By IPL standards, this was a small crowd (about 2,000 people), but they knew how to make some noise. So there was no shortage of adrenaline or atmosphere when the event billed as India’s ‘biggest fitness race’ kicked off at an exhibition center in Mumbai. Families and friends in the stands cheered enthusiastically as participants ran, pulled and pushed sleds, did burpees and lunges, rode rowing machines and lifted weights.“My friends also made posters for me. It felt like I was at a party, but like I was training,” says Pune-based animator Nayanika Chatterjee.Fitness is a mass addiction, but with the exception of marathons, it rarely coalesces into a competitive mass sport. Hyrox shows early signs of becoming a separate entity.The Hyrocks race, which started in Germany in 2017, is an 8 km indoor race, but it is not a continuous sprint. Each kilometer is interrupted by a different challenge, such as lunges or burpees. The 2025 Mumbai Games will be held for the first time in India.
According to Hirocks India, the number of participants in the race that followed Mumbai was 2,300. The second rally in Mumbai was attended by 3,350 people. And this year, around 8,200 people lined up for the High Rocks race in Bangalore. Among those taking on the challenge in India’s Silicon City was badminton star PV Sindhu, who was nominated as a PUMA ambassador, and was cheered on by Indian cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur. It is scheduled to be held in Delhi in July. Initial registration numbers indicate more than 8,000 people will participate.Chatterjee, a CrossFit enthusiast, trained for a month and took time off from work to participate in his second Hyrocks race in Bangalore because he “wanted to have that experience again.” Anmol Gupta, a Delhi-based CrossFit trainer, said the number of people he coaches at these races has tripled compared to last year.“We feel that one of the reasons why Hyrox has become so popular is that the barrier to entry is so low. Unlike soccer, for example, where you need to know the rules of the game, no previous event participation certificates or special skills are required,” he says.There is also no time limit to complete the race. A professional can do the job in less than an hour and a half. It can take up to 3 hours for first-timers. “Because of this format, it definitely requires a lot of stamina, so special preparation is required,” says Gupta.He said there is a growing number of fitness studios across India offering Hyrocks training facilities. These don’t have traditional gym equipment, but they do emulate the Hyrox circuit, so people simulate a real race.There are 11 gyms in Delhi-NCR with these facilities, 13 in Mumbai and 16 in Bengaluru. Goa, Hyderabad and Chennai also have several gyms recognized by Hyrox India.Hirox tests not only your cardiorespiratory fitness but also your endurance and muscle strength. Gupta says that for many people who regularly go to the gym or do other forms of training, this is a way to assess their overall fitness level.For Sahil Sawhney, 41, a resident of Gurgaon, Hirocks is the ultimate test of physical fitness. Until two years ago, I was worried about my weight, but as I look towards 2025, I started thinking seriously about my health. “My weight was 110 kg, but now I’m 80 kg, and my height and BMI are just right. But I want to know how far I have come,” says a business executive who has registered for the July event in Delhi.Thorny goes to a Hyrox-certified studio two days a week, and the other five days at his regular gym to work on his strength and stamina. “Training at a professional gym costs money, so I only go twice a week,” he says. Training costs Rs 500 per session.In a statement released through her agent, Sindhu said, “Badminton has always been my world, but Hyrox is completely different. There’s no opponent on the other side of the net, you, the clock, and eight stations…I’m not going to pretend it was easy, but that’s exactly what drew me to badminton.”
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