Prepare for your first HYROX or chase a faster time with a certified coach: running, strength and station work programmed week by week in the Dextra app — built around the equipment you actually have.
A human coach who reads your data, not a PDF. Available on iOS and Android, with a free plan to start.
HYROX is an indoor fitness race with a fixed format: you run 8 × 1 kilometre, and after every kilometre you complete a functional station, always in the same order. Eight runs, eight stations, one clock. Because the format is identical everywhere, your time is comparable from race to race and season to season.
The divisions, in general terms: Open (standard weights, where most people start), Pro (heavier loads for experienced athletes), Doubles (two partners run together and share the station work) and Relay (a team of four splits the segments). Loads are adjusted by sex and division.
What makes HYROX different from a 10K or a gym session is the alternation: running on heavy legs after a sled, then pushing a sled with your heart rate already high. That is exactly what coaching has to train.
The 8 stations in race order — and what to do without the equipment
A vertical pull that loads the back, shoulders, arms and core. Long, complete pulls at a steady rhythm beat a frantic cadence every time.
Substitute · No SkiErg: rope or heavy-band pulls in a ski stance, or rower intervals at a faster stroke rate.
Push a loaded sled down a track. A legs-and-patience station: the Open weight is heavy, and it gets pushed in segments.
Substitute · No sled: weighted carries uphill, pushing a switched-off treadmill belt, or long sets of walking lunges with a plate held at the chest.
Pull the same sled back with a rope, hand over hand. Bent knees, flat back and a steady rhythm save an enormous amount of energy.
Substitute · No sled: heavy horizontal band pulls anchored low, long-set barbell rows, or tyre drags.
A burpee followed by a standing long jump, repeated for 80 metres. The station that spikes heart rate the most — consistency beats speed.
Substitute · Nothing needed: a corridor, a car park or a pitch. Work on jump length and a smooth drop to the floor.
Three to five minutes of steady effort where the legs recover a little while the engine stays high. Controlled rate, full stroke.
Substitute · No rower: air bike or a stationary bike at matching intensity, or four minutes of band pulls alternated with squats.
Two kettlebells carried at arm's length for 200 metres. Grip and core decide everything; the goal is never to set the weights down.
Substitute · Easy to replicate: two dumbbells, two filled containers or two loaded bags. Train time under tension as much as distance.
Walking lunges with a sandbag across the shoulders. After seven kilometres and six stations it is a brutal test of legs and posture.
Substitute · No sandbag: walking lunges with a barbell or a loaded backpack, covering the same distance without stopping.
Squat, then throw a weighted ball to a target, over and over until the finish. Managing sets and breathing is what separates times here.
Substitute · No wall ball: dumbbell thrusters, or squat-and-throw with a lighter ball against a wall — rhythm matters more than load.
You pick a certified coach whose speciality is functional fitness or hybrid running-and-strength preparation. They build your plan in the app, you log your sessions, they adjust. Four steps, repeated until race day.
Your coach starts by measuring where you are: a 1 km and 5 km run test, a few basic strength movements, your training history, injuries, and the equipment you can genuinely access each week.
Running (aerobic base and intervals), strength (legs, back, core) and station-specific work — including sessions where you run already fatigued. That compromised running is the heart of HYROX.
Each week you log times, loads and how you felt in the app. Your coach adjusts volume, intensity and recovery based on your data rather than a fixed template.
No SkiErg or sled where you train? Your coach swaps the station for a movement with the same physiological effect and tells you when and where to test the real thing before race day.
Want to see who would coach you? Browse our certified coaches and their specialities before downloading the app.
HYROX was designed to be accessible: no technical Olympic lifts, a format you know in advance. But accessible does not mean easy, and every profile arrives with a different weak point.
You want to finish a HYROX without injury and without blowing up at kilometre six. Coaching teaches you the format, the pacing and the race strategy, on a plan that builds over 12 to 20 weeks.
You have raced already and you know where the minutes go. Your coach reads your splits station by station and builds a targeted block: sleds, wall balls or running under fatigue.
Strength and movement quality are not the problem — eight kilometres of running is. The work shifts towards aerobic endurance and pacing without losing what you have already built.
You are fast on your feet, but a sled well over 100 kg is another world. The plan progressively adds strength and muscular endurance so the stations stop wrecking your stride.
You are preparing with a partner or a team. Your coach splits the stations by your respective strengths and organises shared sessions, even if you live in different cities or countries.
You live in Europe or North America and want a coach who speaks French, Arabic or Tunisian dialect and understands your background. Online coaching removes the distance; you pay in dinars.
An example for an intermediate athlete in the specific phase, eight weeks out from a race. Your coach adapts the number of sessions, distances and loads to your level and schedule — this is not a template to copy.
Run — intervals
Warm-up, then 6–8 × 1,000 m close to your goal race pace with short recoveries. Cool-down and mobility.
Lower-body strength + sled
Squats, lunges, Romanian deadlifts, then sled pushes or their substitute in 20–25 m segments.
Easy run or active recovery
30–45 minutes at conversational pace, or a walk, a bike ride and stretching. This is where the body absorbs the work.
Stations under fatigue
Three or four stations at reduced volume, each followed by 500–1,000 m of running. Goal: learn to run on heavy legs.
Upper-body strength + SkiErg / rower
Pulls, rows and core work, then SkiErg or rower intervals — or their band substitute.
Long simulation
A half-HYROX simulation every two to three weeks; otherwise a long 8–12 km run.
Rest
Full rest. Sunday's sleep and food prepare the next week as much as any session does.
A HYROX plan adds a lot of volume to your week. Without food and sleep to match, progress stalls and injuries follow. The basics, adapted to Mediterranean cooking and a hot climate.
HYROX is an hour or more at high intensity: carbohydrates are your fuel. Bread, couscous, rice, pasta and fruit before and after key sessions, without restrictive diets.
Aim for roughly 1.6 to 2 g of protein per kilo of body weight per day, spread across meals. Fish, eggs, chicken, legumes and dairy cover this comfortably.
Summer sessions in Tunis, Sfax or Sousse cost a lot of water and salt. Drink steadily, salt your food on training days, and move sessions to early morning or evening.
Seven to nine hours of sleep, and a reduced-volume week every four or five. Your coach schedules these deloads so progress continues without overuse injuries.
Dextra has a free plan to explore the app and log your sessions. Coaching plans with a dedicated coach start from 149 TND per month, with a more complete plan from 299 TND per month — no commitment, cancel any time.
You pay in Tunisian dinars via Flouci, D17, Click to Pay or bank card. Full, up-to-date prices are on the pricing page.
Payment methods accepted
Hybrid preparation is a discipline of its own. Three questions to ask before handing someone your season.
A HYROX coach has to programme endurance and strength in the same week without one destroying the other. A pure running coach or a pure strength coach misses half the picture.
The real limiter in HYROX is neither your 5 km nor your squat; it is running after a sled. Ask how they train it — the answer tells you whether they know the format.
A plan that needs a SkiErg and a sled you do not have is a plan you will not follow. A good coach builds with your real equipment and tells you what to test elsewhere.
More on training, nutrition and recovery on the Dextra blog.
HYROX is an indoor fitness race that alternates eight 1 km runs with eight functional stations, always in the same order: SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls. The format is identical worldwide, so your time is comparable from one event and one season to the next.
Yes. Most gyms in Tunisia and the Maghreb have neither, and our coaches plan around that. Every station has substitutions that reproduce the effort: band pulls, loaded uphill carries, weighted lunges, rowing or cycling. Ideally you test the real movement a few times before race day, in an equipped gym or while travelling.
For someone already training regularly, 12 to 16 weeks of structured preparation is a good benchmark. Starting from further back, your coach will plan 20 weeks or more with a base phase before the specific work. We do not promise finishing times — progress depends on your starting point and consistency.
The event calendar changes every season, so check the official HYROX website for confirmed dates and cities. Today, Tunisian athletes often travel to European events, particularly in France, Italy and Germany. Your coach helps you plan the build-up around the date you are targeting.
CrossFit constantly varies movements and includes technical skills such as Olympic lifting and gymnastics. HYROX is a fixed format known in advance, with no complex technical movements and a heavy running component. That makes it more accessible for a motivated beginner and more demanding on endurance for a CrossFit athlete.
Most programmes fit into four to six sessions of about an hour. An online coach adapts that volume to your schedule — someone working shifts or with only three available sessions will still progress, just on a different plan.
Dextra has a free plan to explore the app. Plans with a dedicated coach start at 149 TND per month, with a more complete plan at 299 TND per month, with no commitment. You pay in Tunisian dinars via Flouci, D17, Click to Pay or bank card. Full details are on the pricing page.
Download Dextra, create your free profile and choose a coach who specialises in functional fitness. Your HYROX plan adapts to your gym, your schedule and your race.