All 8 HYROX Stations Explained: Technique and Training Tips
HYROX has grown into one of the fastest-expanding competitive fitness formats in the world, with over 150,000 athletes competing globally each year. The format is simple on paper: run 8 kilometers total, with one functional workout station after each kilometer. But simple doesn't mean easy. Each station targets specific muscle groups, punishes poor technique, and rewards athletes who've trained them deliberately.
Key Takeaways
- HYROX is the fastest-growing fitness competition format in the world
- Preparation requires a balance between running endurance and functional capacity
- Personalized coaching makes the difference between surviving and dominating a HYROX
Here's a complete breakdown of all eight stations. What they work, where most athletes fail, and exactly how you should be training for each one.
1. SkiErg (1,000m)
The SkiErg opens your race and sets the tone for everything that follows. It's a full-body pulling movement that primarily loads your lats, core, triceps, and hip flexors. Done right, you're hinging at the hips and driving your arms down with your whole body. Done wrong, you're just yanking with your arms and burning out your shoulders in the first five minutes.
Common mistake: Standing too upright and relying on arm strength alone. You lose power and fatigue faster.
Training tip: Practice 5 x 200m intervals on the SkiErg at race pace. Focus on a powerful hip hinge at the top of each stroke. Keep your damper setting between 3 and 5 for most training sessions to build aerobic capacity without overloading the joints.
2. Sled Push (50m)
The sled push is one of the most physically demanding stations in the race. You're loading your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves under a heavy barbell sled, driving forward for 50 meters. Standard HYROX weight is 102kg for men and 72kg for women in the individual category.
Common mistake: Walking too upright. You need a forward lean of roughly 45 degrees to generate horizontal force efficiently. Standing tall means your legs push you up, not forward.
Training tip: Build leg drive with heavy sled pushes at 110-120% of race weight for short 20m sets. Train on turf if possible. Your hips should stay low, your arms straight, and your steps short and powerful.
3. Sled Pull (50m)
Immediately after the push, you're pulling the same sled back toward you using a rope, hand over hand. This station destroys your grip, forearms, biceps, and upper back if you're not prepared. It's a pure muscular endurance challenge.
Common mistake: Gripping the rope too tightly and locking your arms. That burns out your forearms within seconds. Keep a firm but relaxed grip and pull with your full arm, not just your hands.
Training tip: Rope pull exercises and farmer carries are your friends here. Specific sled pull training with varying rope lengths builds the pulling endurance you need. Grip strength work, like dead hangs and thick bar training, pays off significantly at this station.
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4. Burpee Broad Jumps (80m)
This station is where races are won and lost mentally. You're completing burpees and broad jumping forward with each rep until you cover 80 meters. It hammers your chest, shoulders, quads, and cardiovascular system simultaneously.
Common mistake: Jumping too aggressively early and losing your landing position. Short, controlled jumps are more efficient than big explosive leaps that leave you off-balance.
Training tip: Practice burpee broad jumps in sets of 10-15 reps, focusing on a consistent rhythm. Don't train these to failure. You want to build pace and technique under fatigue, not practice breaking down. Plyometric work like box jumps and long jumps improves your power output here.
5. Rowing (1,000m)
The rowing station sits at the midpoint of the race and tests your posterior chain, aerobic capacity, and pacing discipline. Legs, glutes, back, and core all contribute to an efficient rowing stroke. Your legs generate around 60% of the power in a proper row.
Common mistake: Pulling too hard with your arms and ignoring the leg drive. This leads to early upper body fatigue and a slow split time.
Training tip: Train 1,000m rows at your target split consistently. For most age group athletes, splits between 1:55 and 2:20 per 500m are competitive. Set your damper at 4-6 and prioritize the sequence: legs, lean back, arms. Never the reverse.
6. Farmers Carry (200m)
You're carrying two kettlebells 200 meters. Standard weights are 2 x 24kg for men and 2 x 16kg for women. This station tests your grip, traps, core stability, and mental toughness. It sounds manageable. After five previous stations and five kilometers of running, it's not.
Common mistake: Setting the kettlebells down too frequently. Every time you stop, you lose time and rhythm. Train your grip and core so you can walk the full 200m without breaking.
Training tip: Farmers carry training at 110% of race weight for 60-100m sets builds the grip and trap endurance you need. Core work, including planks and loaded carries, directly transfers to performance here.
7. Sandbag Lunges (100m)
ILLUSTRATION: tip-box | Key takeaways for your HYROX preparation
You're lunging 100 meters with a sandbag on your shoulders. Standard weights are 20kg for men and 10kg for women. Your quads, glutes, hip flexors, and core take a serious hit. At this point in the race, your legs are already heavy from running and previous stations.
Common mistake: Letting your front knee collapse inward on each lunge. This reduces power and increases injury risk. Keep your knee tracking over your second toe on every rep.
Training tip: Weighted walking lunges are your primary training tool. Build up to 60-80 meters of continuous lunging with your race weight before adding more load. Bulgarian split squats and step-ups strengthen the stabilizers that keep your form intact when fatigue sets in.
8. Wall Balls (75-100 reps)
The final station. You're squatting to below parallel and throwing a medicine ball to a target on the wall, rep after rep. Men use a 6kg ball to a 3m target. Women use a 4kg ball to a 2.7m target. Rep counts vary by category, ranging from 75 to 100 reps. Your quads, glutes, shoulders, and lungs are all involved.
Common mistake: Catching the ball too high and breaking your squat rhythm. Catch it at chest level and let it carry you smoothly into the next squat without pausing.
Training tip: Practice unbroken sets of 20-30 wall balls at race weight before building toward 50+ reps without stopping. Front squats and overhead pressing strengthen the specific positions this movement demands. Finishing wall balls strong is the difference between a good race and a great one.
How to Structure Your HYROX Training
Training each station in isolation is useful, but you also need to practice them in sequence under fatigue. Known as "race simulation" training, this means running 1km and then performing a station, multiple times per session. Research on hybrid training shows that cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance must be developed simultaneously for this format, not separately.
Aim for two to three HYROX-specific sessions per week alongside your regular strength and running work. Prioritize the stations where you lose the most time. That's where your training focus should be concentrated.
For more detailed programming, explore resources from the official HYROX website and certified HYROX coaches in your area.