Free 8-Week HYROX Training Plan, Week by Week
By Threshold
This is a free, strength-first 8-week HYROX training plan for athletes who can already run 5 km continuously and train three or more times a week. Every week has five training days and two rest days: two heavy full-body strength sessions, two runs, and one station or hybrid session. It moves through three blocks (Base, Build and Race prep) and finishes with a taper into race day. No email is needed.
The plan at a glance
| Week | Block | Focus | Key sessions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Base | Groove the lifts, build the aerobic base | Lifts @ RPE 7 · 35 min easy run |
| 2 | Base | Same sets and reps, harder effort | Lifts @ RPE 8 · 45 min easy run |
| 3 | Base | Finish the base | Lifts @ RPE 8 · 50 min easy run |
| 4 | Build | Loads climb, intervals start | 4×6 min intervals · 4 compromised rounds |
| 5 | Build | More volume at threshold | 5×6 min intervals · 5 rounds of 1 km + station pair |
| 6 | Build | Rehearse the race | 3×6 min intervals · full HYROX simulation |
| 7 | Race prep | Sharpen | Reduced strength volume · race-pace bricks · weak stations |
| 8 | Race prep | Taper and arrive fresh | Light strength · short easy runs with strides · race |
What you need
- A barbell and plates for squats, presses, bench and trap-bar deadlifts.
- Heavy implements for farmers carries.
- A wall ball.
- A SkiErg or rower for intervals and easy engine work.
- A sled, or a substitute for it.
No sled or SkiErg at your gym? You can find a substitute for every station in our guide to the HYROX stations in order.
How the plan works
Five training days, two rest days. The weekly template: Day 1 strength A, Day 2 easy run, Day 3 rest, Day 4 strength B, Day 5 engine work, Day 6 stations or hybrid work, Day 7 rest. Shift days to fit your life, with one rule you never break: the interval day never lands directly after a strength day.
Loading is by effort, not percentages. RPE 7 means you had about three clean reps left; RPE 8 means about two. Threshold replaces guessed RPE with loads computed from your lifts.
Progression is simple: whenever every set was clean at the prescribed RPE, add 2.5 kg the following week. When in doubt, repeat the week: an extra week at a load you own beats a missed lift you don't.
Every strength session ends with 10-15 minutes of station-specific accessory work (think walking lunges or farmers carries), chosen around whichever stations feel weakest for you.
Base: weeks 1-3
Build the aerobic base and groove the lifts. Nothing in this block is hard except the last set: that is deliberate.
Week 1
Groove the lifts at RPE 7 and start the aerobic base with a 35-minute easy run.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strength A | Back squat 4×5 @ RPE 7 · overhead press 4×6 @ RPE 7 · farmers carry 4×40 m heavy · 10-15 min station accessories |
| 2 | Easy run | Zone 2, conversational: 35 min |
| 4 | Strength B | Trap-bar deadlift 4×4 @ RPE 7 · bench press 4×6 @ RPE 7 · walking lunges 3×20 steps · 10-15 min station accessories |
| 5 | Easy engine | 30-40 min zone-2 row, ski, or second run |
| 6 | Station skills | 30-40 min unhurried circuit: SkiErg/row intervals at easy pace, wall-ball sets of 10-15 focusing on depth, light sled or substitute work. Learn the movements; no clock. |
Week 2
Same sets and reps, now at RPE 8. The easy run grows to 45 minutes.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strength A | Back squat 4×5 @ RPE 8 · overhead press 4×6 @ RPE 8 · farmers carry 4×40 m heavy · 10-15 min station accessories |
| 2 | Easy run | Zone 2, conversational: 45 min |
| 4 | Strength B | Trap-bar deadlift 4×4 @ RPE 8 · bench press 4×6 @ RPE 8 · walking lunges 3×20 steps · 10-15 min station accessories |
| 5 | Easy engine | 30-40 min zone-2 row, ski, or second run |
| 6 | Station skills | 30-40 min unhurried circuit: SkiErg/row intervals at easy pace, wall-ball sets of 10-15 focusing on depth, light sled or substitute work. Learn the movements; no clock. |
Week 3
Last Base week: lifts stay at RPE 8, the easy run reaches 50 minutes.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strength A | Back squat 4×5 @ RPE 8 · overhead press 4×6 @ RPE 8 · farmers carry 4×40 m heavy · 10-15 min station accessories |
| 2 | Easy run | Zone 2, conversational: 50 min |
| 4 | Strength B | Trap-bar deadlift 4×4 @ RPE 8 · bench press 4×6 @ RPE 8 · walking lunges 3×20 steps · 10-15 min station accessories |
| 5 | Easy engine | 30-40 min zone-2 row, ski, or second run |
| 6 | Station skills | 30-40 min unhurried circuit: SkiErg/row intervals at easy pace, wall-ball sets of 10-15 focusing on depth, light sled or substitute work. Learn the movements; no clock. |
Build: weeks 4-6
Loads climb, the running gets teeth, and the race gets rehearsed.
Week 4
Loads start to climb and threshold intervals arrive.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strength A | Same lifts: 4×5 / 4×6 @ RPE 8, add 2.5 kg per week when clean |
| 2 | Easy run | Zone 2, 45-50 min |
| 4 | Strength B | Same lifts @ RPE 8, add 2.5 kg per week when clean |
| 5 | Threshold intervals | 4×6 min comfortably-hard (RPE 8) w/ 2 min jog |
| 6 | Compromised running | 4 rounds [800 m run + 15 wall balls + 100 m farmers carry] |
Week 5
One more interval, one more round, and full 1 km runs between stations.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strength A | Same lifts: 4×5 / 4×6 @ RPE 8, add 2.5 kg per week when clean |
| 2 | Easy run | Zone 2, 45-50 min |
| 4 | Strength B | Same lifts @ RPE 8, add 2.5 kg per week when clean |
| 5 | Threshold intervals | 5×6 min comfortably-hard (RPE 8) w/ 2 min jog |
| 6 | Compromised running | 5 rounds [1 km run + one station pair] |
Week 6
Intervals drop to three ahead of the full race simulation: a dress rehearsal, not a time trial.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strength A | Same lifts: 4×5 / 4×6 @ RPE 8, add 2.5 kg per week when clean |
| 2 | Easy run | Zone 2, 45-50 min |
| 4 | Strength B | Same lifts @ RPE 8, add 2.5 kg per week when clean |
| 5 | Threshold intervals | 3×6 min comfortably-hard (RPE 8) w/ 2 min jog (pre-sim) |
| 6 | HYROX simulation | Full HYROX simulation: 8×[1 km + station work with whatever equipment you have]; halve station reps if it is your first race |
The app decides when you're ready to build from what you logged, not from the calendar.
Treat the week-6 simulation as a dress rehearsal, not a time trial: practise pacing, transitions, and eating beforehand exactly as you will on race day. For pacing between stations, read our guide to HYROX running. With a watch connected, Threshold judges whether you actually ran your zones.
Race prep: weeks 7-8
Sharpen, then arrive fresh.
Week 7
Strength volume drops with load held; running shortens to race-pace bricks.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strength A | 3×5 / 3×6 @ RPE 7, reduced volume, load held |
| 2 | Easy run | Zone 2, 40 min |
| 4 | Strength B | 3×4 / 3×6 @ RPE 7 |
| 5 | Race-pace brick | 3×[1 km at target race pace + 20 wall balls] |
| 6 | Weak stations | 30 min, moderate effort, only the 2-3 stations that felt worst in the sim |
Week 8
Taper and arrive fresh.
| Day | Session | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Early week | Strength | One light strength session 2×5 @ RPE 6 |
| Early week | Easy runs | Two 20-30 min easy runs with 4×20 s strides |
| 3 days out | Race effort | 10 min at race effort |
| Then | Rest and race | Rest, then race |
How to adjust the plan
Injuries and missed weeks are the two things most likely to derail this plan, and both are manageable if you respond to them structurally rather than emotionally. Start with the distinction that matters: soreness that eases within the first ten minutes of a warm-up is training, and you continue. Pain that sharpens as you move, changes how you move, or is present at rest is an injury, and you stop the aggravating movement that day: not the whole week.
For most niggles the answer is substitution, never a full stop. A cranky knee: cut the lunges and sled push, keep deadlifts and upper-body work, replace running with rowing or SkiErg at the same duration and effort. A tender lower back: drop deadlifts to trap-bar or hip-thrust variants at lighter loads, keep squats within a pain-free range, keep all the running. A shoulder: hold the wall-ball and press volume, keep everything below the waist untouched. Shin splints or an angry Achilles: move all easy volume to the bike or rower for two weeks and keep only one short run, which usually resolves it faster than resting completely. The principle is that the plan loses one ingredient, not the meal.
If pain forces you to stop training entirely for more than five days, do not resume where the calendar says. Come back into the previous week at roughly 70% of the load and volume you last handled, complete one full clean week there, and only then progress. Two weeks off costs you very little strength; one aggressive return week can cost you the race.
Missed weeks follow simpler rules. Miss a single session and drop it: do not stack two sessions into a day. The priority order when cutting is fixed: Day 5 engine work goes first, then Day 6 stations, and a strength day is never sacrificed. Miss a whole week to illness, travel, or work and you repeat that week rather than skipping forward; the block structure only works if each block is actually completed. Miss two or more weeks and re-enter the plan one block earlier: from Build, restart at week 4; from Race Prep, drop back to week 5 and run the simulation before you sharpen. Miss a Thursday? The app rebuilds your week; a PDF can't.
When race day is fixed and the calendar no longer fits, compress from the front, not the back. The Base block can be shortened to two weeks, and the Build block to two, but the week-6 simulation and the eight-day taper are the two things that should survive under any circumstances: one tells you how to pace, the other makes sure you can. If illness lands inside the final fortnight, skip forward straight to the taper. Arriving slightly undertrained and completely fresh beats arriving fully trained and still recovering, every time.
The philosophy: strength is not the sacrifice
Most HYROX plans are running plans with strength training bolted on (see our strength guide for HYROX athletes), and as race day approaches, the lifting quietly shrinks. A set dropped here, a session cut there, until you arrive at the start line aerobically sharp and physically diminished, wondering why the sled feels bolted to the floor.
This plan takes the opposite position. Two heavy full-body strength sessions survive all eight weeks, untouched. What flexes is the running, specifically how much of it is hard, never the barbell work. Interference between lifting and endurance training is real, but it is managed, not surrendered to: hard days stay hard, easy days stay genuinely easy, intervals never land the day after heavy lifting, and most of your running is deliberately conversational. Do that, and the two adaptations stop fighting.
What this plan can't do
This is a good plan, and it is honestly limited. It can't know your lifts, so it guesses with RPE. It can't see your watch, so it can't tell you whether Tuesday's run was actually zone 2. It can't rebuild your week when Thursday disappears into work. And it prescribes the same accessories to a 60 kg runner and a 100 kg lifter, because it has never met either of you. Threshold can: that is the entire product.
Frequently asked questions
Is 8 weeks enough to train for HYROX?
Yes, if you already train three or more times a week. This plan assumes you can run 5 km continuously and lift with basic barbell competence. Coming from a lower base, run the Base block twice for an 11-week runway. If this is your first race, start with our first-race guide to HYROX.
How many days a week is this HYROX plan?
Five training days and two rest days: two strength sessions, two runs, and one station or hybrid session. The strength days never disappear: that is the point of the plan.
Do I lose strength when training for HYROX?
Only if your plan quietly drops lifting to make room for running, which most HYROX plans do. Keep two hard full-body sessions anchored, keep most running easy, and separate hard days from lifting days, and strength holds or climbs through race week.
What weights should I use for the strength sessions?
Work off effort: RPE 8 means you could do about two more reps. Add 2.5 kg the next week whenever all sets were clean at the prescribed RPE. When in doubt, repeat the week rather than forcing a jump.
Is this plan for HYROX Open or Pro?
Either. The plan is loaded by effort, not fixed weights, so it works for Open and Pro. Station loads differ by division: work out your sled loads with our sled weight calculator, and check every other station in the HYROX station weights by division table.
What if I have more or fewer than 8 weeks?
With more time and a lower base, run the Base block twice for an 11-week runway. With less, compress from the front: Base and Build can each shrink to two weeks, but keep the week-6 simulation and the taper.
Can I do this plan without a sled or SkiErg?
Yes. The station sessions say to use whatever equipment you have, and the stations guide lists a substitute for every station, for example a row for the same time in place of the SkiErg. See the sled push substitutes to replace the sled.