Grip and forearm endurance for HYROX

Grip strength vs grip endurance

Grip strength is the most force your hands can produce once. Grip endurance is how long you can hold a submaximal load, or how many times you can repeat a grip effort, before your forearms give out. HYROX is much more about endurance. You never need to hold anything close to your maximum, but you need to hold moderate loads repeatedly for over an hour.

That said, the two are linked. A stronger grip makes every hold a smaller percentage of your maximum, so it lasts longer. The best approach combines some heavy grip work with plenty of longer holds and carries. The general principles are in grip strength: why it matters and how to build it.

The most useful grip exercises

• Farmers carries: heavy for 30 to 40 m or at race load for 100 to 200 m. The most specific grip training for HYROX. The farmers carry exercise guide covers set-up.
• Dead hangs: hang from a pull-up bar with straight arms. Build up to multiple sets of 30 to 60 seconds.
• Towel hangs: hang from towels looped over a bar. Much harder and closer to gripping a rope.
• Rope pulls: pull a sled or rope hand over hand, the direct preparation for the sled pull.
• Heavy holds: hold a loaded barbell or trap bar at the top of a deadlift for 20 to 30 seconds.
• Pull-ups and rows: they build the back and grip together. The pull-up guide has progressions if you cannot do one yet.

You do not need them all. Pick two or three and rotate them through your week.

A simple weekly grip plan

Add ten minutes of grip work to the end of two or three sessions a week. For example:

1. Session one: 4 x 40 m heavy farmers carry, 90 seconds rest.
2. Session two: 3 x dead hang for as long as possible, 2 minutes rest, then 3 x 20-second towel hangs.
3. Session three: 2 x 200 m farmers carry at race load, timed, with as few set-downs as possible.

Progress by adding time to hangs, distance to carries or a little load every week or two. Once a week, do your grip work after a harder session, when your forearms are already tired. That is much closer to what the farmers carry feels like in a race.

Saving your grip during the race

Training builds your grip. Race tactics make sure you still have it when you need it. The key principle is to grip only as hard as each station requires.

• SkiErg: hold the handles firmly but relaxed. Pull with your lats and body weight, not your fingers.
• Sled pull: sit back and drive with your legs so your hands only have to hold the rope, not heave it.
• Rowing: use a hook grip with relaxed fingers, and let the handle sit in the fingers rather than a clenched fist.
• Farmers carry: centre the handle, walk briskly and plan your set-downs before your grip completely fails.
• Between stations: shake your hands out and open and close your fingers as you walk through the Roxzone.

The guide to farmers carry technique for HYROX covers pacing and set-downs in detail.

Forearm and elbow pain

A sudden jump in grip work, especially lots of rope pulling, hanging and carrying added all at once, can irritate the tendons around the elbow. Pain on the outside of the elbow is often called tennis elbow; on the inside, golfer's elbow. Both are common among people who ramp up grip-heavy training quickly.

The fix is usually to reduce the aggravating work for a while rather than stop completely, then build back gradually with slower, controlled loading. If pain lingers for more than a couple of weeks or affects daily tasks like lifting a kettle, get it assessed. The physio guide to tennis elbow explains what typically helps.

Where grip work fits in your week

Grip work fits naturally at the end of strength sessions, especially those focused on pulling, hinging and carrying. Heavy carries go well with lower body days, and hangs work well after upper body pulling. Lycan Strength's full-length turf sled track gives you room for heavy carries and sled pulls, and you can add hangs at the end of any session.

Everyday life counts too. Carrying shopping bags from the car in one trip, holding a bar on the bus without leaning on it, or doing a short dead hang whenever you pass a pull-up bar all add a little grip volume without any extra training time. Small, frequent exposures suit grip particularly well.