Hard training isn’t that difficult. But training effectively—and getting a little better with every session—that’s a lot harder.

That’s what targeted training for HYROX is all about.

To do that, you need a plan. You need to be able to explain the purpose of every exercise in your training. And how that session fits into the bigger picture. For this week, for this month, and for your long-term goal.

In more developed sports like running and cycling, that’s becoming easier. Simply because there’s so much more experience to draw from.
For a relatively young sport like HYROX—with its conflicting demands—that’s a lot more difficult.

My first HYROX solo

Last year, I started my quest for a sub-60 HYROX Open.

In Rotterdam, I finished in 1:07:21.

That was a real disappointment. What I learned is that a HYROX race in reality is something completely different from a simulation with rest breaks, like I had done in training.

After that, I stepped away from HYROX for about six months. But yeah—unfinished business has a way of sticking with you.

So I signed up for HYROX Amsterdam and, since October 2025, I’ve been training like a HYROX athlete. Not like the year before, when I was training for a marathon with HYROX as a side project.

Because I had learned that it doesn’t work that way. If you want to perform in HYROX, it can’t be a side project. It demands full commitment.

The switch: targeted training for HYROX

From HYROX Rotterdam, I learned that I needed to get stronger. Instead of cycling twice a week, I started going to the gym twice a week.
Getting stronger. With one goal: to become faster on the stations.

And week by week, I improved. To my own surprise, not just the stations got better. As you’ll read in this blog, my running improved as well.

In January, I stood at the start line in Amsterdam, genuinely curious. Had I really improved on the stations? And had I managed to maintain my running speed?

The result: 1:04:13. In the table below, you can see the differences.

That strength training, combined with HYROX-specific sessions and lactate shuttle intervals, led to both faster running and better performance on the stations. A double win.

Honestly, I hoped for it, but didn’t expect that.

That’s when it hit me: this progress is not a coincidence. I am starting to understand how to train for HYROX. Through training, I had developed a system.

From stochastic to systematic training

My new hobby is collecting key workouts from Elite 15 HYROX athletes on YouTube. Sometimes there’s a solid explanation, but more often you see a creative mix of functional and conditioning exercises. What’s often missing is the plan behind it.

I call that stochastic training. Training without a clear purpose, without measurable progress, and without coherence between sessions. A different workout every week (“otherwise it gets boring”), mixing different—and often conflicting—energy systems and training stimuli.

You might improve in the short term that way. But improve in a targeted way? And over the long term?

That requires systematic training.

Targeted training for HYROX means: moving from stochastic to systematic training.

I’m now about two months further. After Amsterdam, I adjusted my training routine again—with one goal: to race faster in HYROX Rotterdam and Heerenveen.

Instead of two strength sessions per week, I now do one. Starting with maximal strength. Finishing with HYROX-specific exercises. On the clock. Right on the edge.

The same session. Week after week. Raising the bar slightly each time. Taking notes in my iPhone. What went well, and what I’ll do differently next time.

The second key session is an engine builder. Long blocks on the SkiErg, RowErg, and treadmill, alternating with short HYROX-specific efforts. Mostly in zone 2. I compare heart rates and paces, and experiment with technique, damper settings, and movement frequency.

The third session is a running interval workout. Nothing fancy—just pushing up my anaerobic threshold. In the final weeks before races, I add lactate shuttle intervals.

On top of that, I run 60–80 km per week and include one long bike ride. So mostly aerobic session, with the exception of the finisher in the strength session and the higher-intensity blocks in the lactate shuttles.

Repetition as the key to targeted training

Why do I repeat the same workout so often?

Because it allows me to see what a specific training approach actually does. Only through repetition can you truly tell whether you’re training with purpose for your HYROX.

I can now feel that I’m starting to gain traction.

Some highlights from the past 8 weeks:

• Six weeks ago, I hit 100 unbroken wall balls (6 kg) for the first time.
• Getting faster on the 20-meter burpees. From 38 seconds down to 34 seconds—and improving by increasing jump length.
• My times on the 40 sandbag lunges are improving as well: from 90 seconds to 75 seconds. There’s still a lot to gain there. That’s a separate journey in itself. Learning a new way of moving and balancing. Material for maybe another blog.

Last weekend, I raced an Open Double in Mechelen together with Eldert Koenderman. A great intermediate test to experience in real conditions whether I’ve actually improved. And yes—I got confirmation that I’m on the right track. 59 minutes and 63 seconds was our time. With a nice white flag as a reward.

Can’t wait to see where the clock stops for my individual HYROX in Rotterdam and Heerenveen.

Targeted training: the endurance sports improvement game

Over the past few weeks, I realized that I’m once again playing the endurance sports improvement game.

My first sport was (and still is!) triathlon. It took me eight long years to deliver the race I knew I had in me. A long, often frustrating journey full of mistakes. Where I learned slowly. Because I didn’t yet understand how to learn how to train.

My second quest was the marathon. I wanted to finally get it right. And by “right,” I mean a marathon that truly reflects what I’m capable of.

I believe every athlete who knows her or his body has a kind of inner knowing. Telling you whether you’ve come close to your potential. In my case, I had known for a long time that I should be able to run somewhere between 2:35 and 2:40.

After several failed attempts, it finally came together in 2023 at the Two Rivers Marathon: 2:38:58. And the year after, I confirmed that with a 2:38:16 in Rotterdam.

There too, I worked with a targeted training routine. Using key performance indicators to track whether I was moving in the right direction.
And using races to test that progress in the messy reality of competition.

What was still implicit back then, I’m now making explicit: training with purpose.

Learning how to do targeted training

For targeted HYROX training, I follow four principles:

• every training session has a purpose
• measure what matters (KPIs and benchmark workouts)
• train specifically
• evaluate and adjust

Two HYROX athletes helped me sharpen this training concept. Robert van Herk (follow him on Insta: de_sportvakman) told me about his performance dashboard to monitor progress. Hidde Weersma put it into words after his Masterclass world record HYROX in London as follows:

“I experimented a lot, especially with key performance indicators. At first, I took the wrong indicators. But I have the idea now I have a few benchmark workouts. And if I improve in those workouts, I know that I will have a good race.”

That’s the essence of intelligent training.

Wanting to understand what you’re doing. Sticking with a routine long enough to evaluate it. And having the discipline and the critical thinking to change it when it doesn’t work.

HYROX is not just a physical challenge.

It’s an intellectual challenge as well.

The difference isn’t made by who trains the hardest, but by who best understands what targeted training for HYROX really means.

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Can you explain the purpose of every training session you do? And do you know whether it’s actually bringing you closer to your HYROX goal?

If the answer isn’t a clear “yes,” that’s probably where your biggest opportunity lies. Feel free to reach out at bertflier@3in1Sports.com if you want to learn more.