A standing cardio machine that mimics the double-pole action of cross-country skiing, driven by pulling two handles down from overhead. It opens every Hyrox® race, so pacing here sets the tone for the whole event.

A heavily loaded sled that you drive across the floor over four 12.5 m lengths for 50 m total. It is one of the most leg-taxing stations and a classic spot where races unravel.

A loaded sled dragged toward you hand-over-hand along a rope, from within a marked box, over four 12.5 m lengths for 50 m total. It heavily loads the back, grip and legs.

A travelling burpee where each rep chest-to-floor is followed by a two-footed jump forward, repeated to cover 80 m. It is a full-body grind that spikes the heart rate right after the sleds.

A 1000 m effort on an indoor rowing machine sitting at the midpoint of the race. It blends leg drive, hip hinge and upper-body pull into one rhythmic movement.

Carrying a heavy kettlebell in each hand for 200 m as fast as possible. It punishes grip, forearms and core while your legs are already deep into the race.

Walking lunges for 100 m with a sandbag carried across the shoulders or upper back. Coming late in the race, it torches already-fatigued legs.

The final station: repeated squat-and-throw reps driving a medicine ball up to a target on the wall. After 8 km of running and seven stations, 100 reps here is a brutal finish.

The connective tissue of Hyrox®: a 1 km run precedes every one of the eight stations, for 8 km of total running. Each leg is run on tired, station-fatigued legs, so pacing across all eight is decisive.

The foundational squat pattern performed with no external load, using only bodyweight. It builds the mechanics, mobility, and balance that every loaded squat and Olympic lift depends on.

A squat with the barbell racked across the front of the shoulders. The front-loaded position demands an upright torso and directly carries over to receiving the clean.

A squat with the barbell resting across the upper back, allowing the heaviest loading of all the squat variations. It is a primary builder of lower-body and posterior-chain strength.

A full-depth squat performed while holding the barbell locked out overhead. It is the ultimate test of core stability, balance, and overhead mobility, and it underpins receiving the snatch.

Lifting a loaded barbell from the floor to a standing position by extending the hips and knees. It is one of the most fundamental strength movements and trains the entire posterior chain.

A strict overhead press driven purely by the shoulders and arms with no help from the legs. It is the base pressing movement from which the push press and push jerk are built.

An overhead press that adds a short, powerful dip and drive of the legs to move more weight than a strict press. The legs start the bar moving and the arms finish it overhead.

An overhead lift that uses leg drive to launch the bar and then a re-bend of the knees to drop underneath it, receiving the bar in a partial squat before standing. It moves more weight overhead than the push press.

A front squat flowing seamlessly into a push press, combining a full-depth squat with an overhead press in one continuous movement. It is a full-body, high-demand movement common in conditioning workouts.

Explosively lifting a barbell from the floor to the front rack in one movement. The power clean is received in a partial squat, while the squat clean is received in a full front squat, both catching the bar on the shoulders.

Lifting a barbell from the floor to locked out overhead in one continuous movement using a wide grip. The power snatch is received in a partial squat, while the squat snatch is received in a full overhead squat.

A two-part Olympic lift that combines a clean to the front rack with a jerk to lockout overhead. It allows the most weight of any single overhead movement and is a benchmark of full-body power.

A squat holding a single kettlebell or dumbbell against the chest. The load in front acts as a counterweight, which is why it teaches an upright, deep squat faster than almost anything else.

A lunge held in one place: front foot planted, rear foot behind, lowering and standing without stepping. It exposes side-to-side differences that a two-legged squat lets you hide.

A hinge on one leg: the free leg travels back as the chest comes down, so the whole body forms one line balancing over the standing foot. It is hamstring work and balance work at the same time.

A vertical pulling movement where you hang from a bar and pull your body up until your chin clears it. The strict version is pure upper-body strength; the kipping version uses a rhythmic hip drive to move faster and cycle more reps.

A pull-up with a higher range of motion where the chest must actually make contact with the bar. It demands more pulling power and a taller, more aggressive kip than a standard pull-up.

A core and hip-flexor movement performed hanging from a pull-up bar, where both feet are swung up to touch the bar between the hands. A coordinated kip lets athletes string multiple reps together efficiently.

An advanced movement that combines a pull-up and a dip to bring the body from hanging below the rings or bar to fully supported above it. It requires a fast, aggressive transition through the sticking point at chest height.

An inverted pressing movement performed upside down against a wall, lowering the head to the floor and pressing back to full arm lockout. It builds overhead pressing strength and shoulder stability.

A pressing movement on gymnastics rings where the body is supported above the rings and lowered until the shoulders drop below the elbows, then pressed back to lockout. The instability of the rings adds a significant stabilization challenge.

A single-leg squat where you lower all the way down on one leg while the other leg extends straight out in front, then stand back up. It demands strong legs, balance, and ankle and hip mobility.

Climbing a vertical rope from the floor to a target height using the hands and, in the standard version, a foot clamp for support. It combines grip strength, pulling power, and coordinated leg technique.

The foundational horizontal press: lowering a rigid body to the floor and pressing back to a locked-out plank. It underpins every burpee, dip and handstand push-up, and it is the workhorse of travel and bodyweight training.

The classic trunk-flexion movement: from lying on your back to sitting tall, rep after rep. Simple, scalable and everywhere in benchmark workouts, it builds the midline endurance every carry, squat and run leans on.

From a push-up position with the feet at a wall, you walk the feet up and the hands in until the body is nearly vertical, then walk back out. It builds handstand strength and overhead stability with the wall as a spotter.

A horizontal pull done hanging under rings or a bar with the feet on the floor. The angle of your body sets the difficulty, which makes it the most scalable pull in the gym and the honest substitute when pull-ups are out of reach.

A push-up done with the hips piked high, so the press angle is closer to vertical than horizontal. It is the bridge between a push-up and a handstand push-up, and the standard substitute when the wall is not an option.

Hanging from a bar with straight arms for time. It is grip work, shoulder decompression and the foundation position for every hanging movement, and it costs nothing but a bar.

A midline movement done hanging from a bar, drawing the knees up toward the chest. It is the step on the way to toes-to-bar and the version most people should be doing first.

Flat on your back, legs lifting to vertical and lowering without touching down. The torso stays on the floor throughout, which is exactly what separates it from a sit-up or a v-up.

A midline movement where the torso and the legs rise together to meet in a V. It is a sit-up and a leg raise happening at once, which is why it costs more than either.

The gymnastics midline position: lower back pressed flat, ribs down, arms and legs held off the floor. Rocking it back and forth proves you are actually holding the shape rather than resting on your spine.

A hold on straight arms with the hips lifted and the legs held out level in front, making an L. It is one of the most honest tests of midline strength and compression there is: nothing touches the floor but your hands.

A hold on the forearms or hands with the body in one straight line from head to heel. It is the baseline midline position, and it shows up as the scaled option almost everywhere a harder hold is prescribed.

An explosive lower-body movement where you jump from the floor onto a raised box and stand to full extension on top. It develops power, coordination, and conditioning.

A full-body movement that flows from standing to a chest-to-floor position and back up to a jump. It is a staple conditioning exercise that spikes the heart rate and works the whole body.

A jump-rope skill where the rope passes under the feet twice for every single jump. It requires a fast wrist turn, a tight bounce, and precise timing.

A powerful hip-hinge movement that propels a kettlebell forward and up using a snap of the hips. The American version drives the bell all the way overhead, while the Russian version stops at eye level.

A travelling single-leg squat: step, drop the back knee to the floor, drive through and step again. Loaded or unloaded it builds the unilateral leg strength and balance that running, carries and sandbag work demand.

A maximal two-footed jump for distance: load the hips, swing the arms and land in a stable half squat. It trains the same explosive hip extension as a kettlebell swing or clean with zero equipment, which makes it a travel-workout staple.

Crawling on hands and feet with the knees hovering just off the floor. It loads the shoulders, trunk and hips together, and stands in for the sled push whenever there is floor space but no sled.

A squat that finishes in the air. It turns the squat pattern into a power movement, and it is the standard travel substitute wherever a workout calls for barbell speed you cannot pack.

A vertical jump where the knees come up to the chest in the air. It asks for the same pop as a box jump without needing a box, which is why it stands in for one in travel and low-equipment sessions.

Stepping onto a box one leg at a time and standing to full extension. It is the low-impact cousin of the box jump and the loaded version is one of the best race-specific leg builders there is.

Stepping up onto a box and continuing over it, landing on the far side, then turning and repeating. It keeps the leg work of a box jump with a fraction of the impact, which is why it survives high rep counts.

A lunge that switches legs in the air. It keeps the single-leg demand of a lunge and adds a landing to absorb, which makes it one of the fastest ways to make a bodyweight workout hurt.

A lunge that finishes by driving the trailing knee up and through into a sprinter's stance. It links the lunge pattern to the running stride, which is why it earns its place in a hybrid session.

Running on the spot or forward with the knees driving up to hip height. It is a warm-up drill, a running-mechanics drill and a no-equipment engine piece all at once.

Fast two-footed hops back and forth over a line on the floor. It buys the calf and Achilles stimulus of skipping without needing a rope or a ceiling, which is why it stands in for double-unders on the road.

The plain skip: one rope turn per jump. It is where rope work starts, and it is the honest substitute whenever double-unders would turn a workout into a rope-tripping competition.

A plank with the knees driving alternately toward the chest. It keeps the midline under load while the heart rate climbs, and it needs nothing but a patch of floor.

Travelling on the hands and feet facing upward, hips held clear of the floor. It loads the shoulders and the back of the body in a way almost nothing else in a metcon does.

An isometric squat with the back against a wall and the thighs parallel to the floor. It buys a large quad stimulus with no equipment, no impact and no skill requirement.

A burpee with a dumbbell in each hand, finishing by swinging both from the floor to overhead in one movement. It is one of the most expensive reps in functional fitness for the time it takes.

A burpee with dumbbells that adds a row on each arm before standing up and pressing overhead. It is four movements stacked into one rep, and the name is not an exaggeration.

Walking a set distance under load, whether that is a backpack, a sandbag or a pair of dumbbells. It builds the grip, the midline and the aerobic base that a race day carry actually asks for.

The air bike or bike erg: a cardio machine with almost no impact and nowhere to hide. Because resistance rises with effort, it can be an easy recovery spin or the hardest ninety seconds in the gym.