HYROX over 40

Before you start: a quick health check

Most people over 40 can start training for HYROX without any medical check. But if you have a known heart condition, high blood pressure that is not controlled, diabetes, or you have ever had chest pain, unusual breathlessness, palpitations or dizziness during exertion, see your GP before starting hard training.

The same goes if you have been inactive for many years and are carrying a lot of extra weight. None of these rule HYROX out, but it is sensible to have a conversation first. If symptoms like chest pain or fainting appear during exercise, stop immediately and seek urgent medical help: call 999 if the pain is severe or does not settle.

Strength comes first

From middle age, people who do not strength train gradually lose muscle mass and strength. That process can be slowed dramatically, and often reversed for years, with regular resistance training. For HYROX, more strength means the sleds, sandbag and kettlebells take a smaller share of your capacity, leaving more energy for the running.

Two strength sessions a week is the foundation. Focus on squats, hinges, lunges, pushes, pulls and carries, and progress steadily. You do not need to lift maximal weights, but you do need to work reasonably hard, leaving one to three reps in reserve on most sets. The principles in strength training over 50 apply just as much in your forties.

Strength work also supports bone density, which matters more with every decade and particularly for women around and after the menopause.

Recovery and weekly structure

The biggest change most people notice after 40 is recovery. A hard session that you would have shrugged off at 25 can leave you flat for two days. Planning around that is not weakness; it is how you keep training for years.

• Limit yourself to two genuinely hard sessions a week, such as intervals and a HYROX-specific session.
• Make the rest easy: steady runs, technique work, mobility and strength sessions that stop short of failure.
• Keep at least one full rest day, and consider two if you are sleeping poorly or feeling run down.
• Plan a lighter week every third or fourth week.
• Protect your sleep. Seven to nine hours is the target for most adults.

The guide to recovery over 40 covers sleep, stress and lighter weeks in more detail.

Protecting joints and tendons

Muscles and your heart adapt relatively quickly. Tendons, especially the Achilles and the patellar tendon below the kneecap, adapt more slowly, and that gap widens with age. The most common problem for older HYROX athletes is doing too much running, jumping and lunging too soon.

• Build running volume gradually over weeks, not days.
• Include calf raises and slow, heavy leg work to strengthen tendons.
• Introduce burpee broad jumps and lunges at low volume and build steadily.
• Spend 10 to 15 minutes warming up before hard sessions, more on cold mornings.

Morning stiffness in the Achilles or pain below the kneecap that lingers after sessions are early warning signs to reduce load, not push through. The guide to HYROX injury prevention covers the common problems and how to manage them.

Eating to support hard training

Protein needs tend to rise a little with age, because muscles become less responsive to it. For people who lift, a daily intake of roughly 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of body weight is well supported, spread across three or four meals with a decent portion at each rather than most of it at dinner.

Eat enough overall, too. Many people over 40 come to HYROX partly to lose weight, which is fine, but a large calorie deficit alongside hard training slows recovery and raises injury risk. A modest deficit, plenty of protein and enough carbohydrate around harder sessions is the balance to aim for. In the UK, the NHS advises considering a vitamin D supplement in autumn and winter, which is worth knowing given how little sunshine Manchester sees from October to March.

Getting support

Coached sessions help a lot after 40, because a good coach will adjust loads, movements and volume to how you are on the day. Every class at Lycan Strength is scalable, and the 7-day free trial includes a complimentary fitness assessment, which is a sensible starting point if you have not trained in a while.

If a niggle does appear, get it looked at early rather than waiting for it to become an injury. The gym's on-site physiotherapy starts with a full assessment to find the root cause, and members get 20% off treatment.