A 12-week HYROX training plan

The weekly structure

Every week of the plan has the same four building blocks, which shift in emphasis as race day approaches:

• Easy run: 30 to 60 minutes at a pace where you could hold a conversation. Builds your aerobic base.
• Strength: squats, hinges, lunges, pushes, pulls and carries. Builds the capacity to handle the stations.
• Engine: intervals on the run, bike, row or SkiErg at threshold or above. Raises the pace you can sustain.
• HYROX session: stations paired with runs. Builds compromised running and station skill.
• Optional fifth: a second easy run or a second, lighter strength session.

Keep at least one full rest day, and avoid putting the hardest two sessions on consecutive days where you can.

A typical layout might be strength early in the week, an easy run the next day, the engine session midweek and the HYROX session at the weekend when you have more time. The order matters less than giving each hard session a day or so of easier work either side.

Weeks 1 to 4: base

The aim is consistency, technique and aerobic base. Nothing should leave you wrecked for days.

• Easy run: start at 30 to 40 minutes and add about five minutes each week.
• Strength: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps on the main lifts, leaving a couple of reps in reserve.
• Engine: intervals such as 5 x 3 minutes at a comfortably hard effort with 90 seconds easy.
• HYROX session: technique work on two or three stations, each followed by 400 to 600 m of running.

Make week 4 a little lighter, with roughly a third less volume. The guide to deload weeks explains why this helps rather than holds you back.

Weeks 5 to 8: build

Now the work becomes more race-like. Stations move towards race load, runs after stations get longer and the engine sessions get harder.

• Easy run: 45 to 60 minutes, still conversational.
• Strength: heavier sled pushes and pulls, loaded lunges and carries alongside your main lifts.
• Engine: threshold running such as 4 to 5 x 1 km at a pace a little quicker than your target race pace, with 90 seconds rest.
• HYROX session: three or four stations each followed by a full 1 km run, as in compromised running.

Week 8 is another lighter week. Keep the intensity of a couple of sessions but cut the volume back.

This phase is usually where people feel the training most. Your legs may feel heavy on easy runs, especially the day after a big station session. That is expected. If you are sleeping badly, feeling flat for more than a few days or picking up niggles, pull back a little rather than pushing through.

Weeks 9 to 11: race-specific

This is where it all comes together. Your runs and stations should now be at race pace and race load, and you will practise the full race order.

• Week 9: a half simulation, either the first four runs and stations or the last four.
• Week 10: the other half, or a full simulation if you are experienced and recovering well.
• Week 11: a shorter race-pace session with the final three stations, plus normal easy running.

Use these sessions to rehearse your pacing, your transitions and your wall ball sets. The guide to HYROX simulation workouts has sample formats. Strength sessions shift to maintenance: fewer sets, similar loads.

Week 12: taper and race

Cut your training volume by around half, but keep some short, sharp efforts early in the week so you feel fast rather than flat. The last meaningful session should be two to four days before the race. The full approach is in how to taper for HYROX.

Sleep, eat normally with a bit more carbohydrate in the final day or two, and resist the urge to test yourself. Fitness is already banked.

Adjusting when life gets in the way

You will miss sessions. Illness, work and family happen to everyone. The rule is simple: if you miss one, skip it and carry on with the plan. Do not squeeze two hard sessions into one day to catch up. If you miss a week through illness, repeat the previous week before moving on.

If a niggle appears, swap the aggravating exercise for one that does not hurt rather than stopping altogether. A sore knee might mean sled pushes instead of lunges for a week, or the bike instead of running. Persistent pain that changes how you move is worth getting assessed.

If you train at Lycan Strength, the classes slot neatly into this structure: Full Body on Monday or Lower on Thursday for strength and Engine on Wednesday at 6pm for the engine session, with your own HYROX session and easy run at the weekend. The full week is on the class timetable.