- At race effort, breathe through your mouth and nose. Get the air in however you can.
- Link your breathing to the movement on every station.
- Brace briefly on heavy efforts, but do not hold your breath for whole lengths.
- Use long, slow exhales to bring your breathing down between stations.
- Practise breathing patterns in training so they happen without thinking.
Why breathing deserves attention
During HYROX, you breathe hard for over an hour. Most of the time your body handles that automatically. But under the stress of heavy stations, high heart rates and nerves, breathing often goes wrong in predictable ways: people hold their breath on the sleds, gasp in shallow breaths on the wall balls and panic when they cannot catch their breath after the burpee broad jumps.
Breathing well does not make you fitter. What it does is help you use the fitness you have. A steady rhythm keeps effort even, well-timed breaths make each station movement smoother, and good recovery breathing gets your heart rate down faster in the gaps. Those small gains add up across eight runs and eight stations.
Breathing is also closely linked to how you feel. Fast, shallow breathing tends to feed a sense of panic, while slower, fuller breathing tends to calm you down. On a hard day, controlling your breathing is one of the few things that can change how the race feels in real time.
Nose or mouth?
At race intensity, breathe through both your mouth and nose. Your body needs a lot of air, and restricting it to the nose alone is not realistic at hard efforts. Do not worry about technique here: get the air in.
Nasal breathing is useful in training, though, as a pace check. On easy runs, if you can breathe comfortably through your nose, you are probably running easily enough. If you cannot, slow down. That single habit keeps easy days easy.
Breathing on the runs
A rhythmic breathing pattern helps you settle into a pace. Many runners breathe in for two or three steps and out for two steps, adjusting as the effort rises. The exact numbers matter less than having a rhythm you can come back to.
After a station, when your breathing is ragged, focus on the exhale. Breathe out fully and slowly for the first minute of the run, and let the inhale look after itself. Relax your shoulders and jaw, which tend to tense up when you are breathing hard, and let your arms swing loosely rather than clenching your fists. The guide to how to breathe during exercise covers the basics if this is new to you.
Breathing patterns for each station
- SkiErg: breathe out on the pull down, in on the way up.
- Sled push: short, sharp exhales in time with your steps, keeping your trunk braced. Avoid long breath-holds.
- Sled pull: breathe out as you sit back and pull, in as you reach forward for the next grab.
- Burpee broad jumps: breathe out as you go down to the floor, in as you push up, and another breath as you jump.
- Rowing: breathe out on the drive, in on the recovery. At higher rates, some people take two breaths per stroke.
- Farmers carry: keep a light brace and breathe steadily and shallowly through it.
- Sandbag lunges: breathe in as you lower, out as you drive up.
- Wall balls: breathe out on the throw, in as you catch and squat.
The pattern on wall balls is the one most worth drilling, because it is where breathing most often falls apart. The guide to wall balls technique covers how it fits with your set strategy.
Bracing without breath-holding
For a heavy single lift, holding your breath briefly while bracing hard is useful and safe for most healthy people. The guide to how to breathe and brace when lifting explains how. But HYROX stations are long, continuous efforts, and holding your breath for a whole sled length makes you run out of air fast and sends your heart rate through the roof.
The solution is to keep a firm, moderate brace through your trunk while breathing behind it in short, controlled breaths. Think of tensing your midsection as if expecting a light punch, then breathing in and out without letting that tension go completely. It takes practice, and the sleds and farmers carry are the best places to rehearse it.
Recovering your breath quickly
The Roxzone and the first part of each run are your chances to bring your breathing down. The fastest way is long, slow exhales: breathe out for longer than you breathe in, for example in for two counts and out for four, for five or six breaths. Keep walking or jogging rather than stopping still.
Try to stand tall rather than folding over, and relax your shoulders. The guide to breathing for recovery has more techniques, including ones that help with pre-race nerves. The guide to the Roxzone explains how to use transitions to recover without losing time.
Before the race, a minute or two of slow breathing, with a long exhale, can take the edge off nerves in the start pen.
Stitches and breathing drills
Side stitches are common in HYROX, often on the runs after big stations or after drinking too much. Their exact cause is not fully understood. When one hits, slow down slightly, breathe out fully and deeply, and press gently into the painful spot. Avoid big drinks in the hour before the race and during it.
Practise your breathing in training. Use rhythmic breathing on easy runs, count your breaths during wall ball rests, and focus on long exhales during recovery periods in interval sessions. Conditioning classes, such as Engine at Lycan Strength on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, are a good place to practise this under real fatigue.
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Questions
Should I breathe through my nose during HYROX?
Not at race effort. Breathe through your mouth and nose to get enough air. Nasal breathing is useful in training as a check that easy runs are easy.
How should I breathe during wall balls?
Breathe out as you throw and in as you catch and squat. Keep that rhythm through each set.
How do I stop holding my breath on the sled push?
Keep a moderate brace and take short, sharp breaths in time with your steps. Counting your steps out loud makes it much harder to hold your breath.
General guidance for healthy adults. If you have a medical condition, injury or are pregnant, check with a health professional before changing your training or diet.
