New trend sport Hyrox is booming: An hour of torture

Dhe young man standing behind one of the boards in Hall 3 of the Frankfurt Exhibition Center waited in vain for a smile. Dragging two kettlebells weighing eight kilograms over a distance of 200 meters drove away any positive emotion from his girlfriend for the moment. The amateur athlete had chosen the torture herself. Like the rest of the approximately 2000 participants who found their way to the third Hyrox event on Saturday.

To loud, pounding music, they completed a fitness course consisting of eight different disciplines, including cross-country skiing and rowing on an ergometer, pulling and pushing sleds, or lunges with a sandbag on their shoulders. A kilometer run had to be unwound before each individual challenge. Whoever was the fastest to complete all the tasks was honored as the winner in their category. In addition to the age groups for amateurs from 16 and over to over 80, there was also a professional classification for men and women with higher requirements, i.e. weights. In addition, doubles and relay competitions.

A title like the Ironman

Hyrox, according to inventor Christian Toetzke, is a handy combination of hybrid, which stands for the combination of endurance and strength training, and rock star. A title like the Ironman. The former decathlete created marathons, triathlons and similar sporting events for 20 years before dedicating himself to his new idea. 190 million people train in gyms and studios worldwide, more than 50 percent of them describe “fitness” as their discipline. “It’s the world’s largest organized sport,” Toetzke claims. While there is an opportunity for runners to compete with others every weekend, he missed a corresponding, additional motivating offer for the huge fitness crowd.

When developing Hyrox, he had in mind bringing together professionals and recreational athletes in one place and day at a joint event, like in a marathon. The exercises should be effective, standardized and so simple in terms of the basic movement that anyone can do them without major problems. Toetzke was advised by sports scientists. The program is in line with the trend in studios to move away from the machine room towards open spaces for training with more mobile equipment and to target as many muscle groups as possible. As a partner and co-founder, 54-year-old Toetzke brought Olympic hockey champion Moritz Fürste on board.

In 2018/19, the two started with the first eight events in Germany, the largest in Hamburg with 1900 participants. A year later, five locations in the USA were added. The pandemic put the growing leadership team on hiatus for a year and a half. The British were there at the 2021 restart and, according to Toetzke, attracted between 4,500 and 7,500 athletes at each of their six events. This pushed the organizers to the limits of their capacity. “Our equipment doesn’t produce more than 5,000 a day,” says Toetzke.

Scandinavia, Spain and Hong Kong are now on the calendar of 47 events. The 2023/24 season should bring an expansion to China, Australia, Mexico. In Frankfurt, the best in the elite class qualified for the European Championships in Maastricht in January. There are also world and North American title fights.

The indoor events are connected to a trade fair in the interior, through which the spectators can stroll with tickets for 7.50 euros each in Frankfurt and thus be very close to the athletes. “We want to offer even more in the future,” says Toetzke. The best men are just under, the women just over an hour on the road. According to Toetzke, the proportion of female Hyrox athletes is 45 percent and thus higher than in the outdoor races. There are more women in the gyms, the effort is less, and even if the competitions are well attended: you torment yourself in a more intimate atmosphere than outside.