at-a-time rule turned into a schedule. The plan is a coaching template and has not been tested in a study. Adjust it to your body. Better to push the race back than to squeeze twelve weeks into eight.

Five mistakes that cost the most

1. Running the first kilometre too fast. Start-line adrenaline makes everyone go out too hard. You pay for it at the wall balls, well over an hour later. Run the first kilometre slower than you think you need to.
2. Training only the stations. Pushing a sled is more fun than an easy run. But the study is clear: endurance is what decides your time.
3. Going to race weight too early. 100 sandbag lunges and 100 wall balls are a lot of work for knees that are not used to it. Only add weight once the movement is steady at a light weight.
4. Skipping rest. Combo sessions and intervals are hard sessions. Two hard days in a row is too much for most people over 40. How much rest different sessions need is covered in our guide to rest days between workouts.
5. Training through pain. A missed session is data, not a failure. Pain in a tendon or a knee that does not settle is your body telling you something needs to change.

Who should be careful, and when to see a doctor

Hyrox is a hard race. In the study, heart rate stayed above 90 per cent of maximum for most of the race. For the great majority of healthy people that is not a problem, but two groups should check with a doctor before they start training for it: anyone with known heart disease or uncontrolled high blood pressure, and anyone taking medication that affects heart rate. Beta blockers also mean that heart rate zones stop lining up with the effort. If you are injured, the Hyrox rulebook requires medical clearance from a qualified health professional before you race. If an injury means you need to adapt movements, weights or reps, you must contact the Hyrox team in advance.

Frequently asked questions

How far do you run in Hyrox?

8 kilometres, split into eight 1 km legs. After each kilometre you do a station. The running distance is the same in every division, including the pro divisions. In Doubles, both partners run all 8 kilometres together. In Relay, each of the four team members runs 2 kilometres.

How long does a Hyrox race take?

It depends entirely on your fitness. In the first scientific study, the race took a median of 86.5 minutes for eleven recreational athletes who had done at least one race before and had good to excellent aerobic fitness. The running took about 51 minutes and the stations about 33. Expect a first race to take longer than that if you are new.

Can you do Hyrox after 40?

Yes. Hyrox has five-year age groups from 40 to 44 all the way up to 85 to 89, so you are ranked against people your own age. Build your endurance first, practise the stations at a light weight and consider Doubles for your first race. If you have known heart disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure or take medication that affects heart rate, check with a doctor before you start training for it.

Is Hyrox strength or cardio?

Mostly cardio. In the 2025 study, faster times were linked to a higher VO2 max, more endurance training and a lower body fat percentage. Neither grip strength, muscle mass nor the amount of strength training was linked to finishing time. You need strength to get through the stations, but the running takes most of the time.

How heavy are the Hyrox weights?

In the women's standard division, the sled weighs 102 kg to push and 78 kg to pull, including the sled. The carry weights are 2 × 16 kg, the sandbag 10 kg and the ball 4 kg. The men's standard division and the women's pro division use 152 and 103 kg on the sled, 2 × 24 kg, 20 kg and 6 kg. Men pro use 202 and 153 kg, 2 × 32 kg, 30 kg and 9 kg. These figures apply to the 2026/27 season.

Evidence base: the official Hyrox singles rulebook for the 2026/27 season (format, weights, divisions, age groups, minimum age and the requirement for medical clearance after injury); Hyrox's description of Doubles and Relay on hyrox.com; Brandt and colleagues on the physiological demands and performance determinants of a simulated Hyrox race in Frontiers in Physiology 2025 (eleven participants, PMID 40230601), with times, heart rate distribution and the links to VO2 max and strength taken from the study's results and tables; NHS guidance on chest pain and stroke; and 1177 (Sweden's national health information service) on chest pain and stroke.