What even is HYROX, and why is everyone obsessed with the fitness challenge?

If you’ve been to a gym around New Zealand lately, you might have spotted whiteboards full of weird workouts, a sweaty crew high-fiving after runs and people whispering about “the sled”...

Welcome to the Hyrox era!

Hyrox started in Germany in 2017, created by Christian Toetzke and Olympic field hockey champion Moritz Fürste, with the idea of making fitness racing accessible to everyday athletes, not just elites. 

Hyrox is a fitness race that mixes running with functional workouts like rowing, burpees, sled pushes and weighted carries. You split 8 kilometres of running into 8 stations of absolute hard yakka. 

The simple and repeatable format is what helped it blow up globally. Athletes could compare times across cities and countries, gyms could create programmes around it, and first-timers knew exactly what they were signing up for. 

And all of that is EXACTLY why it is rapidly gaining momentum across New Zealand as more people discover the challenge and the supportive and encouraging community behind the hybrid fitness race.

Last weekend’s Hyrox Auckland event showed just how deep the hype is running in Aotearoa right now. The city was buzzing with athletes, gym crews and first-timers all tackling the same mix of running and functional workouts.

The top times from the day will qualify for the Hyrox World Championships held in Stockholm, Sweden, later this year.

What stood out to me, personally, was the community vibe, mates cheering from the sidelines, strangers backing each other through the tough stations, and that shared “we survived” energy at the finish line. 

So if your gym crew is whispering “next Hyrox”, you’re gonna wanna start thinking about training. This is the fitness craze taking NZ by storm.