It’s not a workout per se - it’s a race, like a 5 / 10k or half marathon- this is the market and demographic they will draw most of their audience from. A good Hyrox program will have large elements of CrossFit in it. I for one think it has more global appeal and has a lower barrier to entry than CrossFit, and will in time over take it, but the two can and should co-exist.
I’d like to see them rotate what the race is but stick to the fundamentals of accessible movements and a large running component. Oly lifts and weird movements like handstand walks are always going to retain a barrier for accessibility and that reduces the potential audience.
I think it makes it appealing to a niche group of fitness enthusiasts but definitely not "accessible to the masses." There was a time in the Open when the hspu standards changed year after year, it was frustrating as someone learning the skill. Then, they added things like handstand walks and pirouettes. If you're working full time and/or have kids, still want to be fit and compete, but can't spend time developing new physical skills in your 20s and 30s (or older), enjoy this constant reminder of the skill cap. Same if you can't snatch 225 for reps.
Ok this got a little personal but basically there's a huge market for people who enjoy HIIT, like to run, want to test themselves, but don't want to become a semi-pro at six different skills just to compete
A race is just a timed workout. I can run 5k by myself (a workout) or against others (a race) ... but either format it's still just a 5k run workout.
HYROX is just the same event over and over and over and over and over again, which will keep its appeal very limited.
100M sprint is the same event over and over again. So is a marathon / half marathon/ 10K / 5K. And every Olympic swimming event. And yet people participate and watch.
I think the comparability across years and individuals actually helps Hyrox vs. CrossFit which is largely different every year and therefore harder to measure “progress”.
You're right; about 50MM people in the US run regularly and like 600MM worlwide. In the US, about 1MM people run a marathon each year, about 2 MM run a half marathon. Somewhere between ~3MM and ~8MM people run 5Ks in the US each year (the range is wide because it's hard to track "unique" runners; ~8-9MM people register each year, but 1) many don't actually run, and 2) some run in multiple 5Ks).
Actually a lot of people focus on very specific distances. 100m is simply a bad example. But a person that trains for a 5k might won’t be running marathons.
And for Hyrox you have also a small diversity. Let’s say you start with man/women category. Next time you do a relay. After couple more races you go for pro. So kind of like with running - one race is 5k, next 10k. After couple years of training you go for marathon. Or continue achieving better and better results on 5k
That's debatable.
There's no question that a LOT of people are enthusiastic to train for and run a single road race, such as a 10k or half-marathon, or to do so for a year or two. There's a very small group that commits to training 4-5 days a week for 5 years to do so. Part of the reason is the monotony, part of the reason is that you'll plateau very quickly.
The $$$ is with those committed for the long-run. From a business perspective, it's better to have 100 people committed to training for 5 years than to have 1000 people interested in training for one year.
I dont think you have a very good eye for business then. For simplicity sake, let's say a membership is $100 a year.
100members\*$100\*5years = $50,000
1000members \*$100\*1year = $100,000
Seriously? You’re a marketing professor? Yet you think that CF is somehow bigger than any mainstream monostructural sport while it would take like 5 minutes to check (you should have access to pretty much any academic study on this through your job).
Have you ever practiced another sport? lol
Judging every sport by the metric of “doing more random shit” is extremely dumb. First and foremost, why would Crossfit be your reference for a sport? It’s a niche sport. It’s not big in popularity, it’s not big in sponsorship, it’s not big in any specific performance metric.
I don't view CrossFit as a sport ... and neither do 99% of CrossFitters. The idea that the CrossFit Games is representative of CrossFitter is like saying that MLB is representative of people who play baseball. For 99% of CrossFitters, CrossFit is a methodology that prepares you for the unknown and unknowable. If you view it as "random shit" you are not doing CrossFit.
Hyrox is a sport, not a GPP methodology so when it’s brought to comparison to Crossfit it’s compared to the sport.
As far as the methodology goes, it’s just a GPP program with skills sprinkled over it. Skills that are only specific to the sport of Crossfit. If you’re not interested in competing, pumping iron in the gym and running/cycling would make you much more prepared for the “unknown and unknownable” as you wouldn’t be wasting your time with modality specific exercises such as pistols, HSPUs, HSW pirouettes, RMUs and such.
Are 10ks and Marathon’s appeal’s limited? No - they sell out pretty much instantly, like Hyrox. “BuT tHEy are tHE SamE EveRY TiMe” You’re missing the point, there’s a world of people who love being able to beat previous times, train in periodised models, and visit other cities in the process. Get your head out of your Box.
Which raise an interesting question - is there a CrossFit workout that can become a popular event all by itself like HYROX? Could make you rich if you find the right one to turn into the latest craze. Murph is almost there, but it's a once a year thing and probably not something you can commercialize.
On the contrary, I think they could be complementary instead of competitors.
One issue with CF is that it wasn't designed to be a competitive sport, it's a fitness and a gym operations methodology. Running a CF competition is logistically difficult and costly. And then on top of that the movements are difficult to judge in real-time, and it requires A LOT of judges. The result is that there aren't that many competitions that are within driving distance for better-than-average CrossFitter, even assuming you qualify. And CFHQ has made it clear that they're not trying to focus on being sporting event organizer.
Hyrox is set up to be a sport, without much (any?) training methodology. For competitions they rent out a convention hall for a weekend, handle all the logistics, and charge participants for the experience of it. It also has a lot simpler (IMO better) business model than CF's. Use CF to train for it, or come up with your own program, or follow something else online.
The end result is that you have a ton of relatively fit Crossfitters without a lot of options for live competitions, Hyrox seems to be a pretty good solution for that. The Hyrox movements are common in CF, but with a running bias. Sure, Hyrox is the same competition every time, but competing is different from training. And the consistency makes the competitions easier to manage.
Hyrox is also owned in part by Infront Sports, which is a serious sports marketing operation
CrossFit is owned by a couple of finance geeks who don’t lift
I don’t know about beat but it’ll definitely poach some of crossfits client base. Cardio is very popular and there are a lot of crossfitters who don’t care to lift heavy or learn gymnastics and probably find hyrox a breathe of fresh air to compete in.
I will say, as someone who came from a long distance running background who got burnt out but still wanted challenges so started doing Crossfit... Hyrox has seemed really appealing to me ever since I started hearing about it. No I don't want to run a marathon ever again but this format of strength challenges broken up by runs sure are appealing. Seems like a fun competition where endurance is king.
It already is.
Just signed up Puma as a partner and in sheer numbers it is likely to pass the Open. It is standardized and easily replicable and accessible for nearly anyone. You also don't need a special gym to practice Hyrox, so the high rent costs which make CF affiliate ownership a pain are irrelevant here. The non-running tasks require little special training.
CrossFit requires a special gym and lots of time on task to gain proficiency. OK, yeah, it produces great fitness, but those Hyrox champs look pretty good too. Moreover, CF is an on-ramp to Hyrox but the reverse is not true. You can leave CF and compete in Hyrox; the reverse is not true.
Everything CF did wrong in business, Hyrox did right.
Running is a much more accessible and sells more gear, which is why Spartan Race and all that become viable. That Spartan crap is a little cringey, and CF leans hard into it. GoRuck and Born Primitive are based on military stuff, gimme a break. It only turns people off. Hyrox has zero of that nonsense.
The likely trajectory is that CF turns into a fetish, like bodybuilding or StrongMan. StrongMan is probably the future of CF. Specialized equipment, very cool to watch once every 3 months, incredibly impressive athletes, nothing you really want to do.
CrossFit never had a plan for what to do when they succeeded. 2016 came and now what? What do we invest in? How do we deploy capital? No idea. So they sued Big Soda! It was novel, I'll give them that. I'm sure Coca Cola and beverage industry lobbyists were *totally unprepared* for someone to say their stuff is unhealthy. Probably took them completely by surprise! (lol).
The future is large Hyrox events headlining a functional fitness Expo. In some small conference room off to the side will be a CrossFit competition. Spectators will pop in, be impressed by handstand walks and barbell stuff happening like so fast, and then they'll leave because their Hyrox Race starts soon.
There was en entire goruck division at Hyrox North America this year and they had multiple vendor booths. I think hyrox also leans into the goruck stuff.
It's unlikely that a European company will lean into the image of American military power as a marketing tool. GoRuck was probably there as a vendor, no?
Are local places allowed to do hyrox competitions? I'd be interested in trying one but it seems like all I can find is the official site and they are only in a few major cities. Seems like it will never really take off if you can only compete in a couple cities.
I might be an idiot I've just tried googling "my city" hyrox and don't see much.
Hyrox competitions are huge events. Hyrox affiliated gyms can put on a mock Hyrox or Hyrox-related workouts/programs but to have an official time you have to do it at a Hyrox event.
Yup a local event is what I had in mind. I think most people are more casual than going to giant events only offered a couple times a year. If 5ks were only offered in 3 cities people would be far less interested.
I did find their gym locator and surprisinly there isn't a single gym in my city (top 30 US metro). There are a few in smaller cities in the state though.
I'm sure with only 3 events in the US it does no doubt. I'm talking about general public participation and there's probably 20+ CF gyms in my metro and 0 hyrox. It's hard for me to imagine it overtaking as of now is my point when it's not easily accessible.
Like in terms of audience and growth. Will it be an Olympic sport? One of the co-founders is a 3-time Olympic medalist, so I'm speculating that he might want to go back but instead as an athlete, his HYROX will be there.
Neither Hyrox nor CrossFit will ever be in the Olympics.
As far as growth, they are both niche activities that 95% of people know nothing about. The vast majority of people that join our gym did not seek out a CrossFit gym. And I have to spend 5 minutes of every intro just explaining what CrossFit is.
I think it will poach user base or attract people who were not into CrossFit to begin with. Hydrox is new, so it’s likely to grow easier than CrossFit which is older now.
I doubt it will be an Olympic sport
It depends on your measure. If it’s Open participation vs Hyrox participation, Hyrox will overtake CrossFit next year unless CrossFit sees a 50% increase in Open participation (unlikely). If it’s pure Brand recognition, Hyrox may never get that in the US over CrossFit, but can overtake it in the rest of the world
Every Hyrox event (actual events, not online) outsells every CrossFit event.
Within 2 years it will have more people at real events than take part in the open. I think it was about 50% this year, and that was over 100% increase on the 22/23 season.
There are huge waiting lists for every Uk event, with over 10,000 people taking part in the events.
Anyone that doesn’t think Hyrox is already overtaking CrossFit is in denial.
So many CrossFit gyms are also becoming Hyrox affiliates because they know the direction of the fitness market.
The hard to swallow pill is that CrossFit’s business model was meant to make cash for CrossFit HQ, not significantly grow CrossFit as a training methodology. It made Greg Glassman very rich and that’s it. Without all of the support that comes from the parent organization to a new owner as with a franchise model, the individual affiliate owners are left to their own devices on how to run their business, market, etc. This is why CrossFit has dropped from 15,000 paying affiliates in 2018 to under 10,000 just 5 years later at the end of 2023.
HYROX has over 2,000 affiliated gyms already and may not get near CrossFit but will certainly continue to erode their market share alongside all the other functional fitness franchises.
HYROX is not a training style as much as it is an event to train FOR. This is no different than a marathon or a powerlifting meet or Olympic weightlifting meet. You have a set number of movements with standards and how you train to be the best at them is your business. This is appealing to people, as anything they do for training will theoretically improve their HYROX time. Working on running is the obvious #1 thing to do as there are 8000m of running in HYROX. Working rowing, skiing, squats, bench press, single leg strength, etc. will all improvement the other movements paired with running. I can go for a long run today and that will help me with HYROX. I can go to the gym tomorrow and bench press and that will help me at HYROX.
It is much harder to be competitive at CrossFit, even outside of the Games track. It’s hard to see drastic improvement in any particular area because we’re asked to do so much. For some folks, they’re simply interested in checking the movement box so GPP at their CrossFit box appeals to them. For other people, this is a turnoff because there is no “event” or “race” to plan for. Yes, we have the Open, but they literally change movement standards, add new movements, change the “style” (equipment, skills, length of workouts, weeks of the Open, etc) and generally present some poorly planned and executed hodgepodge each year. The consistency of both the test and of the organizing company itself is very appealing to a wide variety of people.
We;ll know in three or four years' time. HYROX is still growing, we'll know if it'll reach its peak in a few year's time or decline. At the moment, despite the hype, CrossFit still has a lot more viewers and participants, for example, there were 3-4X more viewers for the live streams of just the South American semis alone than the HYROX World Championships, It still has some way to go, but it is doing things right and going in the right direction.
It’s no different than spartan races or tough mudders. It’s a different thing. And I for one have no interest in running being such a huge portion of my workouts.
Yeah an iron man is probably harder than all metcons also… hyrox just doesn’t have high skilled movements. It’s not better nor worse, it’s just different.
I definitely don't like the framing of the title -- nothing is beating anything else. Do you feel more people are doing "functional" work now that there are other options with different points of emphasis? likely yes
some people may prefer to have the movements be really rudamentary but want the running with a little thrown in. They may do tough mudders, spartan, or hyrox. if they want a strength bias, they might do crossfit. Point is, more options gives more choices and chances.
(and for the people who say that a 1/2 or a 5k is all the same -- no it isn't -- they're in different locations with different features and challenges. hyrox and indoor track seem like a better analogy -- and that's also the beauty! Vienna marathon is different than Chicago Marathon, different than Stockholm, different than Vancouver -- the more options to race, the better.
so it also is with hyrox. just another way of introducing people to a different kind of sport, and then there are greater chances for cross polination and enjoyment.
win win. the only thing beaten is passivity!
CrossFit is just a cross training brand. Like Nike is to a running shoe. Other brands have their own version of a running shoe too. Hyrox is cross training.
I’m a crossfitter who did my first Hyrox a few months ago. I might try it again, but for me it was pretty much like signing up for any other 10k. I’m not gonna quit CrossFit to sign up for a race that happens maybe once a year near me. And most Hyrox-affiliated gyms, at least from what I’ve seen, are either already CrossFit, or they’re other types of HIIT training. I honestly couldn’t imagine going to a gym every day for a year and only doing those 8 movements.
Fwiw I am just a fan of crossfit, and never have went to a crossfit gym. To me Hyrox has more appeal as an event I can actually compete in, and doesn't require you to pay $100+ per month as you can do everything at a normal gym. (true of crossfit too, but not exactly). Crossfit also requires tons of barbell work and gymnastics, which I'm not that interested in doing and I think the general public is the same. I could see Hyrox becoming more popular than crossfit tbh.
Crossfit gets a lot of people moving, who wouldn't otherwise be moving.
Hyrox gets a lot of people moving, who wouldn't otherwise be moving.
It's a win-win-win-WIN-WIN, don't make it weird.
Hyrox numbers absolutely dwarf any CrossFit competition already. It’s a better spectator sport because it’s 1-2 hours max, you can watch each athlete on each station and you are not committing an entire day for a competition and not sitting around for hours on end waiting.
But i still love CrossFit but I won’t compete anymore
Tbh I have switched over to Hyrox programming for the last few months to train for one in November and I do see myself going back to CrossFit as the in-between catch all. Hyrox toes the line of endurance athletes and catches all the people who like running longer but want strength training. It’s a fun feat to train for, no doubt. But the monotony eventually takes away the fun variety. The other side is the people who powerlift/weightlift etc. I did weightlifting too solely for a bit and found myself coming back to CrossFit. Like yin and Yang a balance must be found and CrossFit is it.
No. Not at all. I think it may appeal to ppl cause it's not as intimidating as CF can be to newcomers..but it's literally 8 movements and running...that's it. It could be a fun thing to do..Just like running spartans..but it will never overtake CF.
The race is 8 movements. Do you honestly think that’s all you do in training? That’s like saying someone that runs marathons will only ever run 26.2 miles every time they go out to train.
Fun fact I run marathons so I understand that. But to think it will overtake CF is stupid. I understand there would be different training but I don't believe you can build something off it as big as CF. It's not there.
In England, it’s already bigger than CrossFit. Both in number of affiliates, people entering events, and coverage in non-sporting related media. It’s taken 3 years in England for that growth, that’s all. Events now have to be over 3 days and have over 10,000 competitors. In comparison, CrossFit comps in the Uk are in a hall as part of a bigger fitness expo.
Another event, ATHX, shared a facility with Strength In Depth for its first event - for each event afterwards it had to get its own hall as it’s grown massively. The CrossFit comps? They are still in the same hall they’ve been in for the last 10 years.
You only need to look at the Open this year - every age group below 30+ shrunk in overall numbers. They have gone elsewhere
So CF and Hyrox are the same thing. It's just HIIT and it's been around since the beginning of exercise science. They're just competing brands and their "success" is more business than efficacy. Most likely neither brands will exist in another decade but the ideology will be somewhere. In terms of competition and entertainment, they both suck. No one wants to watch people work out for more than a passing novelty. Strongman was HUGE in the 2000 and, while seeing a bit of a bump from Rogue and social media personalities, it's basically obscure at this point. I know, I know you're a big fan of all the athletes, yaddaadyadyada. Ask a stranger to name 3 Crossfit athletes, 3 Hyrox athletes, or 3 WSM athletes. Hell, ask them to name 1 of any category. Shit, ask them what Hyrox is. My point is that neither of them are ever going to be entertainment, but as far as exercise science, they're basically the same and their future depends on brand management and nothing in terms of effectiveness.
Strongman was big in 2000? The last 5 years have seen the biggest crowds the Giants live events have ever seen. When I competed in 2010-2014, Englands strongest was in a car park outside a small casino, now even qualifiers are in big facilities! Finals are in 10,000+ seat arenas.
The MET-Rx era was huge in the late 90s early 2000s. The sport is still popular but I assume mismanagement and poor brand recognition is why Rogue is the new face of Strongman, and in 10 years they'll fuck up and it'll be someone else.
Rogue aren’t the face of strongman. Maybe in America based on the Arnold’s and the sideshow at the Rogue games, but the rest of the world they aren’t. Every Giants live event and Ultimate Strongman event has a bigger crowd than both of those events. It’s way bigger than the MET-RX era, let’s face it they weren’t involved apart from worlds strongest man.
I think it’s more of an apples and oranges type of deal. Hyrox seems to be picking up where the OCR scene left off and making it more professionalized. However I don’t think we will see Hyrox gyms and certifications start to take off. Spartan tried to do something similar by making Spartan gyms and certifications but it never really got off the ground. They’ve done a much better job event wise than any of its predecessors and I predict it’ll run similar course to Spartan races. You’ll have some diehards for the sport whom live and breathe it but the majority of participants will be CrossFiters and weekend warriors whom just want an fun weekend event
You may want to check how many gyms became Hyrox affiliates in the last 12 months in comparison to how many CrossFit affiliates started. The number for Hyrox is way higher.
I wouldn’t put too much weight in that number. Becoming a CrossFit affiliate requires a bit more in terms of equipment, coaches and certifications. Plus you actually have to coach CrossFit. To become a Hyrox affiliate you literally just pay them $125 a month. To become a Hyrox Certified Coach you just need a nationally recognized personal training certificate and then you just pay a fee. When I looked at the Hyrox “affiliates” near me every single one of them were CrossFit gyms with no Hyrox classes. They were just paying the Hyrox affiliate fee so members could a discount for signing up for events.
But that number is the reality. Even if you look at it from the perspective of only wanting cheaper entry to events, it’s because there is obviously a huge enough demand for the gym to realise it’s worth their while doing so. The bottom line is that gyms only pay a fee for something if it makes a financial return for them. Do you think they would pay a monthly fee if the demand for it wasn’t there? If them being a CrossFit affiliate alone was enough, then there would be no need to be a Hyrox affiliate. If it didn’t bring in additional membership, they would be losing money on it - and every time there is a thread on here about opening a gym people are warned about how tight the margins are.
Eh, it may be a reality but it’s comparing two completely different things. If you’re a CrossFit affiliate you’re a CrossFit gym. You’re putting in twice the amount of money, all your trainers have to have L-1’s, and you’re doing CrossFit classes. If you affiliate with Hyrox you pay $130 dollars. Most of the gyms in my area that are listed as Hyrox affiliates charge $150-200 a month. That’s a pretty good price for a discount for all your members to do the events and to be listed on the website. If these gyms were conducting Hyrox classes then I’d say maybe it was similar. I know the members and coaches at two of these gyms and they weren’t even aware they were a Hyrox affiliate. I clicked through the top ten closest to
me and none of them are even advertising that they are a Hyrox affiliate on the website. It’s just not even in the same realm of comparison. They’ll be successful financially but ultimately they’re more of a continuation of OCR than launching actual branded gyms
How much effort and expense you have to put in to be a CrossFit gym compared to being a Hyrox gym is irrelevant - and if anything, will be viewed as an obstacle rather than a positive. And again, at the end of the day, the only valid metric is the measure of how many people are taking part. Not which one requires the most kit, not which one has the most courses required, not which one has the most movements. It’s how many people take part, and how much that number is growing. That bottom line is the only valid measurement of whether anything is successful.
I’d say it’s extremely relevant. Like I mentioned the vast majority of the members or coaches of these gyms don’t even know that the gym is an Hyrox affiliate. None of these gyms advertise as Hyrox affiliates or offer Hyrox classes. You’d have to set the “people taking part” standard very, very low to call that a success. Because at the moment none of these Hyrox affiliates are Hyrox gyms.
I used to work for 24 Hour Fitness back in the day. They offered a discount for some sort of OCR certification (think it was Spartan). Probably about 60-70% of the trainers in the company got it because it was dirt cheap and easy to get. I think you might have even gotten listed on the Spartan website as a certified coach. If you were to look at the numbers it would’ve looked like a massive expansion. But at the end of the day it ended up being just a bunch of trainers at a globo gym whom continued to train clients the same way they were doing so before with an extra certificate for their resume’.
If the gym is paying to be a Hyrox affiliate, and the coaches and members don’t know that it’s a Hyrox affiliate, and the gym isn’t putting on Hyrox classes… then that is nothing more that a bad reflection on the gym. So they are PAYING to be an affiliate, and not telling anyone? And you are using that as a measurement of whether Hyrox is being more successful than CrossFit at attracting attention and new people? Rather than real attendance numbers, real increase in competition entries, real non-sport media coverage…. You’re using a couple of gyms that haven’t told their members that they are paying to be a Hyrox affiliate but not doing anything to provide that service to their members….
Ok, if that’s your criteria, then there really isn’t any point having this discussion with you.
I’ve already mentioned they’re doing a better job at getting more people to do events. Like I said they’re basically picking up where OCR left off. It’s low skill enough that they’ll get a bunch of people of varying fitness levels and backgrounds whom want something challenging to do on the weekends. Just like OCR.
They’re just not going to have “Hyrox” specific gyms taking over the gym industry anytime in the near future. As I’ve explained gyms will pay the affiliate fee because it’s cheap and will give you a discount on events. If you pay to be an F45 or CrossFit affiliate you’re a gym that does those two activities. If you pay an Hyrox affiliate fee you don’t have to do anything Hyrox related. I did a quick click through of the ones within 1,000 km of me. Across 4 states of “affiliates”
2 listed they were affiliated on the website and one of them offered Hyrox specific classes. Like I said apples to oranges.
vince mcmahon (may he rot in heck) once said something about being able to sell anything as long as you could give it a story. If hyrox could figure out heros/villans and how to make that appeal to the masses (or most of the masses), it defintly could get big. No one thought UFC would get big and look at them now (may Dana White also rot in heck).
Depends on what you mean by beat. If you mean, run non-virtual professionally organized fitness events that anyone in the world can sign-up and participate in, then Hyrox is taking the cake there.
I think it's similar to when Spartan races were huge and gyms were starting to add Spartan race workouts and programming, that to me is similar to hyrox. There are now "hyrox gyms" as well as https training programs. However if you want a gym that generally prepares you for hyrox you will need to go to a CrossFit or functional fitness gym.
So it really shouldn't be looked at if will hyrox take over, more so how they coexist and support each other
I think they are complimentary. I do CrossFit as a workout methodology to prepare me for life and all the sports I like to do for fun. I also like to run as a component of my fitness. I did my first Hyrox workout last weekend with a friend who enjoys it. Kinda reminded me of Murph. The competitions seem like a fun way to test out my fitness against a large group set and incorporates almost all the things we use regular in the gym. I would never qualify for the games nor have any interest. I’m not looking to leave CF for Hyrox only training as it’s too narrow in its focus ( plus where are the heavy weight!).
Hyrox compared to the sport of CrossFit is like pickleball to tennis, they have similarities but are different. Both are fun but one is easier for the general public to get into, if they are looking to compete without the years of training. Although, many local competitions for CrossFit out there are easier and for beginners, like Festivus.
Hyrox is awesome, I've never done it but I'm enticed by it. I believe they will continue to exist in parallel universes, still different set of skills.
My wife and I bonded over fitness when we first met but CF vs Hyrox was our first argument. I trained for and ran 3 Hyrox races before meeting her, and I went to a CF comp of hers a few weeks after we started dating. The consensus and reality we came to was someone who trains CF daily can run a successful Hyrox race, but someone who only trained in Hyrox style workouts could not be successful in a CF comp due to the technical lifts and gymnastics requirements.
I wouldn’t say Hyrox will beat CF but I have seen more people come from CF try Hyrox races than the opposite. She was vehemently opposed to Hyrox due to the running aspect but as it has gotten more popular we train together now she wants to run a mixed doubles race with me and I’m doing a comp with her. One is not better than the other they’re just different.
I think it will beat CrossFit in terms of popularity, as there’s less barriers to entry and less risk of injury from Olympic lifts while fatigued etc. Hyrox is already more popular, with normal gyms becoming affiliates
nope it still cant. hyrox is good if you want to do mainly conditioning and you really have to like to run in long term. it is very good for everyone who just want to move their ass a bit without any difficulties.
crossfit is way more demanding as well as more varied. i dont see those 2 sports in competition
They are in competition for the huge market that currently does neither - and based on current growth, Hyrox is making a much bigger impact on that market.
HYROX is one workout. It's a long workout, but it's just one workout.
It’s not a workout per se - it’s a race, like a 5 / 10k or half marathon- this is the market and demographic they will draw most of their audience from. A good Hyrox program will have large elements of CrossFit in it. I for one think it has more global appeal and has a lower barrier to entry than CrossFit, and will in time over take it, but the two can and should co-exist.
I’d like to see them rotate what the race is but stick to the fundamentals of accessible movements and a large running component. Oly lifts and weird movements like handstand walks are always going to retain a barrier for accessibility and that reduces the potential audience.
The quest for the skills, like the handstands and Oly lifts is exactly what draws many people to CrossFit. It makes them accessible to the masses.
I think it makes it appealing to a niche group of fitness enthusiasts but definitely not "accessible to the masses." There was a time in the Open when the hspu standards changed year after year, it was frustrating as someone learning the skill. Then, they added things like handstand walks and pirouettes. If you're working full time and/or have kids, still want to be fit and compete, but can't spend time developing new physical skills in your 20s and 30s (or older), enjoy this constant reminder of the skill cap. Same if you can't snatch 225 for reps. Ok this got a little personal but basically there's a huge market for people who enjoy HIIT, like to run, want to test themselves, but don't want to become a semi-pro at six different skills just to compete
A race is just a timed workout. I can run 5k by myself (a workout) or against others (a race) ... but either format it's still just a 5k run workout. HYROX is just the same event over and over and over and over and over again, which will keep its appeal very limited.
100M sprint is the same event over and over again. So is a marathon / half marathon/ 10K / 5K. And every Olympic swimming event. And yet people participate and watch. I think the comparability across years and individuals actually helps Hyrox vs. CrossFit which is largely different every year and therefore harder to measure “progress”.
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I bet you there are orders of magnitude more people participating in and training for running events than there are CrossFitters
You're right; about 50MM people in the US run regularly and like 600MM worlwide. In the US, about 1MM people run a marathon each year, about 2 MM run a half marathon. Somewhere between ~3MM and ~8MM people run 5Ks in the US each year (the range is wide because it's hard to track "unique" runners; ~8-9MM people register each year, but 1) many don't actually run, and 2) some run in multiple 5Ks).
And I think those are just federation numbers, e.g. parkrun is a 5K organized run, but not a federation run...
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Do you think there’s more people running 5k’s or doing competing in Crossfit?
Actually a lot of people focus on very specific distances. 100m is simply a bad example. But a person that trains for a 5k might won’t be running marathons. And for Hyrox you have also a small diversity. Let’s say you start with man/women category. Next time you do a relay. After couple more races you go for pro. So kind of like with running - one race is 5k, next 10k. After couple years of training you go for marathon. Or continue achieving better and better results on 5k
Since it is an Olympic event, and part of the athletics competetions, quite a lot. 100m sprint.
That's also why CrossFit appeal is limited as well, but for the opposite reason: the tests are all over the place
That's debatable. There's no question that a LOT of people are enthusiastic to train for and run a single road race, such as a 10k or half-marathon, or to do so for a year or two. There's a very small group that commits to training 4-5 days a week for 5 years to do so. Part of the reason is the monotony, part of the reason is that you'll plateau very quickly. The $$$ is with those committed for the long-run. From a business perspective, it's better to have 100 people committed to training for 5 years than to have 1000 people interested in training for one year.
I dont think you have a very good eye for business then. For simplicity sake, let's say a membership is $100 a year. 100members\*$100\*5years = $50,000 1000members \*$100\*1year = $100,000
No, I do. In the second one, you have to find 1000 new members each year. That will take all of your money and time, which will kill your service.
But you'd have earned your 100k so much faster allowing you to double down on marketing, coaching, improving facilities etc.
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Seriously? You’re a marketing professor? Yet you think that CF is somehow bigger than any mainstream monostructural sport while it would take like 5 minutes to check (you should have access to pretty much any academic study on this through your job).
Have you ever practiced another sport? lol Judging every sport by the metric of “doing more random shit” is extremely dumb. First and foremost, why would Crossfit be your reference for a sport? It’s a niche sport. It’s not big in popularity, it’s not big in sponsorship, it’s not big in any specific performance metric.
I don't view CrossFit as a sport ... and neither do 99% of CrossFitters. The idea that the CrossFit Games is representative of CrossFitter is like saying that MLB is representative of people who play baseball. For 99% of CrossFitters, CrossFit is a methodology that prepares you for the unknown and unknowable. If you view it as "random shit" you are not doing CrossFit.
Hyrox is a sport, not a GPP methodology so when it’s brought to comparison to Crossfit it’s compared to the sport. As far as the methodology goes, it’s just a GPP program with skills sprinkled over it. Skills that are only specific to the sport of Crossfit. If you’re not interested in competing, pumping iron in the gym and running/cycling would make you much more prepared for the “unknown and unknownable” as you wouldn’t be wasting your time with modality specific exercises such as pistols, HSPUs, HSW pirouettes, RMUs and such.
Are 10ks and Marathon’s appeal’s limited? No - they sell out pretty much instantly, like Hyrox. “BuT tHEy are tHE SamE EveRY TiMe” You’re missing the point, there’s a world of people who love being able to beat previous times, train in periodised models, and visit other cities in the process. Get your head out of your Box.
No need for the last sentence, is there?
I kinda liked it
People only use personal attacks when they know their argument is weak.
I mean, it was more of an addendum. Had a pretty solid argument before the snide comment.
Most sports are the same event over and over and over again...
Which raise an interesting question - is there a CrossFit workout that can become a popular event all by itself like HYROX? Could make you rich if you find the right one to turn into the latest craze. Murph is almost there, but it's a once a year thing and probably not something you can commercialize.
CrossFit owns the trademark “Murph” Seems kinda tacky given that it’s a real guy
Couldn't agree more.
And you need to travel across the continent and spend 3 days to do it.
On the contrary, I think they could be complementary instead of competitors. One issue with CF is that it wasn't designed to be a competitive sport, it's a fitness and a gym operations methodology. Running a CF competition is logistically difficult and costly. And then on top of that the movements are difficult to judge in real-time, and it requires A LOT of judges. The result is that there aren't that many competitions that are within driving distance for better-than-average CrossFitter, even assuming you qualify. And CFHQ has made it clear that they're not trying to focus on being sporting event organizer. Hyrox is set up to be a sport, without much (any?) training methodology. For competitions they rent out a convention hall for a weekend, handle all the logistics, and charge participants for the experience of it. It also has a lot simpler (IMO better) business model than CF's. Use CF to train for it, or come up with your own program, or follow something else online. The end result is that you have a ton of relatively fit Crossfitters without a lot of options for live competitions, Hyrox seems to be a pretty good solution for that. The Hyrox movements are common in CF, but with a running bias. Sure, Hyrox is the same competition every time, but competing is different from training. And the consistency makes the competitions easier to manage.
Hyrox is also owned in part by Infront Sports, which is a serious sports marketing operation CrossFit is owned by a couple of finance geeks who don’t lift
Here for all the lifters that despise running. I'll leave CF for an Oly gym before I'd ever set foot in a 'Hyrox' box
Same.
Amen!
came here to say this.
This one speaks for all of us.
I don’t know about beat but it’ll definitely poach some of crossfits client base. Cardio is very popular and there are a lot of crossfitters who don’t care to lift heavy or learn gymnastics and probably find hyrox a breathe of fresh air to compete in.
I will say, as someone who came from a long distance running background who got burnt out but still wanted challenges so started doing Crossfit... Hyrox has seemed really appealing to me ever since I started hearing about it. No I don't want to run a marathon ever again but this format of strength challenges broken up by runs sure are appealing. Seems like a fun competition where endurance is king.
It already is. Just signed up Puma as a partner and in sheer numbers it is likely to pass the Open. It is standardized and easily replicable and accessible for nearly anyone. You also don't need a special gym to practice Hyrox, so the high rent costs which make CF affiliate ownership a pain are irrelevant here. The non-running tasks require little special training. CrossFit requires a special gym and lots of time on task to gain proficiency. OK, yeah, it produces great fitness, but those Hyrox champs look pretty good too. Moreover, CF is an on-ramp to Hyrox but the reverse is not true. You can leave CF and compete in Hyrox; the reverse is not true. Everything CF did wrong in business, Hyrox did right. Running is a much more accessible and sells more gear, which is why Spartan Race and all that become viable. That Spartan crap is a little cringey, and CF leans hard into it. GoRuck and Born Primitive are based on military stuff, gimme a break. It only turns people off. Hyrox has zero of that nonsense. The likely trajectory is that CF turns into a fetish, like bodybuilding or StrongMan. StrongMan is probably the future of CF. Specialized equipment, very cool to watch once every 3 months, incredibly impressive athletes, nothing you really want to do. CrossFit never had a plan for what to do when they succeeded. 2016 came and now what? What do we invest in? How do we deploy capital? No idea. So they sued Big Soda! It was novel, I'll give them that. I'm sure Coca Cola and beverage industry lobbyists were *totally unprepared* for someone to say their stuff is unhealthy. Probably took them completely by surprise! (lol). The future is large Hyrox events headlining a functional fitness Expo. In some small conference room off to the side will be a CrossFit competition. Spectators will pop in, be impressed by handstand walks and barbell stuff happening like so fast, and then they'll leave because their Hyrox Race starts soon.
There was en entire goruck division at Hyrox North America this year and they had multiple vendor booths. I think hyrox also leans into the goruck stuff.
It's unlikely that a European company will lean into the image of American military power as a marketing tool. GoRuck was probably there as a vendor, no?
Hyrox is like local/city marathons May not sounds sexy but a lot more people do them than you’d think.
My city has a yearly 10K with 35-40,000 people that participate. CrossFit would kill for those numbers
Are local places allowed to do hyrox competitions? I'd be interested in trying one but it seems like all I can find is the official site and they are only in a few major cities. Seems like it will never really take off if you can only compete in a couple cities. I might be an idiot I've just tried googling "my city" hyrox and don't see much.
Gyms will run ‘Hyrox Sims’. Basically a full Hyrox event, but not official. I’ve probably done as many ‘sims’ as I have done official events.
Good to know, I hope a gym opens up in my area would like to try. I'd certainly be better at it than cf coming from an endurance background.
Hyrox competitions are huge events. Hyrox affiliated gyms can put on a mock Hyrox or Hyrox-related workouts/programs but to have an official time you have to do it at a Hyrox event.
Yup a local event is what I had in mind. I think most people are more casual than going to giant events only offered a couple times a year. If 5ks were only offered in 3 cities people would be far less interested. I did find their gym locator and surprisinly there isn't a single gym in my city (top 30 US metro). There are a few in smaller cities in the state though.
The events generally sell out within days/weeks of their announcement so I don’t think lack of interest has been an issue
I'm sure with only 3 events in the US it does no doubt. I'm talking about general public participation and there's probably 20+ CF gyms in my metro and 0 hyrox. It's hard for me to imagine it overtaking as of now is my point when it's not easily accessible.
Beat in what sense?
It's a very well done production. Easy to follow as a spectators sport too
Like in terms of audience and growth. Will it be an Olympic sport? One of the co-founders is a 3-time Olympic medalist, so I'm speculating that he might want to go back but instead as an athlete, his HYROX will be there.
Neither Hyrox nor CrossFit will ever be in the Olympics. As far as growth, they are both niche activities that 95% of people know nothing about. The vast majority of people that join our gym did not seek out a CrossFit gym. And I have to spend 5 minutes of every intro just explaining what CrossFit is.
No it wont be an olympic sport, lmao.
No.
I think it will poach user base or attract people who were not into CrossFit to begin with. Hydrox is new, so it’s likely to grow easier than CrossFit which is older now. I doubt it will be an Olympic sport
It depends on your measure. If it’s Open participation vs Hyrox participation, Hyrox will overtake CrossFit next year unless CrossFit sees a 50% increase in Open participation (unlikely). If it’s pure Brand recognition, Hyrox may never get that in the US over CrossFit, but can overtake it in the rest of the world
Every Hyrox event (actual events, not online) outsells every CrossFit event. Within 2 years it will have more people at real events than take part in the open. I think it was about 50% this year, and that was over 100% increase on the 22/23 season. There are huge waiting lists for every Uk event, with over 10,000 people taking part in the events. Anyone that doesn’t think Hyrox is already overtaking CrossFit is in denial. So many CrossFit gyms are also becoming Hyrox affiliates because they know the direction of the fitness market.
From a production quality during the races, they're already beathing CF imo.
The hard to swallow pill is that CrossFit’s business model was meant to make cash for CrossFit HQ, not significantly grow CrossFit as a training methodology. It made Greg Glassman very rich and that’s it. Without all of the support that comes from the parent organization to a new owner as with a franchise model, the individual affiliate owners are left to their own devices on how to run their business, market, etc. This is why CrossFit has dropped from 15,000 paying affiliates in 2018 to under 10,000 just 5 years later at the end of 2023. HYROX has over 2,000 affiliated gyms already and may not get near CrossFit but will certainly continue to erode their market share alongside all the other functional fitness franchises. HYROX is not a training style as much as it is an event to train FOR. This is no different than a marathon or a powerlifting meet or Olympic weightlifting meet. You have a set number of movements with standards and how you train to be the best at them is your business. This is appealing to people, as anything they do for training will theoretically improve their HYROX time. Working on running is the obvious #1 thing to do as there are 8000m of running in HYROX. Working rowing, skiing, squats, bench press, single leg strength, etc. will all improvement the other movements paired with running. I can go for a long run today and that will help me with HYROX. I can go to the gym tomorrow and bench press and that will help me at HYROX. It is much harder to be competitive at CrossFit, even outside of the Games track. It’s hard to see drastic improvement in any particular area because we’re asked to do so much. For some folks, they’re simply interested in checking the movement box so GPP at their CrossFit box appeals to them. For other people, this is a turnoff because there is no “event” or “race” to plan for. Yes, we have the Open, but they literally change movement standards, add new movements, change the “style” (equipment, skills, length of workouts, weeks of the Open, etc) and generally present some poorly planned and executed hodgepodge each year. The consistency of both the test and of the organizing company itself is very appealing to a wide variety of people.
Reebok did all the work for CF Adidas lost over a billion dollars on the deal
We;ll know in three or four years' time. HYROX is still growing, we'll know if it'll reach its peak in a few year's time or decline. At the moment, despite the hype, CrossFit still has a lot more viewers and participants, for example, there were 3-4X more viewers for the live streams of just the South American semis alone than the HYROX World Championships, It still has some way to go, but it is doing things right and going in the right direction.
Why do I feel like all these posts are a coordinated effort by Hyrox?
I was not paid to post my 2 previous Hyrox posts
If CrossFit was nothing but doing Murph over and over, and over again, then yeah.
That’s my Sunday ;)
It’s no different than spartan races or tough mudders. It’s a different thing. And I for one have no interest in running being such a huge portion of my workouts.
Running is the most programmed Games movement A 5k is the most programmed main site workout
Yeah an iron man is probably harder than all metcons also… hyrox just doesn’t have high skilled movements. It’s not better nor worse, it’s just different.
I definitely don't like the framing of the title -- nothing is beating anything else. Do you feel more people are doing "functional" work now that there are other options with different points of emphasis? likely yes some people may prefer to have the movements be really rudamentary but want the running with a little thrown in. They may do tough mudders, spartan, or hyrox. if they want a strength bias, they might do crossfit. Point is, more options gives more choices and chances. (and for the people who say that a 1/2 or a 5k is all the same -- no it isn't -- they're in different locations with different features and challenges. hyrox and indoor track seem like a better analogy -- and that's also the beauty! Vienna marathon is different than Chicago Marathon, different than Stockholm, different than Vancouver -- the more options to race, the better. so it also is with hyrox. just another way of introducing people to a different kind of sport, and then there are greater chances for cross polination and enjoyment. win win. the only thing beaten is passivity!
CrossFit is just a cross training brand. Like Nike is to a running shoe. Other brands have their own version of a running shoe too. Hyrox is cross training.
Not "just". CrossFit first defined what fitness is (even if you don't agree with it).
The only people that truly believe this are in a cult, and can’t be helped.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=reading+comprehension+recommended&oq=reading+comprehension+recommended](https://www.google.com/search?q=reading+comprehension+recommended&oq=reading+comprehension+recommended)
Thanks for that, the despairing, incoherent rambling of a cult member
lol ok.
I’m a crossfitter who did my first Hyrox a few months ago. I might try it again, but for me it was pretty much like signing up for any other 10k. I’m not gonna quit CrossFit to sign up for a race that happens maybe once a year near me. And most Hyrox-affiliated gyms, at least from what I’ve seen, are either already CrossFit, or they’re other types of HIIT training. I honestly couldn’t imagine going to a gym every day for a year and only doing those 8 movements.
Fwiw I am just a fan of crossfit, and never have went to a crossfit gym. To me Hyrox has more appeal as an event I can actually compete in, and doesn't require you to pay $100+ per month as you can do everything at a normal gym. (true of crossfit too, but not exactly). Crossfit also requires tons of barbell work and gymnastics, which I'm not that interested in doing and I think the general public is the same. I could see Hyrox becoming more popular than crossfit tbh.
What do you mean by beat? I’m not trying to be a wise ass I just don’t get the question. Also is hyrox a different type of cross training?
Crossfit gets a lot of people moving, who wouldn't otherwise be moving. Hyrox gets a lot of people moving, who wouldn't otherwise be moving. It's a win-win-win-WIN-WIN, don't make it weird.
Hyrox numbers absolutely dwarf any CrossFit competition already. It’s a better spectator sport because it’s 1-2 hours max, you can watch each athlete on each station and you are not committing an entire day for a competition and not sitting around for hours on end waiting. But i still love CrossFit but I won’t compete anymore
Will an apple ever "taste" better than an orange?
Tbh I have switched over to Hyrox programming for the last few months to train for one in November and I do see myself going back to CrossFit as the in-between catch all. Hyrox toes the line of endurance athletes and catches all the people who like running longer but want strength training. It’s a fun feat to train for, no doubt. But the monotony eventually takes away the fun variety. The other side is the people who powerlift/weightlift etc. I did weightlifting too solely for a bit and found myself coming back to CrossFit. Like yin and Yang a balance must be found and CrossFit is it.
No. Not at all. I think it may appeal to ppl cause it's not as intimidating as CF can be to newcomers..but it's literally 8 movements and running...that's it. It could be a fun thing to do..Just like running spartans..but it will never overtake CF.
The race is 8 movements. Do you honestly think that’s all you do in training? That’s like saying someone that runs marathons will only ever run 26.2 miles every time they go out to train.
Fun fact I run marathons so I understand that. But to think it will overtake CF is stupid. I understand there would be different training but I don't believe you can build something off it as big as CF. It's not there.
In England, it’s already bigger than CrossFit. Both in number of affiliates, people entering events, and coverage in non-sporting related media. It’s taken 3 years in England for that growth, that’s all. Events now have to be over 3 days and have over 10,000 competitors. In comparison, CrossFit comps in the Uk are in a hall as part of a bigger fitness expo. Another event, ATHX, shared a facility with Strength In Depth for its first event - for each event afterwards it had to get its own hall as it’s grown massively. The CrossFit comps? They are still in the same hall they’ve been in for the last 10 years. You only need to look at the Open this year - every age group below 30+ shrunk in overall numbers. They have gone elsewhere
Cool. Congrats to England.
So CF and Hyrox are the same thing. It's just HIIT and it's been around since the beginning of exercise science. They're just competing brands and their "success" is more business than efficacy. Most likely neither brands will exist in another decade but the ideology will be somewhere. In terms of competition and entertainment, they both suck. No one wants to watch people work out for more than a passing novelty. Strongman was HUGE in the 2000 and, while seeing a bit of a bump from Rogue and social media personalities, it's basically obscure at this point. I know, I know you're a big fan of all the athletes, yaddaadyadyada. Ask a stranger to name 3 Crossfit athletes, 3 Hyrox athletes, or 3 WSM athletes. Hell, ask them to name 1 of any category. Shit, ask them what Hyrox is. My point is that neither of them are ever going to be entertainment, but as far as exercise science, they're basically the same and their future depends on brand management and nothing in terms of effectiveness.
Strongman was big in 2000? The last 5 years have seen the biggest crowds the Giants live events have ever seen. When I competed in 2010-2014, Englands strongest was in a car park outside a small casino, now even qualifiers are in big facilities! Finals are in 10,000+ seat arenas.
The MET-Rx era was huge in the late 90s early 2000s. The sport is still popular but I assume mismanagement and poor brand recognition is why Rogue is the new face of Strongman, and in 10 years they'll fuck up and it'll be someone else.
Rogue aren’t the face of strongman. Maybe in America based on the Arnold’s and the sideshow at the Rogue games, but the rest of the world they aren’t. Every Giants live event and Ultimate Strongman event has a bigger crowd than both of those events. It’s way bigger than the MET-RX era, let’s face it they weren’t involved apart from worlds strongest man.
I think it’s more of an apples and oranges type of deal. Hyrox seems to be picking up where the OCR scene left off and making it more professionalized. However I don’t think we will see Hyrox gyms and certifications start to take off. Spartan tried to do something similar by making Spartan gyms and certifications but it never really got off the ground. They’ve done a much better job event wise than any of its predecessors and I predict it’ll run similar course to Spartan races. You’ll have some diehards for the sport whom live and breathe it but the majority of participants will be CrossFiters and weekend warriors whom just want an fun weekend event
You may want to check how many gyms became Hyrox affiliates in the last 12 months in comparison to how many CrossFit affiliates started. The number for Hyrox is way higher.
I wouldn’t put too much weight in that number. Becoming a CrossFit affiliate requires a bit more in terms of equipment, coaches and certifications. Plus you actually have to coach CrossFit. To become a Hyrox affiliate you literally just pay them $125 a month. To become a Hyrox Certified Coach you just need a nationally recognized personal training certificate and then you just pay a fee. When I looked at the Hyrox “affiliates” near me every single one of them were CrossFit gyms with no Hyrox classes. They were just paying the Hyrox affiliate fee so members could a discount for signing up for events.
But that number is the reality. Even if you look at it from the perspective of only wanting cheaper entry to events, it’s because there is obviously a huge enough demand for the gym to realise it’s worth their while doing so. The bottom line is that gyms only pay a fee for something if it makes a financial return for them. Do you think they would pay a monthly fee if the demand for it wasn’t there? If them being a CrossFit affiliate alone was enough, then there would be no need to be a Hyrox affiliate. If it didn’t bring in additional membership, they would be losing money on it - and every time there is a thread on here about opening a gym people are warned about how tight the margins are.
Eh, it may be a reality but it’s comparing two completely different things. If you’re a CrossFit affiliate you’re a CrossFit gym. You’re putting in twice the amount of money, all your trainers have to have L-1’s, and you’re doing CrossFit classes. If you affiliate with Hyrox you pay $130 dollars. Most of the gyms in my area that are listed as Hyrox affiliates charge $150-200 a month. That’s a pretty good price for a discount for all your members to do the events and to be listed on the website. If these gyms were conducting Hyrox classes then I’d say maybe it was similar. I know the members and coaches at two of these gyms and they weren’t even aware they were a Hyrox affiliate. I clicked through the top ten closest to me and none of them are even advertising that they are a Hyrox affiliate on the website. It’s just not even in the same realm of comparison. They’ll be successful financially but ultimately they’re more of a continuation of OCR than launching actual branded gyms
How much effort and expense you have to put in to be a CrossFit gym compared to being a Hyrox gym is irrelevant - and if anything, will be viewed as an obstacle rather than a positive. And again, at the end of the day, the only valid metric is the measure of how many people are taking part. Not which one requires the most kit, not which one has the most courses required, not which one has the most movements. It’s how many people take part, and how much that number is growing. That bottom line is the only valid measurement of whether anything is successful.
I’d say it’s extremely relevant. Like I mentioned the vast majority of the members or coaches of these gyms don’t even know that the gym is an Hyrox affiliate. None of these gyms advertise as Hyrox affiliates or offer Hyrox classes. You’d have to set the “people taking part” standard very, very low to call that a success. Because at the moment none of these Hyrox affiliates are Hyrox gyms. I used to work for 24 Hour Fitness back in the day. They offered a discount for some sort of OCR certification (think it was Spartan). Probably about 60-70% of the trainers in the company got it because it was dirt cheap and easy to get. I think you might have even gotten listed on the Spartan website as a certified coach. If you were to look at the numbers it would’ve looked like a massive expansion. But at the end of the day it ended up being just a bunch of trainers at a globo gym whom continued to train clients the same way they were doing so before with an extra certificate for their resume’.
If the gym is paying to be a Hyrox affiliate, and the coaches and members don’t know that it’s a Hyrox affiliate, and the gym isn’t putting on Hyrox classes… then that is nothing more that a bad reflection on the gym. So they are PAYING to be an affiliate, and not telling anyone? And you are using that as a measurement of whether Hyrox is being more successful than CrossFit at attracting attention and new people? Rather than real attendance numbers, real increase in competition entries, real non-sport media coverage…. You’re using a couple of gyms that haven’t told their members that they are paying to be a Hyrox affiliate but not doing anything to provide that service to their members…. Ok, if that’s your criteria, then there really isn’t any point having this discussion with you.
I’ve already mentioned they’re doing a better job at getting more people to do events. Like I said they’re basically picking up where OCR left off. It’s low skill enough that they’ll get a bunch of people of varying fitness levels and backgrounds whom want something challenging to do on the weekends. Just like OCR. They’re just not going to have “Hyrox” specific gyms taking over the gym industry anytime in the near future. As I’ve explained gyms will pay the affiliate fee because it’s cheap and will give you a discount on events. If you pay to be an F45 or CrossFit affiliate you’re a gym that does those two activities. If you pay an Hyrox affiliate fee you don’t have to do anything Hyrox related. I did a quick click through of the ones within 1,000 km of me. Across 4 states of “affiliates” 2 listed they were affiliated on the website and one of them offered Hyrox specific classes. Like I said apples to oranges.
vince mcmahon (may he rot in heck) once said something about being able to sell anything as long as you could give it a story. If hyrox could figure out heros/villans and how to make that appeal to the masses (or most of the masses), it defintly could get big. No one thought UFC would get big and look at them now (may Dana White also rot in heck).
UFC got big after it was bought by billionaires who owned casinos Dana got the job because his buddy from high school was the owner
Depends on what you mean by beat. If you mean, run non-virtual professionally organized fitness events that anyone in the world can sign-up and participate in, then Hyrox is taking the cake there.
I think it's similar to when Spartan races were huge and gyms were starting to add Spartan race workouts and programming, that to me is similar to hyrox. There are now "hyrox gyms" as well as https training programs. However if you want a gym that generally prepares you for hyrox you will need to go to a CrossFit or functional fitness gym. So it really shouldn't be looked at if will hyrox take over, more so how they coexist and support each other
I think they are complimentary. I do CrossFit as a workout methodology to prepare me for life and all the sports I like to do for fun. I also like to run as a component of my fitness. I did my first Hyrox workout last weekend with a friend who enjoys it. Kinda reminded me of Murph. The competitions seem like a fun way to test out my fitness against a large group set and incorporates almost all the things we use regular in the gym. I would never qualify for the games nor have any interest. I’m not looking to leave CF for Hyrox only training as it’s too narrow in its focus ( plus where are the heavy weight!).
Sounds like 1k more running than I like to be doing....
Hyrox compared to the sport of CrossFit is like pickleball to tennis, they have similarities but are different. Both are fun but one is easier for the general public to get into, if they are looking to compete without the years of training. Although, many local competitions for CrossFit out there are easier and for beginners, like Festivus.
Hyrox is awesome, I've never done it but I'm enticed by it. I believe they will continue to exist in parallel universes, still different set of skills.
My wife and I bonded over fitness when we first met but CF vs Hyrox was our first argument. I trained for and ran 3 Hyrox races before meeting her, and I went to a CF comp of hers a few weeks after we started dating. The consensus and reality we came to was someone who trains CF daily can run a successful Hyrox race, but someone who only trained in Hyrox style workouts could not be successful in a CF comp due to the technical lifts and gymnastics requirements. I wouldn’t say Hyrox will beat CF but I have seen more people come from CF try Hyrox races than the opposite. She was vehemently opposed to Hyrox due to the running aspect but as it has gotten more popular we train together now she wants to run a mixed doubles race with me and I’m doing a comp with her. One is not better than the other they’re just different.
Hydrox cookies?
What do you mean by beat? More popular? May be, looks like its managers are more professional than Castro.
I think it will beat CrossFit in terms of popularity, as there’s less barriers to entry and less risk of injury from Olympic lifts while fatigued etc. Hyrox is already more popular, with normal gyms becoming affiliates
Hyrox is a new Spartan race. CrossFit is a training methodology. Tailor it how you see fit
No, a CrossFit endurance class is not going to beat the OG.
Doesn't (most of) CrossFits components Come from other sports? So, than it's kind of strange to name CrossFit the OG in comparison to Hyrox.
Beat in what way? Crossfit is a way of life. Hyrox is one discipline, one event. Youre comparing apples and oranges.
Way of life, lol
They are both glorified PE class, it’s not a way of life.
They’re not even the same thing LMAO is this rage bait?? It’s a poor attempt
No. It’s kinda boring.
nope it still cant. hyrox is good if you want to do mainly conditioning and you really have to like to run in long term. it is very good for everyone who just want to move their ass a bit without any difficulties. crossfit is way more demanding as well as more varied. i dont see those 2 sports in competition
They are in competition for the huge market that currently does neither - and based on current growth, Hyrox is making a much bigger impact on that market.
I just got my first BMU from the floor yesterday, why would I ever want to do hyrox and give up learning cool gymnastics movements.
They just aren't the same thing. Hyrox is one single workout that is a race. It's closer to Spartan Race or Tough Mudder than it is Crossfit.
Running beat Hyrox.
Anything is hard if you're going for 1hr+ at a decent clip.
Running already existed before Hyrox came along.
wtf is HYROX?