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If your feed looks anything like ours lately, it's full of people pushing sleds. Hyrox has arrived in Perth in a big way, and we love it — more people training with purpose is good news all round. The question we keep getting at our Balcatta gym is some version of: what's the difference between Hyrox and CrossFit, and does one prepare you for the other? Short answer: they're built differently, and CrossFit happens to be one of the best ways to get ready for a Hyrox start line.
Hyrox is a fitness race with the same format everywhere in the world: you run 1km, then complete a workout station, and repeat that eight times. The stations are fixed — SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls. Because the format never changes, you can train for it precisely and compare your time with anyone on the planet.
The clever thing about Hyrox is that there's no technical barrier. Nothing on that station list needs to be taught for months: you push, you pull, you carry, you lunge, you squat and throw a ball at a wall. If the running gets hard, you can slow down. Doubles divisions let you share the work with a mate. Almost anyone who trains consistently can finish one, and finishing feels like a genuine achievement. That accessibility is why it's growing so fast, and it deserves the hype.
Here's the flip side of simple movements: with no technique to hide behind, a Hyrox race comes down to two things — your engine, and your strength endurance. Can you keep moving for 60 to 100 minutes? Can you still push a heavy sled when your legs are full of 5km of running? That's the whole test. And building exactly that combination is what a CrossFit gym does all day.
Walk into a week of classes at TandEm and you'll recognise most of the Hyrox station list:
And here's the detail most people don't realise: Hyrox race weights are lighter than CrossFit training weights. The men's open-division wall ball, for example, is the same ball our women throw in class every week. Train CrossFit consistently and you're regularly working above what race day will ask of you — so when you line up, the stations feel familiar and the loads feel light.
Train CrossFit three times a week and you're already doing a broad, well-coached version of Hyrox preparation — with a coach watching your movement, which matters more as the distances add up.
CrossFit asks more of you than Hyrox does. Barbell lifts and gymnastics take time to learn, and we won't pretend otherwise. But this is where the two philosophies meet: every workout at TandEm scales. You learn the movements at your own pace, at weights that suit you, and nobody is thrown at anything they're not ready for. The skill ceiling is higher, but the entry point is exactly where you're standing today.
And the skills repay you. A year of CrossFit makes you stronger, more mobile and harder to break than a year of repeating the same eight stations — and it never gets stale. Plenty of people find a pure Hyrox training block gets repetitive; CrossFit keeps you interested all year and race-ready whenever an event rolls around.
Some of our members train CrossFit year-round and race Hyrox when it comes to town. That's the combination we'd recommend: CrossFit as your base — strength, engine, variety, community — and Hyrox as a brilliant test day to aim at. The two aren't rivals. One builds the machine; the other races it.
Every new member at TandEm starts with our Fundamentals program: three one-hour sessions with a coach, $220, scheduled at times that suit you. You'll learn to move well before you ever join a class, and from there the training does its work — whether your goal is a first Hyrox in Perth, or just being fitter than you are today. Book your free fitness consultation and tell us what you're training for. You'll find us at 2/76 Erindale Rd, Balcatta — or call 0402 324 368.
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