After more than 20 years working in the sports nutrition industry, I've recommended supplements for almost every type of training imaginable. Bodybuilding, strength training, endurance sports, team sports and combat sports all have different nutritional demands. In recent years functional/hybrid training like Crossfit and HYROX have become increasingly popular.
Recently, I decided to try HYROX for myself.
Although I've spent most of my life weight training, over six years running and more than a decade training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, HYROX turned out to be a very different challenge. After just my first two sessions, I found myself rethinking which supplements were likely to have the biggest impact on performance.
This isn't a guide from someone who's completed dozens of HYROX races. Instead, it's an honest look at what surprised me as a total beginner, what actually helped during my first training sessions and how my thinking about sports nutrition and performance for this type of training has already started to change.
TL;DR
HYROX combines endurance and strength in a way few other sports do, so your nutritional priorities may be different to traditional weight training or running alone. After my first two sessions, these were my biggest takeaways:
- ✔ Carbohydrates quickly became a bigger priority than I'd expected, particularly for longer sessions.
- ✔ Creatine still deserves a place thanks to the repeated high-intensity efforts involved throughout HYROX.
- ✔ Beta-alanine has become far more interesting to me than it ever was for traditional gym training because delaying muscular fatigue could have a much greater impact.
- ✔ A good pre-workout noticeably improved my focus and performance, although evening sessions made the trade-off with sleep difficult.
- ✔ Protein and recovery remain just as important as ever, especially when training several times per week.
Perhaps the biggest lesson wasn't about any particular supplement. It was realising that HYROX demands a different way of thinking about sports nutrition altogether.
Why HYROX Changed My Thinking About Sports Nutrition
Before trying HYROX, I thought I had a fairly good idea of what to expect. I'd spent years weight training, have been running 5k and 10k regularly for over six years and trained Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA for a little over ten years. While I knew HYROX would combine strength and endurance, I assumed the biggest challenge would simply be my cardiovascular fitness.
I was wrong.
During my first session, the biggest thing I found wasn't that I was out of breath. In fact, thanks to years of running and combat sports, my breathing recovered pretty well between efforts. Instead, what really caught me out was running on already-fatigued legs - 'compromised running' as I've heard it called now. After stations involving exercises like weighted walking lunges and squats, my legs felt incredibly heavy, making the next run far harder than I'd expected despite feeling capable of breathing comfortably. I definitely had that familiar 'post leg day' discomfort the following two days also.
My second session presented a completely different challenge. Rather than repeatedly alternating between running and functional exercises, it involved a series of stations including rowing, SkiErg, Assault Bike, sled pushes and pulls, wall balls, burpee broad jumps, sandbag lunges, dumbbell thrusters and box jump overs before finishing with alternating burpees and wall balls EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute). Instead of my legs being the limiting factor, this session became a true full-body test of strength, muscular endurance and energy.
Up until the final eight-minute finisher, I actually felt well fuelled and like I was recovering quickly between stations. I'd taken a pre-workout shot and a 40g carbohydrate Applied Nutrition Elite Energy Gel beforehand, both of which seemed to help. But towards the end of the session I could feel my energy levels dropping noticeably and I really struggled with those last few rounds of burpees in particular.
That was when my thinking about sports nutrition started to change. Rather than just asking "What are the best supplements for HYROX?", I found myself asking a different question first:
What does HYROX actually demand from your body, and which supplements are most likely to support those demands?
Carbohydrates: More Important Than I'd Expected
If you'd asked me before starting HYROX which supplement or nutritional strategy would have the biggest impact on my performance, carbohydrates might not have been at the very top of the list. I understood the importance of fuelling for this kind of training of course but perhaps underestimated it to an extent.
Over the past few months I'd actually been trying to lose a little weight to improve my 5K and 10K running times. As part of that, I'd gradually reduced my carbohydrate intake and then just bumped that level up on running days. That approach had worked well for running, so I thought it would be still ok for my first HYROX sessions.
After my second workout, however, I've begun to rethink that approach.
Knowing it would be a demanding workout, I increased my carbohydrate intake slightly during the day, just as I normally would before a harder running session, and took the 40g carbohydrate energy gel before training. For most of the workout I actually felt well fuelled. It wasn't until the final finisher that I really felt my energy levels begin to fade. It wasn't a gradual decline - it felt like quite a sudden energy drop.
That experience made me question whether I'd underestimated just how demanding HYROX is from a fuelling perspective. The nutritional approach that had worked well for distance running didn't seem to keep me feeling well fuelled right through to the end of this particular session. I'd made it through the 45 minute main workout ok but the additional work after that left me feeling completely spent. Bearing in mind that the average HYROX race I've seen is run in around 90-100 minutes, this becomes even more of a factor for those who compete and it makes sense that many competitors use energy gels throughout the event.
For future sessions I'll probably experiment with increasing my carbohydrate intake beforehand, rather than relying on a single energy gel, to see whether that helps maintain my performance later into the workout. I'll also be interested to see whether my requirements change further as the sessions become longer and more race-specific.
One thing HYROX has already taught me is that its nutritional demands are different to almost any training I've done before. Traditional weight training rarely leaves you moving continuously for close to an hour, while steady-state running doesn't require repeated heavy muscular efforts. HYROX combines both, which means carbohydrate availability appears to play a much bigger role than I initially expected.
It's too early for me to draw firm conclusions, but so far carbohydrates have moved to the top of my list of nutritional priorities for HYROX training.
Creatine: Still One of the Best Supplements for HYROX
Unlike carbohydrates, creatine wasn't something HYROX changed my opinion on. If anything, my first two sessions reinforced why it's remained one of the most well-researched and effective sports supplements available.
HYROX isn't just about running. Throughout a race or training session you're repeatedly asking your muscles to produce high levels of force during exercises like sled pushes, sled pulls, sandbag lunges, wall balls and burpee broad jumps before quickly moving on to the next challenge. Even though there's a strong endurance element, many of the stations rely on repeated high-intensity efforts.
That's exactly where creatine has consistently been shown to perform well. By helping replenish phosphocreatine stores within the muscles, it can support repeated bursts of high-intensity exercise and may help you maintain performance as fatigue builds.
One thing HYROX has reinforced is just how often you're switching between different movement patterns and muscle groups. Even when one area of the body gets a brief rest, another is being pushed hard. That hybrid nature is one of the reasons creatine still makes so much sense.
Some people worry that creatine causes excessive water retention or unnecessary weight gain, particularly in a sport that also involves a significant amount of running. In reality, any increase in body weight is usually modest and occurs because creatine draws water into the muscle cells rather than causing bloating under the skin. For most HYROX athletes, the performance benefits are likely to outweigh the small increase in body weight.
If I had to choose just one supplement specifically to support HYROX training, creatine would still be right at the top of my list. My first two sessions haven't changed that opinion - they've strengthened it.
Beta-Alanine: A Supplement I've Started Looking At Differently
Beta-alanine isn't a new supplement to me. I used it years ago when most of my training revolved around traditional weight training and, although I felt it helped a little, I never considered it a game-changer. If anything, I thought it perhaps allowed me to squeeze out an extra rep or two on some of my harder sets, but the difference was fairly modest.
HYROX has made me look at it in a different way.
During my first session, trying to run on already-fatigued legs immediately made me think about beta-alanine. Unlike traditional gym training, HYROX repeatedly asks you to keep moving while your muscles are already under significant fatigue. If a supplement can help delay the onset of muscular fatigue, even slightly, it seems far more likely to have a noticeable impact in a sport like HYROX than it ever would during bodybuilding-style workouts.
The science behind beta-alanine is well established. By increasing muscle carnosine levels, it helps buffer the build-up of hydrogen ions during high-intensity exercise, potentially delaying the burning sensation that contributes to muscular fatigue. That doesn't mean it suddenly transforms performance, but it may help you maintain a higher intensity for a little longer during repeated demanding efforts.
It's important to note, unlike caffeine or an energy gel, beta-alanine isn't something you take just before a workout and immediately notice. It needs to be taken consistently over a number of weeks to increase muscle carnosine levels. I've started taking it now but wont see benefits for a few weeks yet.
I'm not suggesting beta-alanine is suddenly the most important supplement for HYROX. Far from it. But after my first two sessions it's one I've become much more interested in revisiting because its mechanism of action appears to fit the demands of the sport much better than I previously appreciated.
Sometimes starting a new sport doesn't just teach you something about your fitness - it also makes you look at familiar supplements from a completely different perspective.
Pre-Workout: Great for Performance, But There's a Trade-Off
Of all the supplements I used during my first two HYROX sessions, a good pre-workout was of course the one I noticed most immediately.
Both sessions took place in the evening after a full day of work. Like many people, I wasn't arriving at the gym feeling fresh and full of energy. A well-formulated pre-workout containing a sensible dose of caffeine noticeably improved my focus, motivation and overall intensity from the start of the session.
HYROX workouts demand a lot mentally as well as physically. You're constantly moving between different stations, managing your pace and trying to recover quickly before the next challenge. I found the extra alertness from the caffeine genuinely beneficial throughout both sessions.
The downside became obvious later that night. Despite feeling physically tired after training, I struggled to switch off and sleep. At first it would have been easy to solely blame the pre-workout, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised I'd experienced the same thing years earlier after evening Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA sparring sessions - which I never used pre-workout supplements for.
Those sports, like HYROX, create a huge amount of physical and mental stimulation. Even without caffeine I'd often come home feeling tired but mentally wired, making it difficult to fall asleep. That makes me think the pre-workout wasn't the whole story. It almost certainly contributed, but so did the intensity of the session itself.
For me, that's become one of the first trade-offs of HYROX training. If I train in the evening, I'll probably experiment with lower-stimulant pre-workouts, reduced caffeine doses or even stimulant-free alternatives to see whether I can improve my sleep without sacrificing too much performance. If I were training earlier in the day, however, I'd have far fewer reservations about using a quality pre-workout.
One thing I've already learned is that the best supplement for performance isn't always the best supplement for recovery. Finding the right balance may be just as important as choosing the supplement itself.
Hydration: An Early Lesson I Should Have Seen Coming
One thing I hadn't really considered before starting HYROX was just how much I'd sweat.
Looking back, I probably should have expected it. Years ago, when I was training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Gracie Academy in Los Angeles for a few hot Californian summers, we'd sometimes weigh ourselves before and after training to see how much body weight we'd lost through sweating. It wasn't unusual for that loss to be several pounds after a hard session.
My first HYROX sessions felt surprisingly similar to that level of water loss. I certainly found myself sweating far more than I would during a typical gym workout. It quickly reminded me that replacing fluids isn't just about drinking enough water.
When you sweat heavily, you're also losing electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and magnesium. These play important roles in maintaining fluid balance, muscle function and nerve signalling. While a balanced diet will usually provide enough electrolytes for everyday life, long or particularly intense HYROX sessions may justify replacing some of what you've lost. Looking at using hydration & electrolyte supplements would make a lot of sense.
I haven't experimented enough yet to say exactly what works best for me, but hydration has already become something I'm paying much closer attention to. Whether that's starting sessions better hydrated, drinking more during longer workouts or using an electrolyte supplement afterwards, it's one area I suspect will become increasingly important as my training progresses.
HYROX places unique demands on your body, and staying properly hydrated may be one of the simplest ways to support both performance and recovery.
Protein and Recovery: The Fundamentals Still Matter
While HYROX has made me rethink some aspects of sports nutrition, it has also reinforced something I already believed - recovery is where the real progress happens.
No matter how well you fuel a session or which supplements you take beforehand, your body still needs the building blocks to repair and adapt afterwards. That makes adequate daily protein intake just as important for HYROX as it is for weight training, running or almost any other sport.
In fact, with HYROX combining resistance training, high-intensity intervals and endurance work into a single session, recovery arguably becomes even more important. You're placing significant demands on both your muscles and cardiovascular system, often several times each week.
Good nutrition, adequate protein, proper hydration and sufficient sleep are still the foundations that everything else is built upon. No supplement can replace those basics.
For me, HYROX hasn't changed the importance of protein - it's simply reinforced why getting the fundamentals right should always come before worrying about the finer details. Whilst I do believe that the majority of protein should come from whole foods, protein supplements certainly make it much easier to hit your daily protein intake target.
Final Thoughts
One of the things I've enjoyed most about starting HYROX is that it's challenged more than just my fitness. It's also challenged my understanding of how this kind of training requires proper nutritional support and which supplements are most important.
After more than two decades working in the supplement industry, it's easy to think you've got it all figured out already. But changing the demands you place on your body changes the questions you ask.
After just two sessions, carbohydrates have moved much higher up my list of nutritional priorities, beta-alanine has become a supplement I'm interested in revisiting and creatine has once again confirmed why it remains one of the best-supported supplements available. Pre-workout has also proved its worth, although I'll be experimenting with different caffeine strategies for evening training to avoid compromising my sleep. Proper hydration also now feels very important so electrolyte supplements seem a potential key addition to consider next.
I'm under no illusion that I've got HYROX figured out after two sessions. Far from it. As my training progresses, my views may well continue to evolve, and I'll perhaps update this article as I gain more experience.
If there's one lesson I've learned so far, it's that HYROX isn't simply weight training with some running added in. It's a genuinely unique challenge that requires a different way of thinking about training, recovery and nutrition.
That's exactly why I expect this article to evolve alongside my HYROX training. As I gain more experience, test different nutritional strategies and eventually compete, I'll continue updating it with what I've learned. And if my opinions change, I'll say so.
