SPECIFIC PREP
Specific prep training is where you train to perform. Training focuses on the exact demands of your Hyrox race. You do this for the 8 weeks before your Hyrox event, a programme that is structured for you to be at your best and peak for your Race.
This is the time for you to make your training far more specific to the Hyrox Race.
This Specific Training block is designed to develop your capacity to use your fitness in competition. Your training now shifts towards what the competition is like.
We’re now training to perform!!
During these 8 weeks you will perform more competition specific movements, learn energy management in these movements/order, increase energy system development for the demands of ‘your’ Hyrox comp. Training for a doubles race compared to an individual race is different which is why there are different specific prep plans depending on which race you do.
Most of this training will be the movements that you will do at the Hyrox race because the muscles that get worked during those movements, are the muscles that are going to develop, increase the capillary density and increas mitochondrial function. Those muscles are going to be trained to be aerobic and more effective in those movements.
As you go through these 8 weeks the training gets more and more specific to your race and you will learn to effectively manage energy in competition specific movements. The training builds up to mimic the exact demands of the competition.
You will practice each of the eight workout components and in combination. A big focus will be on technique of movement and movement quality when fatigued. This allows you to develop the specific skills, movements, and strategies required for success in Hyrox.
By doing this specific prep training it allows you to gain an understanding of the challenges you will face during the competition. By focusing on the specific exercises and movements, you can refine your technique, improve efficiency, and develop strategies to optimize performance. You will learn how to pace your runs and the workouts in-between.
While doing the specific prep training it will also highlight areas that you want to further develop, which you can then work on when you go back into the general prep phase.
You can’t always do specific prep training, you need to dedicate time in your general prep phase to really develop the other aspects of your fitness that are crucial for overall performance. Hyrox demands a combination of strength, speed, endurance, agility, and mental toughness.
The women, men and pro individual specific prep programmes are the same, the
e-books have different weight calculations throughout based on the weights you will be using for the various workouts. The doubles specific prep phases look at the energy system demands and different increases in energy system development for specific demands of HYROX by matching work to rest ratios.
Week 8 of the specific prep phase is a taper week to make sure you are in peak physical condition for your race. Fatigue masks fitness so make sure you go into your race energised and ready to go!
SPECIFIC PREP PROGRAMMES
general prep
General prep training is where you train to develop. It is any training that isn’t the specific prep phase. During general prep training you will develop qualities of strength and fitness that you need to improve yourself as an athlete and improve you Hyrox race time.
General prep training takes a broader approach, focusing on developing overall fitness and athleticism. This is where you build a strong foundation for strength, endurance, speed and fitness.
The general prep phase for Hyrox will be a large part of your training year and can be anywhere from 8-10 months depending on what Hyrox races you have booked in.
This is the time to work on your weakness and make them your strengths. I think everyone who does Hyrox wants to be a better runner so ‘8-week Ultimate Engine Builder’ and ‘Develop Your Running Speeds’ will play a big part. The larger and more powerful your aerobic engine the better you will perform at Hyrox so this needs to be a key part to your training.
The off-season gives you the opportunity to really have a good general prep training phase dedicated to developing specific fitness qualities. Then bring it all together in the specific prep training 8-weeks before your race!!!
If your training includes all of these in the same week, don’t expect to see much improvement in any of these!!!
◦ Strength Endurance
◦ General Strength
◦ Running Speed
◦ Aerobic engine building
◦ Hyrox Specific Prep
You shouldn’t try to develop everything all at once, that will work if you’re a complete beginner, after that it isn’t the best way to train.
If you’re trying to develop everything at the same time, then most likely none of these qualities are individually getting enough training volume to improve!!
Decide what you need to develop! Use the 8-Week Block Training System. Training blocks designed to really develop one main quality of Hyrox at a time.
What are your main priorities that you need to develop to improve your Hyrox race times?
◦ Aerobic fitness
◦ Running Speed
◦ Strength
◦ Strength endurance
By training in 8-weeks blocks you can really focus on really developing one specific area for that time. That doesn’t mean you neglect everything else you have developed with your training. The way to do it is to really develop one aspect while maintaining the others. We do this by having development days and stimulation days. Development days are to develop and there needs to be enough volume of this to do so. Stimulation days are used to maintain other aspects of athleticism.
Because Hyrox isn’t a high skill competition, you really can break your training down and not focus on completely integrating Hyrox skill work into the training you do.
There isn’t too much technical stuff, except trying to hit that wall ball target when you’re exhausted!!
General prep training may lack the specificity that specific prep training gives you. It won’t fully replicate the challenges and movements of Hyrox. It won’t teach the specific strategies that could give you that edge in the competition. But it’s the foundations that you develop and then you take into your specific prep training which will give you all of this!!
GENERAL PREP PROGRAMMES
Below you can see a basic example of what a training year can look like.
It’s unlikely that you’re going to have 2 months of racing. There are very few people who do back-to-back Hyrox races for the season. For most people your season might look more like this where you do a few races throughout the year.
Here you can see an example of how you could break your year down with your races and the specific training blocks and the general prep training blocks.
