The Perfect HYROX Gym Workout

The perfect HYROX® workout at the gym is the six stations that need the gym's kit, in race order: 4 x 250 m ski erg, 4 x 12.5 m sled push, 4 x 12.5 m sled pull, 4 x 250 m row, 4 x 50 m farmers carry and 5 x 20 wall balls. Burpee broad jumps and sandbag lunges need a floor, not a gym, so they're out of this one.

It's for anyone getting ready for HYROX in a normal gym: a rower, some bells, a ball, maybe a sled and a ski erg. Your gym is missing something? Every station below comes with its swap, best first.

Why these six?

They're the six HYROX stations that need kit most people only find at a gym: two machines, two sleds, the bells and the ball. Burpee broad jumps need nothing but floor, and lunges need a sandbag or a pair of dumbbells, so do those at home or outside and spend your gym time on the kit.

Same order as race day: the sleds early, the wall balls last. Every dose is the full race distance in pieces, so you cover three quarters of the race's stations in one session. Those six aren't the light ones, either: their medians for Open men add up to 26:56 of race time in 2025/26.

What your gym needs, and what to use when it doesn't have it

Station	Race kit	No kit? Use, best first
Ski erg	SkiErg	Rower, then air bike, then dumbbell overhead work
Sled push	Sled on turf	Prowler, plate push, weighted backward walk, leg press
Sled pull	Sled and rope	Rope-pull machine, heavy rows, band pulls
Row	Rower	SkiErg, then bike
Farmers carry	Kettlebells	Dumbbells, then a trap bar
Wall balls	Ball and target	Dumbbell thrusters, then goblet squat and press

Best first: use the first one your gym has.

A swap trains the same legs, back and lungs. It doesn't give you the station's time, so get on the real kit at least a few times before race day.

The workout, station by station

Warm up for 10 minutes. Loads are race weight for your division; heavy means race weight or more.

If your gym has one, it's probably in the corner nobody uses. Set the monitor to 250 m and go.

• Pace: hard, but even. Your fourth 250 m should match your first.
• Rest: 1 min, standing up.
• No ski erg: row the same 250 m. No rower either? The air bike.
• Scale it: 4 x 200 m to start, 30 s rest when it gets easy.

Hard, but even. Rep four matches rep one.

Gym sleds vary. Weigh yours or ask the desk, then load it to race weight, because the race counts the sled.

• Load: Open 152 kg (335 lb) men, 102 kg (225 lb) women. Pro 202 kg (445 lb) men, 152 kg (335 lb) women. Heavier is fine.
• Lane: 12.5 m is about 41 ft. Mark it on the turf so every piece is a real length.
• Cue: low hips, short steps to start it, long drives once it moves.
• Rest: 2 min.
• No sled: a prowler, then a weight plate pushed along the turf, then walking backwards with a plate at your chest, then the leg press.
• Scale it: a lighter sled to learn it, the Pro load once race weight moves fast.

Load it to race weight. Then keep it moving.

Same sled, rope clipped on. Stand at one end of the lane and pull it to you, hand over hand, then go to the other end and pull it back.

• Load: Open 103 kg (227 lb) men, 78 kg (172 lb) women. Pro 153 kg (337 lb) men, 103 kg (227 lb) women.
• Cue: sit back with your heels down and pull with your whole body, hand over hand.
• Rest: 90 s.
• No sled or rope: a rope-pull machine, then heavy rows, then band pulls.
• Scale it: less weight on the sled; the Pro load when race weight comes easily.

Heels down. Pull with your whole body.

Almost every gym has a rower, so this is the one station with no excuse.

• Pace: pick a 500 m split you can hold for all four pieces and stay on it.
• Rest: 1 min.
• No rower: the SkiErg, same distance, then the bike.
• Scale it: 4 x 200 m to start, 30 s rest when it gets easy.

Pick a split. Hold it.

Kettlebells at race weight, or dumbbells of the same weight. Walk the turf lane or a clear hallway, 50 m at a time.

• Load: Open 2 x 24 kg (2 x 53 lb) men, 2 x 16 kg (2 x 35 lb) women. Pro 2 x 32 kg (2 x 71 lb) men, 2 x 24 kg (2 x 53 lb) women.
• Cue: tall, shoulders down, quick steps. The bells stay in your hands until the 50 m is done.
• Rest: 90 s.
• No kettlebells: dumbbells, then a loaded trap bar.
• Scale it: lighter bells, still no set-downs. Then heavier ones.

Tall and quick. No set-downs.

Find the target and check the height before you start: 3 m (9 ft 10 in) for men, 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) for women.

• Load: Open 6 kg (13 lb) men, 4 kg (9 lb) women. Pro 9 kg (20 lb) men, 6 kg (13 lb) women.
• Cue: full squat, then throw with your legs. The target counts the reps; a ball under it doesn't.
• Rest: a few breaths between sets of 20, never to failure.
• No ball or target: dumbbell thrusters, then a kettlebell goblet squat and press, 5 x 20 either way.
• Scale it: 5 x 15 to start; 4 x 25 when 20 gets easy.

Full squat. Legs throw. Stop before you fail.

How do you run it in a busy gym?

• Claim the turf for steps 2 and 3. The two sleds go back to back, so do them in one visit to the lane.
• Set up before you start. Bells and ball next to the rower, the sled loaded, so the only walk is to the turf.
• Time your rests. One to two minutes, on a clock. Rest that turns into scrolling turns the workout into a long one.
• Lane taken? Do the ski and the row first, then the sleds. Everything else stays in race order.

Where does it go in your week?

Once a week, as your gym station day. Running is the limiter in HYROX, so the rest of the week is mostly running, and three rules keep this workout from wrecking it:

1. No hard run the day after. This is a heavy legs day.
2. 48 hours before your long run. Two days between the sleds and your long run, every week.
3. Keep one run after station work. Once a week, stations straight into 1 km runs. A treadmill next to the stations works.

That run is also where the two stations this workout leaves out fit best. If burpee broad jumps and lunges are your weak two, it's 3 x (40 m burpee broad jumps, 1 km run, 50 m sandbag lunges, 1 km run).

Rehearse the whole race twice before race day: eight weeks out, a 1 km run before every station; three weeks out, half of that.

Common mistakes at the gym

• Guessing the sled. The race load includes the sled. An unweighed gym sled is a guess.
• The wrong ball or target. A 9 kg (20 lb) ball to 3 m is Pro men's; a 4 kg (9 lb) ball to 2.7 m is Open women's. Train with your own.
• Skipping the sleds because the turf is busy. Use the swap, or move them later in the session. Don't drop them.
• Racing the machines. A 250 m sprint you can't repeat teaches you nothing about a 1000 m race station.
• Never running between stations. The race is stations on tired legs. Once a week, run between them.

The full breakdowns, with race times for every division: the sled push and the wall balls. All eight stations in one session: the perfect HYROX station workout.