"We’re going to be doing a lower body strength session. Is that ok?" asks Jake. No running? Not even a tiny bit? This was actual music to my ears. Although I had trained legs the day before…
I've arrived at Represent HQ in Bolton to join Represent 247 Athlete and HYROX Master Trainer Jake Dearden for his workout session. If you've heard of HYROX, then you've probably heard of Jake, too.
The Manchester-born Athlete has taken the new fitness race by storm having already won 10 HYROX events, as well as winning the Pro Doubles at this year’s Hyrox World Championships in France. Not to mention, he completed 11 HYROXs in one weekend for charity (a world record). To top that all off, he’s only 25.
Today it’s a lower body strength session for Jake, which consists of a mixture of compound exercises and some HYROX strength moves. Although I was thrilled that there was no running, I was also a little surprised. Not just because Jake is an insane runner (before HYROX, he did ultra-marathons, and his 10k time is 30 minutes), but because more than 50% of HYROX is running.
“If you’re not strong, you can’t push or pull that sled, so you’ve got to find balance,” he tells me. “Farmers carries, walking lunges, wall balls, they’re the kind of things that require strength.”
Time to get warm
The Represent 247 gym at their HQ is seriously cool. It's all black for a focused feel and has a ton of kit to accommodate a variety of training styles. It’s also home to the biggest pair of hex dumbbells I’ve ever seen.
We begin with a 9-minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) to warm up: 15 GHD sit-ups (I swapped for ab mat sit-ups), 20 metres of Samson lunges, and five box jumps.
Jake always likes his warm-ups to include some core work. “No one likes training core at the end of their workout,” he says – so true – and while some people would go mad on the box jumps, he reiterates, “It’s just a warm-up.”
Straight after, it’s time for some mobility, standing hip windmills to open up those hips. It’s something Jake’s incredibly hot on after slipping two discs in his back during his first Pro HYROX event, which left him unable to walk for weeks and in rehab for six months.
“On the wall balls, my hips just twisted too much, and my back went,” he says. “There are freak accidents where you do get injured, but most of the time, it’s because you’re moving inefficiently or neglecting something, and I was neglecting my mobility.”
The strength session
We begin with three sets of five squats with a two-second eccentric whilst trying to be explosive on the way up, followed by a two-minute rest. These offer great carryover for wall balls and sled work. “We’re working at about 70% of our three-rep max,” says Jake. That meant 120kg for him and 70kg for me.
By the end of my second set, I realised I’d maybe have been a bit too ambitious after my very heavy squat session the previous day, as my legs and glutes were burning. Jake, on the other hand, made 120kg look as if he was just squatting the bar, and, unlike me, he hadn’t even worked up a sweat yet.
We followed this with three sets of 12 alternating lunges – ideal for the sandbag lunges – and three sets of eight Romanian deadlifts, an excellent move for strengthening the posterior chain. This is important for not only the sled push but also the running.
As someone who strength trains four times a week, I felt very much in my comfort zone with the first bit of our workout. Jake had gone into personal trainer mode, always watching my form closely. But I knew the worst was coming up: the HYROX strength exercises. I hadn’t practised any of these since completing my first HYROX last year.
Time to HYROX
This was three rounds of 20-metre 75kg sled push (excluding sled weight), as well as 20kg sandbag lunges. “You go, then I go,” said Jake. Sadly, I didn’t get much rest time because Jake was so speedy. He’d get down super slow on the sled, and in less than 10 seconds, it’d be my go again.
Jake practices everything he preaches when it comes to his advice on the HYROX stations, such as wrapping your arms around the sled, instead of having them out in front and bringing your feet together between each lunge rather than trying to do them interchangeably.
The 75 wall balls with a 6kg ball finished me off. Initially, we were meant to do 100; then Jake remembered there are 75 wall balls in the HYROX women’s open (thank God). One of us would do 25 reps unbroken, and then we’d swap.
I forgot just how taxing these are aerobically. I also have to admit, I didn’t really watch Jake doing his wall balls because I was focusing on trying to catch my breath. But, what I can tell you is that he is very fast because my rest never felt long enough.
The work never stops
I was quite surprised by how simple the workout actually was. There was nothing overly complicated about it, but it did its job. Jake says aiming for two strength sessions – an upper and lower – alongside running when training for HYROX is a good amount.
Now Jake is off to coach another group session, despite having already done one before our workout, as well as a 10k run in the morning. He also says he’s got another “easy run” in the evening.
The man honestly has the engine of a Ferrari; he never seems to tire, and he’s always smiling. Are there any surprises he’s a HYROX champ? Definitely not. Is there more left in the tank? Most definitely.
