HYROX or CrossFit? Find Out Which One Is Best For You

If you are starting a new chapter in your life when you want to get fit, sure you can join the gym like millions of people across the globe. But if you are competitive in nature, then you could go professional with bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics. And of course, there is CrossFit. But in the past few months, there has been a surge in another CrossFit-style type of competitive fitness: HYROX. So which one is best for you? HYROX or CrossFit? That is what we are here to find out to hopefully help you choose one or the other.

CrossFit found its footing in 2013 when hundreds of thousands of people, seemingly from one year to the next, began talking about CrossFit this and CrossFit that. CrossFit was THE thing back in the day. Why? In many ways, because it was a new and transformative way of tackling fitness and, frankly, the vast majority who joined a CrossFit class and stayed consistent saw remarkable progress – lost weight, gained muscle, and learned a few new exercises along the way.

But in the past few years, CrossFit has seen a decline in participation both inside their gyms – which are called Box – and from people interested in seeing jacked up athletes competing for the title of Fittest on Earth; yes, that is the patented title of those who win the final set of workouts, known as the CrossFit Games.

And while CrossFit has been on the decline, another competitive fitness has begun making waves around the world. In 2017, HYROX was launched in Germany and now there are over 11 countries who and 30 different cities who have hosted a HYROX event.

And any way you look, HYROX or CrossFit, is all about fitness. And just out of curiosity, can you tell from the top photo if that is HYROX or CrossFit? Well, the answer is HYROX. So which one is best for you? Let’s take it step by step.

Quick Glance of What is HYROX

HYROX is a fitness competition consisting of a 1km run followed by one functional exercise, repeated for eight rounds. The exercise changes each round, while the run remains constant, equating to a total of 8km run and eight different functional exercises.

It is a great test of overall fitness as it requires strength, speed, power, and endurance in abundance. These HYROX events take place all over the world and have a variety of categories to make the event accessible for all.

In between the runs, you have to perform, in this sequence, the following exercises:

1. 1000m SkiErg
2. 50m sled push
3. 50m sled pull
4. 80m burpee broad jumps
5. 1000m rowing
6. 200m farmers carry
7. 100m sandbag lunges
8. 75 or 100 wall balls

This means that you start off the competition running 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) and then you do the first exercise on the list, in this case 1000 metres on the SkiErg. After that, you run another kilometre and go to the next, which is a 50-metre sled push. Then run and go down the list of exercises until the end.

Combining functional exercises with endurance makes HYROX unique yet attainable for people from a huge variety of athletic and fitness backgrounds. It is the perfect competition for everyone who loves to work out, have fun and push their boundaries. You can participate individually or in a team of 2.

Each season culminates with the World Championships where the athletes with the fastest times from each division in each city go head-to-head.

According to their official website, over 98% of the participants complete the race. There are no time caps and no qualification requirements, so everyone is welcome to run and race at their own pace. Above 50.000 people participate at official HYROX events every year. You can find a race close to you here.

Quick Glance at CrossFit

CrossFit is a competition, fitness-style with functional movements, that claims to be searching for the Fittest on Earth. The biggest thing about CrossFit is that you do not know what kind of workout you will be doing, so you need to prepare yourself throughout the year for anything that might come up.

Officially, CrossFit has a few stages to discover which athletes will be crowned the Fittest on Earth:

• CrossFit Open

The CrossFit Open is the first event of the official CrossFit season and it is open to anyone. This event usually spans 3 weeks (it has been 5 weeks long in the past, but not in the last 3 years) and each week, on a Thursday, a live broadcast explains what the workout is going to be that every person across the globe needs to finish.

The open usually takes place in late February or early march.

These workouts are designed to be inclusive yet challenging, testing a range of fitness domains including strength, endurance, flexibility, and skill. Participants have several days to complete the workout and submit their scores online.

If you want to participate, you need to create an account at Games.CrossFit.com and pay a fee to be able to log in your score after each workout done.

After the first week is done, you wait until the next Thursday to hear what is the next workout and so on. After three weeks (usually), after you put your scores online on CrossFit’s platform, you get to see how you rank against every single person in the world, or you can refine the search by continent and country.

Exercises are always varied. It can include difficult skills such as the muscle-up or pistol squat, something more technical like double-unders, or traditional rope climbs and shuttle runs. Each workout has a specific goal, usually the person who finishes the exercises faster ranks higher, but it could also be someone who lifts the heaviest combination of deadlift and snatch, for example.

The top 25% athletes in the world then are invited to continue their pursue of Fittest on Earth to the next stage of competition: the Quarterfinals.

• CrossFit Quarterfinals

Also online, the CrossFit Quarterfinals is more or less the same as the Open, only with different workouts and, supposedly, harder movements. Top 40 athletes from Quarterfinals from their region go on to receive an invitation to the next stage.

• CrossFit Semifinals

Semifinals is the last stage of the competition before the big showdown. On this stage, athletes have to travel to an in-person competition depending on their nationality, or where they current live and train.

There are, at the moment, 7 Semifinals that occur around the globe divided into their regions: Oceania, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America is divided into West and East.

The top athletes from each Semifinal (there is a way to find out how many athletes from each region) go on to compete at the very last stage of competition.

• CrossFit Games

This is the last stage of competition. While the Open typically happens on February, Quarterfinals a month later, and Semifinals in May or June, the CrossFit Games takes place more than a month later – sometimes in July, but usually in August.

This is also an in-person competition where each athlete who received an invitation after Semifinals can compete for the title of Fittest on Earth given to the best of the best at the end of a full weekend of workouts. These workouts, again, are not known previously, sometimes with athletes getting to know the event just hours before it begins.

It is during the CrossFit Games that we get to see different workouts planned out, such as the lifting of odd objects, like the pig flip, or running a track with obstacles and riding a bicycle.

The number of workouts programmed also changes from year to year. After the workouts are finished, on a Sunday afternoon, the winner of the CrossFit Games is announced and the person receives the title of Fittest on Earth alongside a hefty cash prize.

HYROX or CrossFit?

Before we get into which one is best for you, HYROX or CrossFit, let’s talk about the similarities between the two of them, and then the differences.

Similarities between HYROX and CrossFit

·  Functional Fitness: Both HYROX and CrossFit emphasize functional fitness, focusing on exercises that mimic real-life movements and improve overall physical performance.

·  High-Intensity Workouts: Both involve high-intensity workouts designed to push athletes to their limits, promoting cardiovascular and muscular endurance.

·  Variety of Exercises: Both programs include a wide variety of exercises, including running, rowing, lifting, and bodyweight movements, to ensure a well-rounded fitness regimen.

·  Competition and Community: Both foster a strong sense of community and often incorporate a competitive element. Competitions in both HYROX and CrossFit provide goals for participants to strive towards and help build camaraderie among athletes.

·  Scalability: Both can be scaled to different fitness levels, making them accessible to beginners as well as advanced athletes. This adaptability allows for personalized progression in fitness.

Differences between HYROX and CrossFit

Structure of Workouts:

• HYROX: HYROX workouts are highly structured with a fixed format. Each event consists of eight standardized exercises with running intervals in between. The exercises and their order are consistent across all HYROX competitions. The events are standardized, which means participants always know what to expect and can directly compare their results with others.
• CrossFit: CrossFit workouts (WODs – Workouts of the Day) vary significantly from day to day. The variety is one of CrossFit’s key features, with no fixed sequence of exercises. This constantly varied approach aims to prepare participants for any physical challenge. While CrossFit workouts can include all the ones that are in HYROX (SkiErg, sled pull or push, burpee, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls) it has a bigger selection of exercises to choose from.

Focus of Training:

• HYROX: Primarily focuses on endurance and strength, with a significant emphasis on running. The standardization of exercises and the competition format highlight these aspects.
• CrossFit: Aims for a balance across ten fitness domains including strength, endurance, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy, and stamina. This broader focus incorporates a wider range of exercises and skills.

Community and Culture:

• HYROX: While it has a community aspect, HYROX is more focused on individual performance in a competitive setting.
• CrossFit: The community is central to the CrossFit experience. CrossFit gyms, known as boxes, emphasize community workouts and support. The culture is heavily built around the social aspect and mutual encouragement during workouts.

Equipment and Movements:

• HYROX: Utilizes a specific set of equipment and exercises, such as ski erg, sled push/pull, and wall balls. The movements are straightforward and functional.
• CrossFit: Uses a wide range of equipment, including barbells, kettlebells, pull-up bars, and gymnastic rings. Movements can range from Olympic lifts to advanced gymnastics, promoting skill development alongside physical conditioning.

Training Environment:

• HYROX: Typically involves training in a gym environment or outdoors but the competition itself is held in large indoor venues to accommodate the standard course layout.
• CrossFit: Training occurs in CrossFit boxes, which are equipped with various fitness tools and apparatuses. The environment is designed to support diverse and dynamic workouts. There are many CrossFit workouts that you simply cannot perform at a regular gym.

Which One is Best For You? HYROX or CrossFit?

If your goal is to get fit, more athletic, and transform your body, either option between HYROX or CrossFit will do you wonders.

However, looking at the differences between the two of them should be the deciding factor.

CrossFit is grounded in the “always varied” type of workout. If you become an avid CrossFit, you won’t know what workout you will be doing while you are on your way to the Box. That can be exhilarating for some, while a big “no” for others.

In some ways, HYROX can be perceived as more functional training than CrossFit as you will be performing exercises that correlate to daily life movements such as pushing, pulling, running, and carrying stuff. CrossFit can throw you handstand push-ups any given day, and although is a great bodyweight exercise for your shoulders and upper body, is not something you actually need on a day-to-day basis.

One aspect not mentioned here, but that is equally important, is how expensive it is to join an official CrossFit Box and start training. While an average gym membership, depending on location, can be around to U$70 a month, a CrossFit Box on the same area could ask members to pay between U$100 and U$200.

However, you also need to look at the workouts themselves. While you don’t know what CrossFit will throw at you, at HYROX you know you will be doing a lot of running, and if that is not your cup of tea, then stay away from it – CrossFit is known for usually omitting running from their workouts.

Although CrossFit has only four official stages during their season, and it ends in August taking a “break” for a few months until February the following year, you can also participate in local CrossFit competitions or even inside your own Box. HYROX competitions are typically done only in official venues as there needs to be a lot of space and the necessary machines to compete.

So, in our opinion, these should be the things you focus on when deciding whether HYROX or CrossFit is best for you.

Choose HYROX if:

• You like running
• You prefer to know what exercises you will be doing well in advance
• You want to focus on traditional functional fitness
• You don’t want to spend too much money on a membership fee
• You want to see how you improve year after year as the workout is always the same and you can compare with anyone who also did it

Choose CrossFit if:

• Running is not your style
• You prefer to learn new skills and improve on them
• You want to go outside of your comfort zone and not know what workout you will be doing in advance
• If you like Olympic weightlifting such as deadlift, snatch, clean & jerk and so on
• You want to be part of a large community that lives and breathes the sport of fitness
• You want to take part in more local competitions, even if they are not going to change your official result at the Sport’s platform

In both cases, whether you choose HYROX or CrossFit, you will definitely see changes on your body. Both types of competitive fitness will force your body to burn calories while building muscle.

best of all, both sports are scalable, so beginners can get in the action straight away.

So find out which one you like most, because in the end, the only way you can make a difference to your health and body is if you are consistent at what you do.

Read More: Essential Training Tips for Your First HYROX – 4-Week Prep Workout Included