HYROX Training Sydney: Free 10-Week HYROX Plan

HYROX Training in Sydney: Your Free 10-Week Plan

Most people prepare for HYROX by stacking eight hard workouts together and hoping for the best. It works for a while, then it stops. Our free 10-Week HYROX Build does it differently: benchmark, base, build, peak and taper, in the order your body actually adapts.

It was written by the coaches at Accelerate Strength in Balmain, where we run HYROX-style conditioning classes through the week for athletes from first-timers to competitors.

Download the free 10-Week HYROX Build (PDF)

How a HYROX race works

Every HYROX race, at every venue, follows the same format: eight 1km runs, each followed by one station, always in this order.

  • SkiErg, 1000m
  • Sled push, 50m
  • Sled pull, 50m
  • Burpee broad jumps, 80m
  • Row, 1000m
  • Farmers carry, 200m
  • Sandbag lunges, 100m
  • Wall balls, 75 to 100 reps

That is 8km of running in total. The order never changes between divisions, only the loads do. The plan includes the official 2025/26 station weights for Women Open, Men Open, Women Pro and Men Pro, so you can see exactly what you are training for (always confirm the current rulebook at hyrox.com before race day).

The station that decides more races than any other is not the heaviest one. It is wall balls at station eight, after 7km of running and seven other stations. The plan is built around a 2025 Bundeswehr Munich physiology study that recorded its highest lactate readings there, which is why wall balls are trained every single week.

What makes a strong HYROX finish

It is not one station. It is a specific profile, and the plan trains all of it:

  • A big aerobic engine, built first. That is why the base phase is weeks of aerobic threshold work before any race-specific intensity.
  • Output at threshold. What you can sustain once lactate starts building, not your top-end sprint.
  • Form when you are tired. Running economy drops in the kilometre after a hard station. That is trainable, and it is the point of the compromised running sessions.
  • Efficient movement. Burpee broad jumps and wall balls have no external load, so technique decides how much energy each rep costs.
  • Mental resilience late in the race. Athletes who fade badly are usually under-prepared for that specific demand, not simply unfit.

How the 10 weeks are structured

  • Week 1, Benchmark: test and calculate every pace, wattage and load used in the rest of the plan.
  • Weeks 2 to 5, Base: aerobic threshold volume, movement technique and your first exposure to compromised running. Sled work sits at 55 to 65% of your division's race weight.
  • Week 6, Deload: volume drops, key benchmarks are retested and the sled is technique only.
  • Weeks 7 to 8, Build: lactate threshold work and race-order station density, with sled work at 70 to 80%.
  • Week 9, Peak: the one near-full race simulation in the plan.
  • Week 10, Taper: volume drops sharply so you arrive fresh.

Every sled load is a percentage of your target division's official race weight, so there is no max-load testing and no guesswork.

What a training week looks like

The plan is written for four sessions a week:

  1. Aerobic threshold plus strength. Genuinely easy, conversational pace. This is the day that lets the other three produce adaptation instead of fatigue.
  2. Compromised running. Station-into-run intervals that teach your legs to run when they are already cooked.
  3. Strength plus sled. Squat, press or pull work with progressive sled loading.
  4. Race-specific brick. Stations in race order, with wall balls and SkiErg in every week.

Only have three days? There is a condensed three-day option that keeps the one rule that matters: never stack two hard days back to back. An optional fifth day of easy aerobic work is there if your race needs more weekly volume.

Week 1 benchmarks: stop guessing your paces

Nothing in weeks 2 to 10 is a fixed number. In week one you record a 1km run time trial, a 500m SkiErg and 500m row (time and average watts), a 2-minute max wall ball test, a light 25m sled push for technique, a max dead hang, and estimated 5RMs for back squat, deadlift and bench press. Those results set your run pace zones and your SkiErg and rowing wattage zones for the whole plan, and you retest in weeks 6 and 9.

Want the numbers worked out for you? Use the free pace calculator on our HYROX training page. Rowing is station five, so it also helps to set the machine up properly with our rower damper setting guide.

Which division should I train for?

If you are not sure, Open is almost always the right starting point. It is challenging but achievable for a well-prepared recreational athlete in a 10-week block, and the Open weights become the 100% reference for every sled percentage in the plan.

Train for HYROX with coaches in Balmain

A plan gives you structure. Coaching makes it work. A coach can watch how you move, adjust a session when you are carrying fatigue, and teach you to push a sled efficiently instead of grinding through it.

Our weekly HYROX-style training at Accelerate Strength includes:

  • Tuesday 5:30am: HYROX-specific conditioning
  • Wednesday: HYROX conditioning
  • Wednesday 6:00pm: Engine Room
  • Saturday: partner training
  • Sunday: HYROX simulations

See the full class timetable for current times. New to us? Start with a free class, then try the 10-Day Experience: ten days of coached training for $45, so you can see if our group classes suit you before committing.

Not sure whether group training or one-on-one suits your goals? Read group fitness vs personal training, or have a look at how our CrossFit and group fitness classes in the Inner West work.

Keep reading

This plan is general training information, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health concern, check with your doctor or physio before starting.

Accelerate Strength