What Is HYROX? A Beginner’s Guide to Manila’s Fastest-Growing Race
Something has been happening in Manila gyms over the last couple of years. Runners started showing up to strength classes. Gym regulars started clocking their kilometers. People who’d never entered a race were booking flights to Hong Kong and Singapore with training blocks mapped out months in advance.
The word behind most of it: HYROX.
If you’ve been hearing it and not quite following along, here’s the full answer — what it is, what makes it different, and whether it’s something you could actually do.
What HYROX is, plainly
HYROX is a standardized indoor fitness race. Not an obstacle course, not a fun run with a gimmick. Every race, in every city, follows exactly the same format.
You run 1 kilometer. Then you complete one workout station. Then you run another kilometer and hit another station. Eight runs. Eight stations. One clock. Total running: 8 kilometers. Total stations: a SkiErg, a sled push, a sled pull, burpee broad jumps, a row, a farmers carry, sandbag lunges, and wall balls — in that order, every time.
Sample Quote
— COACH CULVER, FOUNDER, AWAKEN FITNESS CENTER
Sample Quote
— COACH GABB ROSARIO, AWAKEN FITNESS CENTER
Sample Quote
— COACH ANJO, AWAKEN FITNESS CENTER
That fixed format is part of why it has caught on. You’re not learning a new sport. You’re training for a specific, knowable thing — and when you race it again, you can compare your time directly against yourself and against thousands of other athletes globally.
The eight stations, one by one
That fixed format is part of why it has caught on. You’re not learning a new sport. You’re training for a specific, knowable thing — and when you race it again, you can compare your time directly against yourself and against thousands of other athletes globally.
1. SkiErg — 1,000m
A cable machine that simulates the double-pole motion of cross-country skiing. Pulling overhead cables down to your hips in a continuous rhythm. Upper body and core at the start when you’re freshest —though 1,000 meters is longer than it sounds.
2. Sled Push — 50m
A weighted sled across the turf. Universally quad-heavy. This is the one that looks brutal from the side and is.
3. Sled Pull — 50m
Same sled, opposite direction, pulled toward you by rope. Glutes, back, grip. The transition from pushing to pulling is where people feel the difference.
4. Burpee Broad Jumps — 80m
Drop to the floor, push up, jump forward. Repeat for 80 meters. This is the station that surprises people most — it looks simple, it is not.
5. Row Erg — 1,000m
A rowing ergometer. You’re now four kilometers into the race. How the legs feel here tells you a lot about your pacing on the runs before it.
6. Farmers Carry — 200m
Two kettlebells, carried for 200 meters. Manageable in isolation. At this point in the race, your grip has
opinions.
7. Sandbag Lunges — 100m
A sandbag on your shoulders, lunging the length of the floor and back. The legs that pushed the sled are now doing this. It compounds.
8. Wall Balls — 75–100 reps
The finish. A weighted ball thrown to a target on the wall, caught, thrown again. By the time you get here your breathing is difficult, your legs are spent, and you still have dozens of throws left. It ends here — not before.
Why Filipinos are racing it
HYROX started in Hamburg in 2017. It’s now in more than 30 countries, with over 300 race days planned globally in 2026. In Asia, the nearest race cities have been Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok — and Filipinos have been showing up at all of them.
Part of it is the format. There’s no specialist technique to master. The movements — push, pull, carry, row — are things a body already knows how to do. What the race tests is whether you’ve trained the engine to keep doing them when exhausted.
The other part is harder to quantify but easy to see at any race: events are held indoors, in arenas, with spectators trackside the entire time. HYROX feels like a competition even when you’re not racing to win one.
Here in Manila, the community has been growing quietly for a couple of years — runners looking for a strength component, gym athletes looking for somewhere to direct their training, people who want a goal that sits outside their normal routine.
What HYROX 365 accreditation means
Not every gym that runs HYROX classes is the same. HYROX 365 is a specific designation — a higher accreditation standard covering equipment, programming, and coaching quality. There are fewer than ten facilities in the Philippines that hold it.
Awaken Fitness Center in Metrowalk, Pasig, is the first gym in the Philippines accredited by HYROX 365. That means training here is as close to race conditions as you’ll find in the country — the right equipment, coached the right way.
Most gyms run HYROX classes. Awaken coaches the person doing them.
Who this is actually for
Broader than you probably think.
You don’t need a running background or a strength background. What helps is enough general fitness to run eight kilometers at a manageable pace, and the willingness to train for something specific.
The race has divisions — Singles, Doubles, and Relay — with age group brackets. Elite athletes race for podium spots. Regular athletes race against the clock, their own previous time, and sometimes a friend who signed up at the same time.
If the honest question is “could I actually finish one?” — yes, almost certainly. The question worth answering first is whether you’ve prepared for it.
Experience It Before You Commit
If HYROX has been in your head but you haven’t taken a step toward it yet, you don’t actually know what it feels like. Reading about sled pushes and wall balls is different from knowing how they sit in your legs at kilometer six.
Awaken runs a monthly intro session called HYROX Base Camp on Sunday mornings. It’s 90 minutes, coach-led, designed for people who want to understand the format before committing to a full race block. The circuit uses the same nine stations, run as a timed group workout. Everything is scaled. Nobody in the room is there to intimidate you — they were all curious once too.
It’s PHP 1,000. Slots are limited and pre-registration is required.
After 90 minutes, you’ll know whether HYROX is something you want to train for. That’s the whole point of it.
READY FOR IT?
HYROX Base Camp is a 90-minute coach-led intro session — designed for first-timers who want to experience the format before committing to a full race block. Scaled for all levels.
SUNDAYS, PHP 1,000
