Injury Management: Hyrox Edition
Have you signed up for a Hyrox? Or are you thinking about it and not sure that it will be something that you will be able for? We all know that Hyrox has blown up over the past year or so, and everyone you know has either done one or is training for one! The question is, how do we split up our week, our training styles and plan in rest days so that we don’t get injured before the Event Day? These were all thoughts and fears that went through my head while I was preparing for Hyrox Dublin last year. I have a L5-S1 Bulging Disc with narrowing on both sides so my fear was that my back was going to “blow up” and stop me competing (that happened for Hyrox Madrid and I had to sell my ticket); so I had to get smart with my training and make sure that I prioritised my recovery the whole way! So if you’re afraid of getting injured, here is what I have learned as the most injury-prone Sports Therapist you will meet who has actually completed a Hyrox and plans to do x3 this year (2025)!
Gradually Increase Your Activity Level
We get injured when we do too much too quick. And the problem is, when we start something new, we are usually full of motivation and want to go at a million miles an hour! If you know far enough in advance that you are doing an event, give yourself time for a gradual introduction to that style of training. Hyrox is made up of running along with 8 differing exercises that use each of your energy systems. That can take a lot of getting used to for your body if it is not something that you have done before. Start out with shorter sessions, perhaps only 2-3 days a week, and when you get to a stage where it is only taking you roughly 24hrs to recover, you can increase the intensity and frequency from there!
Take Your Rest Days
I know when I first started this style of training, I wanted to be the best I could be (don’t get me wrong, I still do!). I would have really intense sessions x5 a week and only take a rest day when my schedule meant I had no time to go to the gym. You don’t need to be a genius to know that that is NOT sustainable. I was actually holding myself back in terms of progress without even realising it. When I started planning in my rest days, I really started to notice the difference; I could lift heavier, I could run faster and my endurance skyrocketed!!
You Need A Lot More Food Than You Think!
With all of the Cardio and Conditioning sessions that you will be doing, you are going to burn through thousands of calories! Refuelling after these sessions is so so important. You also have to consider your desired training intensity. I know for myself, if I dont eat properly before a session, I physically cannot hit the numbers or times that I am aiming for. The other side of that coin is Recovery. Your body needs the nutrients from your food to recover in-between sessions! No Recovery = No Progress
Listen To Your Body
Even though you will more than likely have a training plan, some days you will just not feel up to it. As a female, a lot of listening to my body revolves around my Menstrual Cycle, but there are a lot more things that go into your body feeling “bad” on any given day; how was your sleep? How stressed are you at work or home? Did you have a fight with a loved one today? All of these things affect us physically and sometimes we just need to listen to the signals our bodies are giving us! I am not saying that every time you are in a bad humour or you feel a little “off” that you should use it as an excuse to not train, but perhaps you should change the intensity? If you have period cramps and know lifting weights will make it worse, perhaps do some cardio? If you are on a running day, had a fight at home, and know that lifting heavy weights will make you feel better mentally, then swap your days around. There is no need to be completely rigid in your training approach….
Know The Difference Between “Uncomfortability and Pain”
Pushing yourself when you are training will NEVER be comfortable, but it should not be painful. If you are feeling physical pain when you are training, you are doing something wrong. My advice would be, if an exercise is painful for you, stop and get your form checked. If you feel that you may have given yourself an injury, get is assessed as soon as possible. It is so much easier to heal an injury in the early stages than it is to let it progress and try to heal it further down the line.
Sleep
This is probably the most important one. I always think back to this quote from UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov - “For me, recovery is sleep; the most important thing. >Between training, at least 2 to 3 hours. All my life, in the daytime, I was sleeping.” You can eat all the protein, lift the heaviest weights in the gym, sprint for hours on the air runner, but if you arent sleeping it is all for nothing. Your body can only build muscle and recover when you are asleep. There is a reason that they use sleep deprivation as a form of torture! Aim for 6-8 hours a night - if you are training hard enough, this will NOT be difficult.
If you have signed up for a Hyrox, Best of Luck. I thought it was the best day and I cannot wait to do another one. Only my weekends are taken up working within the League of Ireland, I would be away as often as I could competing! Take it at your own pace, your only competitor on the day is yourself so don’t worry about everyone else around you - they are not watching you. If anyone is doing Hyrox Barcelona 2025, I will see you there!!
