What the PFT is, and who runs it
HYROX calls it the Physical Fitness Test, PFT for short, and publishes it on its UK site as an introduction to the sport and a read on your fitness for it. HYROX UK hosts PFTs at gyms in the UK and Ireland each year, which you sign up for through HYROX's PFT site.
HYROX also keeps a PFT ranking of its own, apart from race results. It shows standard results by default and lists any test done with a change as scaled, which is a good rule for your own notebook too.
You do not need a hosted event. The workout needs somewhere to run 1,000 m, a rower, a wall ball and a wall, so most gyms can stage it on an ordinary day. Orangetheory announced in November 2025 that select studios in North America which opt in become HYROX Training Clubs, with race-prep classes from 1 December 2025; whether yours hosts a PFT is a question for the studio. Before you build your week around a class, read what a HYROX-style class can and cannot do.
Not training yet? HYROX's Find My Level page asks three questions instead: how often you work out, how far you run comfortably and how many push-ups you can do. Read how hard HYROX is first, and come back to the PFT once you train most weeks.
The workout, step by step
Six parts, in this order, against one clock that runs from your first stride to your last wall ball.
- Run 1,000 m, outdoors or on a treadmill set to a 2% incline.
- 50 burpee broad jumps.
- 100 stationary lunges, standing fully extended between reps.
- Row 1,000 m.
- 30 hand-release push-ups.
- 100 wall balls, 6 kg for men and 4 kg for women.
The standards to hold
HYROX's page gives most parts a short note in brackets and no more. Where it stops, hold the race standard from the rulebook, so the reps you test are reps a judge would count.
- Burpee broad jumps: chest clearly on the floor at the bottom, then a jump with both feet taking off and landing together, with no extra steps. HYROX notes 90 cm beside this part. Treat it as the shortest jump you allow yourself and tape it on the floor.
- Lunges: alternate legs, back knee clearly touching the floor, and stand tall with hips and knees straight between reps.
- Push-ups: the race has none, so there is no rulebook standard. HYROX asks only for hand release; the usual form is chest to the floor, both hands lifted clear, then a press back up with your body in one line.
- Wall balls: start standing, get your hips below your knees at the bottom and hit the race target: 3.00 m for men, 2.70 m for women. The PFT page gives the ball weight but no height.
- Row: the full 1,000 m on the monitor before you stand up.
What the time bands suggest
HYROX UK sets four overlapping bands beside the test, each pointing at a division.
| PFT time | Division HYROX UK suggests |
|---|---|
| 15 to 25 minutes | Pro |
| 25 to 35 minutes | Open |
| 30 to 40 minutes | Doubles |
| 35 to 45 minutes | Relay |
Other HYROX regional sites print the same workout with different bands: HYROX Australia puts Pro at 15 to 20 minutes and Open at 20 to 35. Treat every band edge as approximate.
Read the overlaps as choices, not verdicts. At 32 minutes you fit Open and Doubles; at 38, Doubles and Relay. That choice is about who you want beside you, which is why choosing who you race with comes before the weights.
Under 25 minutes points at Pro on HYROX UK's bands. But Pro is the same course with heavier sleds, kettlebells, sandbag and ball, and the PFT has none of those loads: its wall balls are the Open weights. A fast PFT says you have the engine for Pro, not the strength. Check that before you enter, with the signs you are ready for Pro.
Slower than 45 minutes? HYROX says on the same page that there are no time caps or qualifications, and that you can sign up for any division you feel comfortable with. The bands are advice, not entry rules.
What the PFT leaves out
Put the test beside the race and the gaps are plain.
| Part | PFT | Race |
|---|---|---|
| Running | 1,000 m once, at the start | Eight runs of about 1 km, indoors |
| SkiErg | Not in it | 1,000 m |
| Sled push and pull | Not in it | 50 m each: push 102 kg to 202 kg, pull 78 kg to 153 kg, sled included |
| Burpee broad jumps | 50 reps | 80 m, as many reps as your jumps need |
| Row | 1,000 m | 1,000 m |
| Farmers carry | Not in it | 200 m, 2 x 16 kg to 2 x 32 kg |
| Lunges | 100 stationary, no load | 100 m with 10 kg to 30 kg |
| Push-ups | 30 hand-release | Not in it |
| Wall balls | 100, 6 kg men, 4 kg women | 100 reps, 4 kg to 9 kg |
The sleds and the carry
The three heaviest stations, the sled push, the sled pull and the farmers carry, are not in the test, and neither is the SkiErg. Those three ask the most of your strength and grip, and their loads are most of what changes between Open and Pro. No PFT time tells you how a 152 kg sled, the Men's Open and Women's Pro push with the sled included, will move on a venue floor.
Seven of the eight runs
The PFT has one 1,000 m run, first, on fresh legs. The race has eight runs of about 1 km, and seven of them start the moment a station ends. In what its authors called the first scientific study of HYROX, 11 recreational athletes took a median of 86.5 minutes over a simulated Open race, and 51.2 of those minutes were running.
One fresh kilometre cannot show how your running holds up after the sleds, the lunges and the hour before them. Two things in the test are not in the race at all, push-ups and unloaded stationary lunges. They are fair tests of fitness, just not stations.
How to run it fairly
A test is only worth repeating if you repeat it the same way. Decide these once, write them down and copy them next time.
- Warm up properly. Ten to fifteen minutes of easy running or rowing, building to a few faster strokes or strides, then a handful of reps of each movement. A review of 32 studies found a warm-up improved performance in 79% of the measures examined.
- Pick outdoor or treadmill, then keep it. HYROX allows either, with the treadmill at 2%. In a study of nine trained male runners, a 1% incline matched the energy cost of a flat road, and at the slower speeds tested a 2% incline cost more than the road. The treadmill is not the easy option, and the two are not the same test.
- Set the kit before the clock starts. Rower ready, wall ball at the right weight, target height marked, 90 cm taped, and room for 50 burpee broad jumps or a plan for where you turn.
- Test fresh. Not the day after heavy legs or a long run, and not straight after a class.
- Get a counter. A partner counting reps and calling no-reps keeps 100 wall balls honest. Have them note the clock at each change, so you keep six splits as well as the total.
What to do with your result
- Choose your division from the band and the overlaps, then check the Pro loads if your time points there.
- Test what the PFT leaves out. Push and pull a sled at race weight, carry the kettlebells 200 m and do 100 m of sandbag lunges, straight off a run if you can. The first race guide makes the case for doing every station once at race weight.
- Compare splits with your last test, not with each other. The parts are different sizes, so a long wall-ball split is normal. A part that got slower, or stood still while the rest improved, is worth a look. The biggest gaps, though, are the stations the PFT does not contain.
- Let your race replace it. After your first race, your splits show far more than any test: see where your time goes.
- Retest when a stretch of training ends, in the same conditions, and not during your taper.
Do not double it or scale it to forecast a finish. HYROX offers the bands as a guide to your division, and the test leaves out most of what fills a race.
Recording it in Smash Coach
Your PFT is a hard session, and it belongs in your training history like any other.
Log it as a past session. Tap the plus button at the top of Home or Agenda and choose Log past session. Pick the activity and the day, set the duration slider and the one to ten effort, then write your time and splits under ANYTHING FOR YOUR COACH and tap Log session. It goes into your history and leaves the week ahead as it is.
With Pro or during your trial, tell your coach your result in chat: tap the gold circle at the bottom right of Home, Agenda, You or any workout screen. It already knows your week, and any change it suggests to your plan comes as a card you confirm or dismiss.