The closest HYROX alternatives are DEKA FIT, the Hybrid Games, GYMRACE and Deadly Dozen: each one mixes running with functional stations, and each changes one thing about the HYROX format. ATHX, Turf Games and Metrix go further and swap the single finish time for a points score, a team or a pairs workout. Hybrid Day races the HYROX format under another name, and STYREKX races a close cousin of it.
Apart from Hybrid Day, none of them has HYROX’s 8km of running, and that is the decision this page is built around. Most HYROX alternatives are shorter, several are cheaper, and almost all of them ask for less running and more variety. So the useful question is which part of HYROX you want to change.
Below you will find every race side by side in one table, then each one in turn: what it asks of you, what it costs where the price is published, how long it takes, and who it is not for. Every figure comes from the organiser’s own pages, a published results set or a named source, and where a number is not published, we say so rather than guess.
Key Takeaways
- HYROX is 8 x 1km of running and eight stations. Open men average 1:31 and Open women 1:40, across 274,200 Open finishers in the 2025/26 season.
- DEKA FIT is the closest swap you can race in the UK: 10 zones with a 500m run before each, 5km of running, and a median of 48:20 for men and 54:32 for women.
- The Hybrid Games asks for the most total work: 10 stations, 6.2km of running, and both sleds over 60m rather than HYROX’s 50m.
- GYMRACE trades running for machines: 5km of running, nine stations and 4km of erg work, with a published average finish of 1:20.
- Deadly Dozen is the only one raced outdoors on an athletics track, with 12 x 400m runs and only kettlebells, dumbbells, plates and bodyweight.
- ATHX, Turf Games and Metrix are not races against a clock: they score total weight, distance, reps or team placings.
- If you want the biggest field, results for every split and 8km of running under fatigue, no alternative replaces HYROX.
HYROX Alternatives at a Glance
Every HYROX alternative differs from HYROX on three things: how far you run, how heavy the stations are, and whether you race a clock or chase a score. The table puts all nine side by side against HYROX itself.
| Race | Running | Stations | Scored on | Typical time | Entry from (UK unless noted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HYROX | 8 x 1km (8km) | 8 | Finish time | Open men 1:31, Open women 1:40 (average) | About £100 solo |
| DEKA FIT | 10 x 500m (5km) | 10 zones | Finish time | Men 48:20, women 54:32 (median) | Not displayed (DEKA STRONG £44.39, DEKA MILE £49.94) |
| The Hybrid Games | 10 x 600m plus a 200m sprint (6.2km) | 10 | Finish time | Not published | £95 (Glasgow 2026) |
| GYMRACE | 5 x 1km plus a 50m sprint (5km) | 9 | Finish time | 1:20 (published average) | £87.50 solo (London, March 2027) |
| Deadly Dozen | 12 x 400m on a track (4.8km) | 12 Labours | Finish time | 75 to 95 minutes for most of the field | Not confirmed |
| ATHX | Run and row for distance, 22-minute cap | 3 scored zones | Points | About 2.5 hours on site | Not published |
| Turf Games | Varies by workout | 4 team workouts | Team placings | 4 workouts, 45 to 75 minutes apart | £330 per team of four (Manchester 2026) |
| Metrix | Shuttle runs only | 5 timed stations | Total output | 70 minutes | Not published |
| Hybrid Day (Spain, Portugal) | 8 x 1km (8km) | 8 | Finish time | Not published | Not published |
| STYREKX (Netherlands, Belgium) | 10 x 400m or 10 x 800m | 10 | Finish time | Not published | Not published |
Two things stand out. Only Hybrid Day matches HYROX’s running volume, and it is HYROX’s format under another name. And the lowest published entries, DEKA STRONG and DEKA MILE, are also the formats with the least running, so the cheapest ticket usually buys a shorter, less aerobic day.
HYROX prices come from Country & Town House , which puts a UK solo entry at around £100 and Doubles at around £139 for the pair. The DEKA prices are the starting prices on Spartan’s London West event page , read on 8 October 2026. The rest come from each series’ guide on this site. Entry prices change by event and by booking date, so treat every one as a floor and check the live page before you budget.
How to Choose a HYROX Alternative
Choose a HYROX alternative by deciding which of three things you want to change: the running, the load, or the scoring. Everything else (venue, field size, travel) follows from that choice.
- Less running: DEKA FIT (5km), GYMRACE (5km) and Deadly Dozen (4.8km) all cut HYROX’s 8km by about 40%. DEKA MILE drops it to 1.6km and DEKA STRONG removes it entirely.
- More strength work: The Hybrid Games adds two stations and runs both sleds 10m further than HYROX does. ATHX tests true maximal lifts: a 1RM strict press, a 3RM back squat and a 5RM deadlift.
- A different way to win: ATHX scores points, Metrix scores combined output, and Turf Games scores teams. If the HYROX clock is what puts you off, these are the races to look at.
There is a fourth reason people search for alternatives, and it is the simplest: HYROX sold out, or the date does not work. In that case you want the closest format, which is DEKA FIT or the Hybrid Games in the UK, and Hybrid Day or STYREKX if you are happy to travel.
If you are not sure where your HYROX fitness sits yet, the HYROX finish time predictor gives you a starting estimate from your current run and station benchmarks. That number is the honest baseline to compare any alternative against.
The Closest HYROX Alternatives, Race by Race
Each race below gets the same treatment: what the format is, what it costs where the price is published, how long it takes, and who it is not for. The full rules and loads are in each race’s own guide, linked in its section.
DEKA FIT (and DEKA STRONG, DEKA MILE)
DEKA FIT is the closest HYROX alternative in shape: 10 fixed zones done in order, a 500m run before each one, and a clock that never stops. It is run by Spartan, and it adds an air bike, a medicine ball, a dead ball and box step-overs to the familiar rowing machine, SkiErg, farmers carry and sled.
The numbers are lighter than HYROX’s. The farmers carry is 100m at 27.5kg a hand for men and 17.5kg for women, and the sled zone is 100m of push and pull on a magnetic resistance sled rather than a loaded one. Across 14,580 DEKA FIT results to 13 September 2026, the median finish was 48:20 for men and 54:32 for women, and 84% of men finished inside an hour.
DEKA STRONG runs the same 10 zones with no running at all, and DEKA MILE puts a 160m run before each zone. At DEKA London West in Farnborough on 28 to 29 November 2026, DEKA STRONG starts at £44.39 and DEKA MILE at £49.94. Our DEKA FIT guide covers every zone, load and penalty.
Not for you if you want a long aerobic test. Half the running and a race under an hour make DEKA a sharper, more anaerobic day than HYROX, and the pacing does not transfer between the two.
The Hybrid Games
The Hybrid Games is the HYROX alternative for athletes who want more of everything: 10 stations, 10 x 600m of running and a 200m sprint to the finish, for 6.2km in total. It adds an air bike (50 calories) and a dumbbell snatch (50 reps at 17.5kg for men, 12.5kg for women) to a station list that otherwise reads like HYROX’s.
The sleds are where it gets longer, not heavier. Both run 60m against HYROX’s 50m, and the sled push is 135kg for men and 100kg for women including the sled, which is lighter than the HYROX Open push of 152kg for men. The farmers carry is 200m with 2 x 24kg for men and 2 x 16kg for women.
It is a UK series. Glasgow 2026 cost £95 to enter, and the 2027 races are in Newcastle (29 to 31 May), Birmingham (3 to 4 July) and Glasgow (29 to 31 October). There is no published average finish time and no cut-off. Our Hybrid Games guide has the full loads by category and the movement standards that catch people out.
Not for you if your sleds are already your weakest HYROX station. The Hybrid Games makes them 20% longer and puts the push last, after nine stations and 6km of running.
GYMRACE
GYMRACE swaps running for machines. It is five 1km runs and nine stations, so 5km of running against HYROX’s 8km, but it adds a 2,000m BikeErg to the 1,000m row and 1,000m SkiErg, for 4km of erg work in total. HYROX has 2km.
The stations include a slam ball carry (35kg for men, 20kg for women), 100 kettlebell swings to overhead and dumbbell farmers lunges. The published average finish is 1:20, there is no cut-off, and an unfinished station costs a 20-minute penalty rather than a disqualification. The organiser is the team behind Mud Masters.
GYMRACE events run in the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK. A solo entry for London in March 2027 runs from £87.50 to £105 depending on when you book. The GYMRACE guide lists every station in order with its load.
Not for you if you are a runner who enjoys HYROX because of the running. GYMRACE rewards a strong engine on the machines far more than run speed.
Deadly Dozen
Deadly Dozen is the only HYROX alternative raced outdoors. You run 12 x 400m laps of an athletics track (4.8km), and after each lap you complete a Labour on the infield grass: 12 in all, using only kettlebells, dumbbells, weight plates and bodyweight. There is no sled, no rowing machine and no SkiErg.
The first Labour is a 240m farmers carry with 2 x 24kg for men and 2 x 16kg for women, and the last is 20 dumbbell devil presses. Competitive athletes finish in under 90 minutes, and most of the field lands between 75 and 95. It was founded by Jason Curtis and the Institute of Fitness Racing, and there are Deadly Dozen races across the UK, Europe and North America.
We have not confirmed a current entry price, so check the event page. The Deadly Dozen race guide covers all 12 Labours.
Not for you if you want guaranteed conditions. Outdoor on a track means weather, and a wet infield changes how a farmers carry feels.
ATHX
ATHX is not a race to a finish line. It is a 2.5-hour session with three scored zones and scheduled rest between them, and your result is a points total. The Strength Zone gives you 20 minutes to build to a 1RM strict press, a 3RM back squat and a 5RM deadlift. The Endurance Zone is a run and row for distance inside a 22-minute cap. MetCon X is a timed circuit with a 25-minute cap.
There are three ability tiers (Lite, ATHX and Pro) and you enter as an individual or a pair. ATHX races in 11 countries, from Liverpool to Los Angeles, with the ATHX Finals in Lisbon from 27 to 29 November 2026. Our ATHX guide covers every zone, but no entry price is published there, so check the event page before you budget.
Not for you if you are new to heavy lifting. A true 1RM press and 3RM back squat in a competition setting reward years of barbell work, and HYROX loads never ask for a maximal effort.
Turf Games
Turf Games is a team competition, not a solo timed race. The Festival format is mixed teams of six (three men and three women) racing four workouts with 45 to 75 minutes between them, and Fittest in the City runs teams of four. The workouts are not published as a fixed test, so you cannot rehearse them the way you rehearse HYROX.
The kit list is wide (SkiErgs, rowers, bikes, sleds, barbells, D balls, sandbags) but there are no muscle-ups or handstand work, and rope climbs appear at Elite only. Manchester 2026 cost £330 for a team of four and £490 for a team of six. Our Turf Games guide has the Everyday division loads.
Not for you if you want a personal time to beat next year. Unknown workouts and team scoring mean there is no single number to chase.
Metrix
Metrix is a pairs-only workout scored on output. It runs for 70 minutes: five stations of 10 minutes each, with a 4-minute transition between them, and you and your partner alternate the work. The stations are SkiErg, burpees over the line, rowing, BikeErg, and a sled push that runs into shuttle runs. The pair with the highest combined metres, reps and calories wins.
You need a partner and you must be 18 or over. Its two UK races so far have been in Cardiff and London , and no upcoming dates are listed at the time of writing.
Not for you if you want to race alone. There is no solo category.
HYROX’s Format Outside the HYROX Brand: Hybrid Day and STYREKX
If you want HYROX itself and simply cannot get in, two European series come closest. Hybrid Day races in Spain and Portugal over 8 x 1km with eight stations (SkiErg, sled push and pull, rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls) in Singles, Doubles and Relay, each with Open and Pro loads. Its race page lists the next dates.
STYREKX runs in the Netherlands and Belgium: 10 stations alternating with 10 runs of 400m (Light) or 800m (Regular and Xtreme). It finishes on the Concept2 StrengthErg, a chest-press machine that made its race debut at this series. The next races listed are Amsterdam (21 to 22 November 2026) and Ghent (13 to 14 March 2027).
Not for you if you are UK-based and want to avoid travel. Both series are continental, so add flights and a hotel to the entry fee.
Which HYROX Alternative Fits You
Match the race to what you want to change. Each line below names one situation and the race that answers it.
| If you want | Enter | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A HYROX-style race with half the running | DEKA FIT | 5km of running, 10 zones, done in under an hour by most |
| No running at all | DEKA STRONG | The same 10 zones with every run removed |
| More work than HYROX | The Hybrid Games | 10 stations, 6.2km of running, 60m sleds |
| More machines, less road | GYMRACE | 4km of erg work against HYROX’s 2km |
| To race outside | Deadly Dozen | 12 x 400m on an athletics track |
| To test real strength | ATHX | 1RM press, 3RM squat and 5RM deadlift, scored |
| A day out with a team | Turf Games | Teams of four or six, four workouts |
| A partner workout, not a race | Metrix | 70 minutes, pairs only, scored on output |
| HYROX itself, on a different date | Hybrid Day or STYREKX | The closest formats, raced in mainland Europe |
Take Sam, who races HYROX Open in 1:38 and loses most of that on the runs: about 5:30 per kilometre against a 4:50 target, so roughly 5 minutes gone on the running alone. Sam’s stations are already strong. GYMRACE would hide the weakness behind 4km of erg work, and DEKA FIT would cut the running to 5km. Both would feel better on race day, and neither would make Sam faster at the race Sam actually wants to improve. If the goal is a faster HYROX, an alternative is a holiday from the weakness, not a fix for it.
Who Should Not Switch from HYROX
Stay with HYROX if any of these describes you. No alternative on this page replaces it on these four points.
- You want the biggest field and the most comparable results. HYROX had 274,200 Open finishers in the 2025/26 season across 97 events. No alternative comes close, so no other result tells you as precisely where you stand. See the average HYROX times by division for that benchmark.
- You want to train compromised running. Running 1km straight off a station, eight times, is the adaptation HYROX tests and the alternatives mostly dilute. Shorter runs between more stations is a different skill.
- You are chasing a PB you already hold. A HYROX time is comparable year to year because the format and loads are fixed by season. A first DEKA or GYMRACE time is a new baseline, not progress.
- You want a path to the top of the sport. HYROX runs its own World Championship and the Elite 15 series, fed by the largest field of any hybrid race.
If you have only done one HYROX and it went badly, that is not on its own a reason to switch. The HYROX race strategy guide covers the pacing errors that make a first race feel worse than it should.
Training for More Than One Hybrid Race
Most HYROX training transfers to every hybrid fitness race on this page, because they all reward the same three things: an aerobic engine, muscular endurance under fatigue, and the ability to recover between efforts. What does not transfer is pacing and the specific loads.
- The engine carries over completely. Easy running volume and threshold work help in DEKA, GYMRACE and Deadly Dozen as much as in HYROX.
- Station practice partly carries over. SkiErg, rowing, wall balls and the farmers carry appear in several formats, but at different distances and loads. Train the format you entered, at its load.
- Pacing does not carry over. Runs of 500m and 600m and laps of 400m each need their own target pace. A pace that is right for a 1km HYROX run is too conservative for a 400m lap, and you will only find the right one by rehearsing it.
- Max strength is its own block. ATHX is the exception that needs dedicated heavy lifting, which HYROX training does not provide.
If you plan to race HYROX and one alternative in the same season, build toward the A-race and treat the other as a hard training day with a number on it. Our hybrid training programme guide explains how to balance running and strength across a week.
FAQ
Hybrid Day is the closest race to HYROX, with 8 x 1km and eight HYROX-style stations, but it only runs in Spain and Portugal. In the UK, the closest is DEKA FIT: 10 zones done in order with a 500m run before each, for 5km of running.
DEKA FIT is shorter, and the intensity makes up for it. It has 5km of running against HYROX's 8km and most athletes finish in under an hour, but the shorter runs and faster zones make it a more anaerobic race. Median times across 14,580 results were 48:20 for men and 54:32 for women.
Yes. DEKA STRONG runs the same 10 zones as DEKA FIT with no running at all. Metrix comes close, with no laps and only short shuttle runs after the sled push. ATHX includes running, but as a run and row for distance inside a 22-minute cap rather than as fixed laps.
DEKA STRONG at £44.39 and DEKA MILE at £49.94 (London West, November 2026) are the cheapest published UK entries. GYMRACE London starts at £87.50 and the Hybrid Games Glasgow cost £95. A HYROX solo entry in the UK is around £100.
Yes, because the engine and most station work carry over. Pick one as your A-race and train its pacing and loads specifically, then treat the other as a hard training day. Each format needs its own run pace.
The Hybrid Games asks for the most total work of the timed races, with 10 stations, 6.2km of running and sleds pushed and pulled 60m rather than 50m. ATHX is the hardest for strength, because it scores true maximal lifts. ---
Conclusion
The best HYROX alternative depends on what you want to change. DEKA FIT halves the running, the Hybrid Games adds stations and distance, GYMRACE swaps road for machines, Deadly Dozen takes it outside, and ATHX, Turf Games and Metrix trade the clock for a score. Hybrid Day and STYREKX are the nearest thing to HYROX itself, if you can travel.
Only Hybrid Day matches HYROX’s 8km of compromised running, and none matches its field size. If a faster HYROX is the goal, the answer is usually better HYROX training.
Whichever you enter, the build is what decides race day. Kracey is an AI HYROX coach that lives in Telegram, with nothing to install. HYROX is where its methodology goes deepest, and it also runs a full endurance and strength methodology for general hybrid training, so tell it the race you entered and the date and it programmes toward that. It reads your training through intervals.icu, which syncs from Garmin, COROS, Polar, Suunto, Wahoo, WHOOP, Oura and Strava, so it sees what you actually did rather than what the plan said. The first 14 days are free with no card, and they start when your coach can see your training, not the day you sign up.