How to fuel a Hyrox

How do you fuel a Hyrox? Most of the work happens before the start: eat plenty of carbohydrate the day before and a good breakfast on race morning, then take small amounts of carbs on the runs if you'll be out there for more than about an hour. You can't eat on the stations, and you don't need marathon-style fuelling for a race this length.

Hyrox is its own animal. Eight one-kilometre runs, eight functional stations, no real rest. That mix of running and strength work, done hard, is why you can't just copy a marathon or a long-ride plan and expect it to fit.

What a Hyrox actually asks of you

The research on Hyrox is still very new, but the first proper study gives a good picture. Eleven recreational athletes did a full simulated race in the Individual Open division.

• Median finish: 86.5 minutes. About 51 minutes of that was running and about 33 minutes was the stations.

• It's flat out almost the whole way. Athletes spent about 80% of the race between 90 and 100% of their maximum heart rate.

• Blood lactate stayed high, averaging about 6.3 mmol per litre, peaking after the stations.

• Fitness beat strength. Aerobic fitness and endurance training volume tracked finish time far more closely than grip strength or muscle mass.

So for most people Hyrox is somewhere between an hour and an hour and three quarters of very hard work. That's the number to plan around.

Before the race: top up, don't overload

For long events like a marathon or an Ironman, a full carb load over a couple of days earns its place. For Hyrox, I think that's overkill. Research shows your muscles can fill their glycogen stores in around 24 hours of rest and high-carbohydrate eating, which suits a race of this length.

So the day before, ease right off training and make carbohydrate the centre of every meal. Rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, oats, fruit. And cut back on fibre and fat that day, so you're not carrying a heavy gut into a race full of burpee broad jumps and wall balls.

Honestly, this is the part that decides most people's race. Arrive with full tanks and the rest is detail.

Race morning

Eat a familiar, high-carb, low-fibre breakfast a few hours before your start. Porridge with honey, white toast and jam, a bagel, a banana. Nothing new, nothing heavy. If your wave starts long after breakfast, a small carb top-up nearer your start, like a banana or a gel, keeps things topped up.

During the race: small doses on the runs

How much you need depends on how long you'll be racing.

For efforts around an hour, research shows that small amounts of carbohydrate, or even rinsing a sports drink around your mouth, can help performance. For events lasting over an hour, guidelines suggest 30 to 60g of carbs an hour.

In a Hyrox, I'd aim for the lower end of that. You're working at close to maximum heart rate the whole time, which isn't when your gut is at its best, and a gel sloshing around before the sled push or the burpees is the last thing you want. A carb drink on the runs, or one or two gels across the race, covers most people.

And keep it off the stations. The sled, the farmers carry and the wall balls need your hands and your breath. Take fuel on the runs or in the Roxzone, or not at all.

Fluid and sodium

You'll sweat a lot in a Hyrox, especially in a hot, crowded venue. But for a race of an hour or so, the main job is to start hydrated, not to drink a lot during. Take a few sips on the runs if you're thirsty. Drinking to thirst is the safest rule for any endurance event, and our hyponatremia guide explains why overdrinking causes its own problems.

Sodium matters more in long, hot sessions than in a race this length. If you're a heavy or salty sweater, or the venue is hot, it's worth thinking about. Our sodium guide covers how much, and a sweat rate test in a Hyrox-style session tells you what you actually lose.

Practise it in training

The same rule as every other sport: nothing new on race day. Practise your breakfast before hard sessions. Try your gel or carb drink during full or half simulations, so you know it sits fine when your heart rate is near the top. Most people don't bother rehearsing fuelling for a race this short, and then wonder why their stomach turned at the wall balls.

FAQ

Do I need to carb load for Hyrox? Not the multi-day load you'd do for a marathon. A high-carb day before, with easy training, is enough to fill your stores for a race of this length.

Should I take a gel during a Hyrox? If you'll be racing for over an hour, one or two gels on the runs can help. If you're racing around an hour, a few sips of a carb drink, or simply a good breakfast, is enough.

When should I eat before a Hyrox? A familiar, high-carb breakfast a few hours before your start, plus a small top-up if your wave starts long after it.

Is Hyrox more about strength or fitness? In the first study of Hyrox, aerobic fitness and endurance training tracked finish time much more closely than strength. Which is another reason to treat it like an endurance race when you plan your fuel.

Sources

• Brandt T, Ebel C, Lebahn C, et al. Acute physiological responses and performance determinants in Hyrox: a new running-focused high intensity functional fitness trend. Frontiers in Physiology, 2025.

• Burke LM, Hawley JA, Wong SHS, Jeukendrup AE. Carbohydrates for training and competition. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2011.

• Jeukendrup A. A step towards personalized sports nutrition: carbohydrate intake during exercise. Sports Medicine, 2014.

• Hew-Butler T, et al. Statement of the Third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference, Carlsbad, California, 2015. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2015.

In MOVE you can add a Hyrox session to your plan and see the carbs it needs, so the amount you practise with in your simulations is the one you take into the race.