Between Sets with Vic and Matt
Welcome to Between Sets with Vic and Matt, the podcast that lives in the space between sweat and self-discovery. Each episode, Vic and Matt hit the gym, press record, and dive into the conversations that matter most: fitness, health, mindset, and building a life that feels as good as it looks. Expect banter, insight, and a dose of realness as they chase what everyone’s after, a strong, balanced, and fulfilling life.
Between Sets with Vic and Matt
Is HYROX the New Marathon? Why Everyone Suddenly Has a HYROX Bib Now
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Five years ago nobody had heard of HYROX. Now it's sold out in every major city and your feed is full of orange bibs. So what actually happened?
In this episode of Between Sets, Vic and Matt break down the race that's taken over fitness culture — and they're being honest about what deserves the hype and what doesn't. Is HYROX genuinely the new marathon, or is it the CrossFit of 2025 — massive for a moment, then gone?
From a trainer's perspective and a regular gym-goer's perspective, this is the conversation the fitness world is actually having right now.
In this episode: ✅ What HYROX actually is — broken down simply for everyone ✅ How it exploded from one city in Germany to a global phenomenon ✅ Is it actually comparable to running a marathon — or is that just marketing? ✅ Who's really doing HYROX and why ✅ Is it good or bad for fitness culture overall? ✅ The CrossFit comparison — same trajectory or different outcome? ✅ Would Vic and Matt actually do one? (Honest answer inside) ✅ Hot takes — including whether wall balls should be illegal
💬 Have you done HYROX or are you training for one? Drop your time and experience in the comments. 👇
🎧 New episodes every week — subscribe so you never miss one.
ABOUT BETWEEN SETS: Between Sets with Vic and Matt is the fitness and lifestyle podcast that goes beyond the gym. Unfiltered conversations about fitness, mindset, money, self-improvement, and real life — recorded between sets, no filter, no fluff.
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Oh, the old the old couch sesh. We're in between sets. When was the last time we like did a a workout? It's been the quick pumps and then we've done like the box talk and then we did the couch sessions. I ran fuck I ran 7k today. I'm not saying when did you work out? I'm saying when did when was the last time we filmed an episode at Torque? It's been a minute.
SPEAKER_01It's been a minute.
SPEAKER_00I can't remember, but uh these ones are just more chill. It is. I think we're we're morphing morphing into like a normal heated regular podcast. Exactly. Nah, we'll still get the workouts in. I think that's like fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but I think we're gonna switch to this being the norm.
SPEAKER_00And then like doing those like once a month or something. Yeah. Well it's hard to do because like even with uh good mics and stuff, like the it's still really hard to not get sound. Yeah, and also hard for us to actually get a good workout in because we're trying not to like push ourselves with anyways. No grunting. Yeah, welcome to episode thousand and one. Yeah, it's actually it's actually 22. 22. I know these things. I'm still on episode three. Jokes. All right, so today we're gonna talk about uh Hyrocks. Yeah, fitness trends, but specifically uh Hyrocks. Maybe we'll touch on one or two more. Um, but I'm sure if you're in the fitness space, you've seen this all over your Instagram, or maybe you have that one uh annoying friend whose whole feed has become high rocks. There's always one. Yeah, there's a few. Um but yeah, we're just like so much high rocks that it kind of turns you off of doing high rocks. Yeah, yeah. And like we we well, I mean we both done it, so we'll talk about our experiences with with it as well. Let me say the hook. Yes, let me say the hook. Hook it up. So our first question or overarching topic is Is Hyrocks the new marathon? Yeah, and we're gonna go over the room. Or like the new big fitness thing, yeah, whether that's CrossFit or whatever. So, like five years ago, I'm gonna say this in my movie voice.
SPEAKER_01This summer. Five years ago, nobody had heard of Hyrox. Now it's sold out in every major city, and your Instagram feed is full of people in orange bibs. So what actually happened? There you go. This summer.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna stop talking now. Tom Tom Cruise stars in Hyrox Impossible 3. Uh but yeah, jokes aside, yeah, it kind of has um kind of come out of nowhere because I didn't even, I honestly didn't know about Hyrocks until two years ago. Yeah, it's a very recent thing. Yeah, but apparently I think it started, I think it's been like about five years since they started. Um but it picked up steam real quick. Yeah, I think uh it's a combination of it's pretty accessible, like anyone can really do it. It's marketable. As long as you're like somewhat fit and able to run eight kilometers. Yeah. Like, but even if you don't run it, there's people that like walk it. Like three hours to do it. They they they have it set up in such a smart way that like even if you aren't fucking gassing it, you could still finish within the level. Yeah, I think you have four hours. Is it four? It's four hours. I thought it was three. Maybe it's maybe it's three, but I'm pretty sure it's four. Bro, four is a lot. That's what I'm saying. Like, pretty much anyone at almost any unless you're like in a crippling injury or morbidly obese or you've never moved your body ever, yeah, you can do it. I think for the especially if with like doubles, if you have two people, you four hours is more than enough. But it's also interesting, too, like from a like a business perspective, the guy that came up with it, good for him, like low-key genius. I remember I was listening to a podcast where they were talking to him, and dude, like he like has such a good system going because he just takes all the equipment or the company and they just travel from place to place, and like all that equipment costs them maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars. But every race has 10, 20,000 people. Wait, they only have one set of equipment, unless they change recently, but yeah, they just it's one it's one big thing that they move and set up every week. Oh, yeah, they just do the race, they pack it up, they travel to the next location, unpack it 52 weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01It's like a fucking circus.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like a literally a traveling circus. It feels like you're in a fucking circus when you're doing it. Oh, yeah. But like see some crazy shit. Bro, like he, this guy, whatever I forgot his name, he spent this money, let's say maybe half a million dollars, to get this business up and running and have all the equipment and pay for the staff. And the crazy thing with the staffing, too, a lot of it is a volunteer base, so they don't get paid, they just get a free entry to the next race. So he's not even spending that much money on labor. Oh, and then let's say like Toronto Toronto had 13,000 people last year at an average of like $200 per person. Quick maths. Anyway, so it's a lot of money. I'm not doing that. 200 times 13,000 worth of dollars, but then you do that 50 weeks a year. That's like I think he was I think last year he said they made like 160 million and his overhead was like a mil. Like that's pretty what? That's like pretty crazy. I'm sure it's I'm sure it's expanded and it's gotta be marketing costs, yeah. Now it because it's so popular, but the thing is we were just like we were just saying with like it's all over social media, you people are marketing. They're marketing it themselves, right? Yeah, god damn it. Why couldn't it have been us? But anyway, how'd they come up with the name Hyrox?
SPEAKER_01Finding the a good name is like the hardest thing to do for a brand because all the fucking good names are taken for brands, right?
SPEAKER_00Well, let's talk about how do you come up with higher crazy Claude Chatters?
SPEAKER_01Claude didn't exist when freaking Hyrux came out.
SPEAKER_00So, well, let's uh just really quickly talk about what HIROX is. I'll kind of go over the the points of like what it is exactly. But for those you don't know, if you've been living under a rock, I'll tell you what in the fitness industry.
SPEAKER_01You go to this venue, it's a big rectangular venue for the most part. Mandatory to not wear a shirt if you're a male. Yep. And that's pretty much it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's high rocks. Anyways, so basically, what it is is it's eight stations. It's a hybrid race where you're running, but it's eight kilometers split into one kilometer intervals. Between each run, there's a functional fitness station. It's always in the same order, the targets are always the same. The weight does change between men and women, as well as like pro and regular, exactly. But the reps are the same. And it's you got your ski ergs, your sled push, your sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges, and wall balls, all with that kilometer in between.
SPEAKER_01So, really, it's just like a hybrid stronger sibling.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like CrossFit Light. That's what I'm saying. It's more accessible. CrossFit is not accessible to everybody. Exactly. It's always indoors, always in a big venue, always the same format globally, which I think also is also why it's so successful. It's kind of just like you can plug it and put it in anywhere.
SPEAKER_01It's like F45, kind of like in terms of you have the structure and it's within that kind of realm and it doesn't change, right? Yeah. Like F-45, you have you have the four three TVs, that's what allowed it to kind of explode and so easy to expand. It's a similar type of thing, kind of like a plug and play, yeah, which is a really smart business idea because the easier it is to implement set it up, implement, and get it going, and then just like once the wheel and the ball starts going, then it just gets faster and faster and faster.
SPEAKER_00Do we say do you you know what high rock stands for, right? We talked about this before. Hybrid athletes rock. Close enough. Hybrid rock star. I know. I was pretty right. You were close. Did you actually not know? No. This is your first time hearing it. Oh, I want to stop this episode, dude. I swear to god, I remember when I was getting ready for when I was signed up for the second one, and someone told me that it said for hybrid rock star. I was like, I think I actually might just drop out. I wouldn't I don't think I'm ever gonna do one again. What do you do? Uh well I'm a hybrid rock star, actually. There's people that do it, people that do it that like really it will embrace well it becomes their like personality in a way, yeah. Right. And we've seen it for some. Oh, yeah, we know I know tons of people. Um okay, so we kind of talked about what it is. Um let's go over some fun things before we keep going on. Sure. So we've both done a higher I've at least one high rocks race.
SPEAKER_01I've done one, Matt's done two, um with varying levels of success time-wise.
SPEAKER_00That's that's your way of saying I did it faster. I'm not gonna, you're more you're more fit, so I'm not gonna deny it.
SPEAKER_01Uh I want to just go over the eight stations um and kind of like shit talk or like talk about the ones that we don't did not like, the ones that we had no problems with our experience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Kind of going over which ones. Well, we you you go first. How was your first? So in terms of the eight stations, the ones that stick out are and it's it's it's done like on purpose. It's halfway through the race. Right after the fourth kilometer, you have to go and start doing, I think it's a hundred meters or 120 meters of burpee broad jumps. Uh 80. 80. 80 meters. It feels like which doesn't it doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a lot, dude. Remember, because they like loop it. Yeah. Yeah, it's hard. The burpee broad jumps is hard. You get halfway down, you're like, fuck, I gotta go come back. They're also very strict. I I was pretty good with it. I I never I got called maybe once, but they're very strict with the rules too, like with the burpees. When you jump, like you can't have your hands too far forward. Yeah, you can't like you have to like bring your hands in before you start your next burpee. Like you can't just like hop, I guess. Anyway, but they keep they keep changing the rules. Like, so now apparently you can have your hands slightly in front of you, but only like an arm's length away. I don't know, it's weird. But uh, yeah, burpee broad jumps. That's uh that's probably one of the worst stations for me. What's your favorite station?
SPEAKER_01Uh the rowing farmers carry easy.
SPEAKER_00Oh, farmers carry easy, yeah. That's like it takes me like a minute, minute and a half. That's the best one. Farmer's carry, just speed through that bitch. Yeah, that's the best one.
SPEAKER_01But like your legs are kind of wobbly at that point. Yeah. You're like, oh, this is tough. And I find like when you're holding the kettlebells and you don't stay tight and you let your shoulders droop a bit, yeah, you kind of struggle to breathe.
SPEAKER_00You have to like use your whole back pretty much to hold it. Um, okay, so you say rowing. What's your worst station? Burpee broad jumps. Burpee broad jumps, okay. Lunges were kind of bad too. Yeah, I cramped both races in the lunges. Yeah. Um, yeah, lunges are pretty bad. Wall balls is the fucking worst. I absolutely hate those, dude. Every time I've done it, that station is the longest. Like the last race I did, I got to the wall balls at like 1.30, and I was so excited because my first time was like two hours. So I'm like, oh my god, I'm like 30 minutes ahead of my time. Took me 13 minutes to do the wall balls. What? 13 minutes, bro. What? Yeah, I know. It was bad. It was bad. Dude. It was bad. 13 minutes. That's slower than your first time doing it. I think the first time was 11 minutes.
SPEAKER_03What the fuck happened?
SPEAKER_00Well, but the first time You're like, I'm good. I think the first time I also wasn't as tired when I got there because my runs were a lot slower. You know what I mean? This time I ran faster. I got to the wall ball station faster, but I was so cooked that when I was doing the wall balls, I was doing like one to five at a time. At some point, I was literally just doing one. I let the ball drop and like literally chill for like thirty. And then you know they had the person next to me.
SPEAKER_01And they were actually more strict counting the rest.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think that's the thing. The first time they didn't give a shit, I got away with it because they had someone with the little clicker. Yeah. This time they had the screen. They had the sensors. Oh the first time the lady beside me was like clicking, clicking, and I'm I hit the wrong target, at least 32. Easily hit the female target, which is lower. I was like, he keeps hitting the female like, the girl be like 55. I'm like, really? I think I'm like key. And then I do like another 10, nine of which were at the wrong target, but like 65. I'm like, all right, sure. We're almost there. But this one, because they have the sensors, when you hit the wrong target, just as there's like a big X on the screen, so you don't get it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's so demoralizing.
SPEAKER_00So I ended up doing 138 because I hit the sensor 38 times. That's also why it took me 13 minutes, bro. I was so that's crazy. There's also a clip of me, like that I have uh one of my reels, where I threw it and it went on too high. It went above the target, rolled on the rim, the ball rolled back. I tried to catch it, missed, it hit me on the head, and and went and went behind, dude. It was so embarrassing. Like, bonked me on the head, it went behind me. I couldn't even find the ball. Yeah. Butterfingers. Yeah, bro. I've the wall, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you finished Hyrux with a concussion. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I've been significantly stupider since um, yeah, wall ball is definitely for me is the worst one. But also running. I I'm not, I'm not uh I don't like running. I know you you're not you're you're a pretty decent runner. I just uh could be better. It could always be better, but yeah. But uh I also just like I was talking to one of our members at F45 who's doing the race, and she was in class yesterday. I'm like, Are you excited? And she's like, no, like not at all. I'm like, why? She's like, I haven't. The last time I ran was 12 years ago. And I'm like, buddy, you gotta start like running now. She's doing October October, October.
SPEAKER_01Okay, better. Yeah, no, literally need to start.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, you need to start running now. And she's like, the other day I ran two kilometers, and I've never hated anything more in my life. We've got another six to go, bro. That's not including the stations in between. Yeah, for me, the running is definitely the sled pushes and pulls were I feel like they were a little harder than I anticipated them to be because maybe it has to do with the pacing and whatnot of your run. They were hard. Yeah, you come in, they were hard. Um I think it's also different than like when we train in the studio, the turf is like way smoother. I think the sled In the studio? In our studio, like F45. And I think also the sled itself is just like easier because I've like at the studio, I've done like shit's easy, seven or eight plates, which is a hundred pounds more than it would be at high rocks. And when I do high rocks, it's way harder. Like significantly harder. It's those uh what is it called? Center center fit. Center, is that what it is? Yeah, center fits his app. Yeah, center s I think.
SPEAKER_01That's how you make a good brand name these days. You take out the vowels.
SPEAKER_00All right, let's do let's do a couple comparisons to other things. So, like, would you how would you compare it? Is it like like similar to running a marathon, would you say? Like, hell no. No, it's different, right? Not even close, bro. First of all, it's not even half the fucking amount of distance.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and but a marathon is like I'd say it's still like maybe three times harder than high rock's a full marathon, yeah. Maybe maybe five times harder. Yeah, it's just a random like means of saying how much more difficult it is, but it is significantly more difficult than doing a higher rock.
SPEAKER_00I think um that's also why high rocks appeals to more people, because it's like if I say, hey, I'm gonna run a marathon, like you have to be in pretty good shape to do that. And the training takes a long time. Whereas high rocks, it's like, okay, I'm gonna do a high rox in two, three months. You can probably get ready for that in a month or two.
SPEAKER_01Put it this way: you we did our first high rocks with minimal training. Almost not.
SPEAKER_00You can go and do a high rocks without prepping for. I can't go do a marathon right now. No, there's no fucking way. You I I don't know, the ego in my yeah, you're like, yeah, I could I could just wake up tomorrow. Didn't you say the other day you you told me something where you're like, I could probably just like run a half marathon like tomorrow if I'm gonna do that? I can do that. That I know I can do. A half marathon? Yeah, 21k. Bro, I ran almost 10 today, no problem. It's just another another 10. It's another day at the office.
SPEAKER_01I can do a I did uh the Spartan race in the most dire conditions ever. Martin and I, with no prep. I did have like half lung capacity for like three days, but I did it.
SPEAKER_00You couldn't breathe. Um I'm positive I can do a half marathon right now, so no problem. Some notes that we have here where the comparison holds and where it doesn't. So I think where the comparison holds is like I'll do the holds, you can do the other one. Mass participation event open to regular people, not just elites. I think that's true because you anyone can do a marathon, like you don't have to be a marathon runner, but you need you do need more training. 100%. Um, you have to train specifically for it. I agree with that. Like this specific training for running and then for high rocks changes how you program. Conditioning. There is a finish line moment to both and that associated like finish time, which kind of gets you into that habit of I want to do it again because I'm gonna beat my time, which I think is the similar to marathons, right? Like people run marathons.
SPEAKER_01Even even CrossFit, yeah, CrossFit as well.
SPEAKER_00And then it becomes an identity. Like that's also true. Like, oh, I'm a high rocks, I'm a hybrid athlete. In that sense, 100%. And then the same way people say, like, I'm a runner. Like, I'm just for you hundred high roxers versus hundred marathoners. And you know that simulation that like puts them together and they fight? Oh, survive. That's a good question. I I probably would lean towards that. If they're like physically fighting, probably the high roxers, do you think? I think so too. Yeah, because there's a strength aspect to it. A lot of marathoners are just like they're like built like a canyon, right?
SPEAKER_01They're like freaking, they're like made for running and they're just like aerodynamic as fuck, and they don't probably don't have as much muscle mass or strength.
SPEAKER_00This is just speaking in generality. Yeah, if they were put into like a gladiatorial arena, who would okay? How about this? This is totally off topic, but we're having fun here. 100 hockey players versus 100 soccer players. Oh, the hockey players, bro. I think so. Hockey players against the scrap. Soccer players don't. Have you seen a soccer player? You do this, and they're like, oh god. He he touched me six feet away from me.
SPEAKER_01You know, I got into the biggest argument with a few friends. They were they were arguing that the soccer players would win. They're like, man, they're the most fit athletes on the planet. They'll absolutely destroy hockey players. And I'm like, Alexander Oveschi is like 265 pounds.
SPEAKER_00Bro, no way. Hockey players, bod. Those guys, body, body, body, you just gotta rip it. You just gotta rip it right into the corners. Right where grandma keeps the cookies, eh? That's a Canadian accent for those of you who don't know. Uh, do the we do the comparisons, do the ones where they don't hold, it's just under that. Like what's the kind of the difference between the two? Where it falls apart. Yeah. Uh High Rocks is more compatible with like an existing gym training regimen, and you don't need months of dedicated running. Yeah, you still need to train, but like not to the extent you would forget.
SPEAKER_01To do a marathon at a like proper time and to teach your body to run 42 kilometers, you need a shit ton of endurance and uh like understanding how to run like zone training.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like interval training. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Like versus high rocks, you can kind of like it's more of a sprint. Just go a little bit. Just run like a 5k three days a week, four days a week, and you'll be ready. Oh, yeah. Easily versus like a marathon runner who's gotta do like yeah, like long runs, short runs, you need intervals, rolls. Yeah, you need fuck you need the I'd say that the culture of high rocks comparative to marathon culture, it's a lot louder, a lot more noise. People are very like social media posts, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's definitely more of like, I don't want to say like a cult-like vibe, but sure there is, yeah. It's very marathon people just like share their shit on Strava and go about their day. They're not always like they they love that stuff, they're not always going like uh training for high rocks, story, story, story, story. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Posting pictures of their fits and shit.
SPEAKER_00Anyways. Uh okay, moving on. Well, I think that's why it's so successful, too. There's that social media attachment to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's interesting how we're comparing it to the marathon. I think we should maybe kind of pivot and talk more about CrossFit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it does like marathon, CrossFit, like or any kind of like competitive group. Or someone that kind of identifies with a group. Yeah. Yeah. Because like running 42K, it's uh it's a huge kind of suffering. Didn't that guy just beat the world record for the 42 for the marathon in like under two hours? Yeah, he did like an hour 50 something. That's insane. He must have been running like a 330 or something. Less, bro, two something. No. A kilometer and two something? Like 250. That's dude, he's a Kenyan. Yeah, that's true. He's built for that shit. They built for running.
SPEAKER_01He's got like long legs, thin, like small body. He's light. You have to be light to run light. You have to, yeah. Yeah. Uh okay. So yeah, Hyrux is just like. It's like the the average gym goer could do it, you know? Yeah. Um, which is a very smart smart idea. So who's actually doing high rocks?
SPEAKER_00We just said who. The average gym goers. Yeah, I think that's I think it's a bunch of people. I think it's but you could do elite athletes, serious gym goers, curious people, and trend followers. So you get fucking everybody. Well, I was gonna say, I think a lot, a lot of people now it's not anymore like the athletes who are interested in it. They still are, I'm sure, but it's definitely more of a trend thing. Yeah, there's the tryhards, like tryhards will always be a part of it, and they're always gonna try and get better and become pro and they they approach it from a competitive standpoint, but I think 90% of people that do it, it's because everyone else is doing it. Like the new thing. There was one question in there that I saw, but it applies to both of us. But it was like, as trainers, have we had an influx of people wanting to do high rocks? 100%. Oh, big time. 100%. I had so many, even like training people. Like uh, if I do like a two or three-person session, they they want to like do a high rock style workout. Yeah, like that's what they want to do.
SPEAKER_01Yes, they're just a new thing for you to do to like push yourself and tr and show that you can do something moderately difficult. Um but what then again, like we just said that you can do high rocks, but you can also be ready for high rocks.
SPEAKER_00Like, there's a big difference between showing up and doing a high rocks versus like actually being fully ready for high rock. My first race and my second race. First race just showed up, second race I actually trained for. Yeah. And I only beat my time by 12 minutes. Well, you could have done by more if you didn't fuck up on the balls. Oh, those fucking wobbles, dude.
SPEAKER_01But like, yeah, I I kind of I kind of commend the guys that are and girls, I say guys general generally, um, that are like really dedicated to try and get the best time they can in it.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, I mean, some of the some of the pros do it in like less less like 49 minutes, 51 minutes. That shit's impressive. That is impressive. I'm not gonna lie. They deserve the recommendation, the accolades, the you know, the brand deals, all that shit, the followers, because that's like pretty elite level athleticism. Well, that you're just a really good athlete, yeah. At that point, I mean, no, you're I'd say you're on par with like the top CrossFit people. Yeah, yeah. Uh well, a lot of like uh CrossFit athletes that were doing like cross-up games have moved and started doing high rocks. I would be down to see Hyrocks as an Olympic event. I there uh apparently that was something that like the guy who again who's who created Hyrocks has been working on. Seeing the best of the best doing that is well, yeah. When I was getting ready for the first one, I watched the pro of that year, and I was like, this is insane, bro. It's nuts. The speed at which they do this shit is like they run the laps in like under four minutes. They're like sprinting, it's not like a light jog. They sprint, they get to the sleds, and it's like one, two, three, four, two minutes onto the next day. Bing, bang, boom. Like it's crazy how fast they are. It's insane. Yeah. Uh okay, moving on. So, yeah, I overall think like the top tier people in high rocks to be commended, of course. Yeah. Like it's it's I mean, listen, everybody who does it at least once, good for you. You did something hard and challenging, and probably outside of your comfort zone. Do you need to sign up for 15 and be like, this is my whole personality now? Probably not, but at the hey, listen, if that's like your vibe, your culture, and you really, really enjoy it, sure, like do your thing. But I think it's also important to like diversify.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's what we're all about, baby.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you gotta like. I like to do everything. Try to do everything. Is it good or bad for the fitness culture? I think in the current state, it's still more on the good side, but I can see it in the next little while shifting, not to bad, but like just kind of annoying, you know what I mean? Like, just that's all we're gonna see. Is just like non-stop. Yeah, like I think it's still got some legs, like it'll be around for I think it's gonna be like CrossFit, where CrossFit in like the early 2000s was everybody was doing it and was popular for like five to eight years, and then there's still CrossFit gems, but they're far and still do it, yeah. But it's far and few in between, and there's not like the CrossFit games aren't as big as they used to be. Like, people watch it, but it's not like you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_01You know what I think this new movement has done to the fitness, the whole idea of fitness is like before you would go to the gym to lift weights and train your muscles and not really focus on your cardiovascular health.
SPEAKER_00Whereas now there's kind of like a gap being bridged beyond just training for strength, aesthetics, um, and like now you're also kind of including the cardio aspect, so you're kind of driving a consistent form of hybrid training, which is absolutely only beneficial for you. Well, I was gonna say, I think like that. Which makes you a well-rounded athlete. Yeah, exactly. I think the for like the average person who's in decent shape and they're like, I they want to just become a good, well-rounded athlete, high ROX is great. Or even Hyrux style training, like that functional F-45. I love that shit. You know, those kind of like boot camp style like mix of cardio and strength, I think for the average person is fantastic.
SPEAKER_01And people that knock it and say you don't need to be doing that shit. I think that they're completely wrong. Like they say you just need to be training till failure, um, still still with the whole like old school mentality of lifting weights.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like a bodybuilding mentality.
SPEAKER_01No, bro. You need to train your heart, you need to get the in that zone four train, that zone four, zone three.
SPEAKER_00Yeah um stay in the well, there's a lot of uh VO2 Max. I was gonna say there's a a lot of uh research that says like you know, higher VO2 max means way longer lifespan. Like training in zones three to five or like four to five for like 10 to 20 minutes a week, like significantly improves your lifespan. Right? Like, so there's obviously some merit to that. But we've I think we've always known that that cardio, how important it is, but I think yeah, I think people for a long time just kind of got caught up into like yeah, just lifting and and kind of putting cardio in the back end and focusing on nutrition, which is also important, right? They all it all goes together. You need you need all you need nutrition, training, strength training, and cardio. So yeah, I don't know. Here's a couple skeptic remarks, kind of skeptical remarks.
SPEAKER_01Um so let's talk about the entry fees. You know how you make how this is supposed to be widely accessible, it's really only accessible to the people who have that you know disposable income that can be like, oh fuck it, I'm gonna do this.
SPEAKER_00It definitely adds up, dude. Like it's what a hundred bucks. It's like 160 bucks to register for one event if you're just doing one. Then if you want like the photo package, which you know is good to have if you're into that, which I am. Um, so that's another like hundred bucks on top of that. I didn't even really get my money's worth for the for the photos, bro. I got like three pictures. Three good ones, yeah. Hell um, are you serious? So there's yeah, there's the that, then there's that. Then there's the travel.
SPEAKER_01Like if you're yeah, if it's out of town.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which a lot of people do, right? Like they're like the almost like the high rocks tourism where they just go like city to city. Because there's only so many each year. And if there's one uh Canada, there's only there was only one. Now there's three, but like still, you know what I mean? Like Toronto, sure, it's great. I'll just drive up for the day, do the race, come home. We s we heard of people fucking fly to BC. Yeah, bro.
SPEAKER_01That's like a thousand bucks minimum for the ticket.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, like I had a one of my clients fly there. She did it, she did it in Vancouver with her husband, and it's like both of them, it's 600 bucks total for the race, then two nights accommodations, then flight. That's five grand. You're fucking you like it's like a vacation. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying. It's like, yeah, I think if you start to take it like that, where you jump around and do a bunch of races, it becomes very expensive. Like you're doing, I don't know, eight or nine races a year. Dude, what is that? Like 10 grand, maybe? Yeah, well, you are traveling. Probably more because you also travel, you're traveling, yeah. Food, lodging, let's call it lodging. I don't know why I think of like a Viking longhouse. Oh man.
SPEAKER_01And then yeah, that's the next skeptical part of it is like the influencer culture layer around it is is is exploding. Like, how long before it's more about the content you're creating before the actual competition, you know?
SPEAKER_00Like, it's I think it's almost like I think it's already kind of there, if not more so than the actual race itself. It's like the all the time leading up to the race is just like your opportunity if you're a content creator to just like put out so much content around high rocks, and then it's like great, you do your race, and then that whole day you're racing, but at the same time you're trying to get as much content as possible, and then you spend the time between that race and the next race talking about the previous race and posting all your shit from your previous race, you know. I hope that during the actual race they don't allow you to wear like like GoPros or like a 360 camera.
SPEAKER_01I feel I that will absolutely deteriorate the integrity of the city.
SPEAKER_00I don't think you can. I've if I remember correctly, it's in the rules that you can't have any additional gear on you, not even headbuds either. Can't have anything. You can't you can only shorts shorts, t-shirts are optional, shoes, shoes, and socks. Yeah, yeah. You can't have, I think the only time they've ever allowed it was for when they themselves are filming promotional content. They'll have like a camera person like following which makes sense, which makes sense, but like, yeah, from from all the stuff I've seen, you don't get all the people's like racing content is like from people who are watching them just like filming them, you know what I mean? Which is fine, yeah. You you deserve to have that type of I think once you step into the realm of like yeah, having like a camera crew like follow you around to every station or like nah, or have like you said, like a GoPro or something like that. I think then it becomes like it, you're not even it's not even about the race anymore. You're just like it's a joke, yeah. I don't know. Maybe to document your journey, I don't know. Nah, shouldn't be allowed. I like the fact that you're not allowed to have headphones.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think they should definitely there's a huge layer of like discipline that you need in order to put motivate yourself without when you have music in your ears, you you can fuck and move mountains, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's true. Yeah, yeah. It definitely makes a difference, 100%. Okay, let's compare it to CrossFit a little bit, and then yeah, okay, let's do that. So let's keep this idea of like, do we think high rocks is gonna peak like CrossFit did, or will it be able to sustain over time?
SPEAKER_01But first let's come let's do a little comparison. So CrossFit kind of built like a new gym model or a new way of fitness and high rack, high rock, high racks, high racks, high racks, on racks, on racks.
SPEAKER_00I got some high racks, bro. High rocks built an event model. Yes. Oh, is it my turn? Yeah, I would say events are arguably more durable, no? I think there's the I think Hyrux will definitely have a longer lifespan than CrossFit for sure. Um and also CrossFit, like yeah, I don't know. It's it's yeah, like you said, like Hyrux is just it's an event, you know it's gonna be the same movements no matter where you go. You can train for it anywhere. Whereas CrossFit is very specific, and they're the the movements in CrossFit again are not accessible to the average person. No, bro. Like cleans, kipping pull-ups, you're not fucking climbing up a rope. You'd like high rocks. I remember talking to somebody and they're like, oh, they should do like pull-ups in high rocks. I'm like, yeah, but that's gonna eliminate 99% of people. And if you have a station where it's like 50 pull-ups, yeah. How many pull-ups is the right amount of pull-ups and the exact question? You know what I mean? Like, well, I I said 50, but that's probably excessive. That would be the longest by far. I could bang out 50 pull-ups, no problem. Not in a row, but you know, light work. I'd probably break it up into like 15s. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. Um, but again, like, yeah, I I think with CrossFit it's it's significantly more challenging, and I think it requires a completely different level of athleticism. Yeah. Like almost like I would say I would consider it a higher level of athleticism, I think. The thing about CrossFit is like they tried to make it a new sport. Yeah. And I think that's where like it's not its downfall, like it's still a big thing. It's sponsored by Reebok and everything. They have like the televised events, but the CrossFit factor that they really tried to make it a sport instead of an event is like the differentiating factor. Yeah, I think I'm pretty sure it's to allow HyROCs to kind of flourish keep growing and going, kind of thing. Growing and going. I think uh I think that's why Hyrux is so successful. It's because the guy probably probably looked at CrossFit and it's like, all right, we can do something with this, but how do I make it so literally anybody can do it? And it's yeah, like every single movement in that race is doable for pretty much literally anybody to some capacity, right? Yeah. Whereas CrossFit is not. Like if you pull up to a CrossFit workout and you're like, okay, today we have a hundred burpees, then a hundred kipping pull-ups, then a hundred overhead snap like snatches, like they do Olympic lifts and crossing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, and you need to have good form, otherwise you're screwed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's like that's and it's extremely high level potential for injury. Whereas high rocks, I would say for the most part, it's pretty low injury. Yeah. Like you'd have to try really hard to get injured, but it can happen, don't get me wrong. Like you didn't warm up properly, or you know, you I don't know, tore a calf or like hurt ripped a shoulder while you're pushing sleds. It's definitely possible, but I think it's significantly less likely to happen. For sure. Whereas CrossFit, it's like, yeah, you know, like you clean 225 over your head and you don't do it properly, you're paralyzed for life, which happened to a guy, actually, that I know like years and years and years ago. Damn. That's nuts. So, you know, yeah, I think between the two of them, Hyrux definitely has a longer lifespan, it's more accessible, more marketable. It's just it does everything that I think CrossFit wanted to do, except they did it, HyROX did it the right way. I think timing was big too, right? Like CrossFit started like before the advent of social media when it was like big because CrossFit started in the early 2000s.
SPEAKER_01Whereas Hyrux HyRox like if you know you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, HyRox came around like perfect timing with everything. It was also high rocks started like right after the pandemic, too. I think that was big where people were just itching to like move their bodies after so long. So I think there's a lot of factors that caused it to be as popular as it is for sure. Let's finish off with some hot takes. Hot takes before we go do that. Would you are you would you do another one? What are your thoughts on high rocks? It's funny, I've got my eyes more set on like doing a marathon. Interesting. Yeah, it couldn't couldn't pay me to do that. No, never? Nah. I would do like a half, maybe. I don't think I could do a 42 kilometer run. That's running besides the wall balls is my least favorite part about high rocks. So the other stuff that I don't mind. Rowing, skiing, get all these like notches under my belt and say that I did them. Gotta catch them all. It's like being Goku, like you just gotta keep training. But like a fitness Goku. Well, he's actually pretty fucking fitness. He's the only fitness. Yeah, those do the hot takes. Okay, first one. Most people doing high rocks aren't actually ready for high rocks. I would say yes. I think a lot of people, like we were saying, they show up, they see it as like, oh, this is that isn't that bad, like one kilometer at a time. Like, and then you do your first one, and you're like, that was very much how I felt. Like when we remember when you and me did it, we're probably like, ah, we're fit. We could we don't have to worry about it too much. And then I did the race, and I'm like, oh fuck, this is actually like pretty rough.
SPEAKER_01It's like the way that I found the race was like I think it's two and a half hour-long F-45 workout.
SPEAKER_00It's like a Hollywood workout. It's like a really expensive, exaggerated group fitness class. It really is.
SPEAKER_01Uh the what the heck is it?
SPEAKER_00That thing they give you at the end, the that badge that you put on your patch that you put on your backpack. That's the new marathon medal. Oh, yeah, dude. I when I when everyone's that shit on their back. Dude, when I when I went to the last two that I did, I would see people signing up and they'd have it on their back. They have like 10. It'd be like London, Miami, Amsterdam. 21, 22. Yeah, exactly. Just like collecting them like stamps, yeah. I think that's part of it too, for sure. I've I know people who have it all over their bags. It's always that fucking military-style backpack. It is, it is like a like uh what are the rut sacks or whatever? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rucksacks, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't even know where my patches are, they're somewhere in my house. Mine's in my closet. It's gonna stay there. Yeah, never to come out again. High rocks will peak and crash within five years. I think that's actually kind of fair. I think yeah, it's already been around for what, like two, three years unpopular. Crash though? I don't think it's gonna crash. It I think I think we're in the peak right now. I think right now we're we're in the peak. Like I'm in the we're in the freaking pandemonium. Yeah, I think like it's impossible to not know someone who's done, is doing, or wants to do a high rox. True. I like every single day I hear of someone training for one or something. Or it's so funny, like when we're at the gym, I'm sure you see it all the time. Like, if I see somebody new at the gym and I just watch them for a few minutes, I'm like, that person's training for high rocks. You can tell by the movements, skiers, they're on the wall balls, they're doing the amount of times I've like walked up to someone, I'm like, Hyrox, and they're like, How'd you know? And I'm like, buddy. Am I stupid? Yeah, you're doing you're doing the stations that you would at Hyrux. Like, obviously, you're training for Hyrux. If you know the stations, you know they're prepping for it. Yeah, I think we're in the peak right now. I think it's got a little longer than five years, probably. I think it's probably gonna be a little longer until the new thing comes, until something comes along, yeah. But it's gonna be hard to get go above this. They they they really like I think the next one's gonna be called Low Rocks. Low rock star? High rocks, high rocks, low rocks, low cocks. I don't know if you can train for that event.
SPEAKER_01Um, it's the best thing to happen to gym culture in a decade.
SPEAKER_00Nah. I disagree with that. I disagree with that. Wall balls should be illegal. 100% agree, 100% agree, dude. We should sign up for one more one. Yeah, we should do a doubles. We haven't done the doubles. Bro, that shit's easy. It's like we're going to the fucking park. That's what I'm saying. We should do it. Do you remember when we did the high rock sim at F 45 last year? The doubles, we'd been like 45 minutes. I mean, we're only running half a kilometer, but like I was like, oh my god, this is so easy. Yeah, it is significantly not to knock on anyone who's doing doubles or singles. I recommend if you're doing it for the first time, find a partner and do it with a partner. Um get a feel for it, get a feel for it, learn the stations, and then you have someone to rely on. But uh, yeah, I would I would do it again. I'd be down to do it doubles. I don't think I would. I've done two solos. I just I don't want to do it anymore. Then you could do 99 wall balls and I'll do one. I'll just do them all. Yeah, that sounds good.
SPEAKER_01Okay, final question. If HyROX, if Hyrox disappeared tomorrow, would fitness culture actually lose something real, or would something else just fill the gap?
SPEAKER_00I think something else will come up, probably. Someone's gonna see the hole in the market and plug it up, and plug that hole right up.
SPEAKER_01A little bit of holes are meant for.
SPEAKER_00Put a little bit of sham wow on that bad boy. Shamwow.
SPEAKER_01Sham wow.
SPEAKER_00It's not sham wow, bro. Billy Mays here. Oh, the other guy, yeah. Billy Mays here that tape that plugged it up. That's that's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, Billy Mays here with another fantastic product. I wish I was able to try that tape. It looked crazy every time.
SPEAKER_01He'd put it on a frickin' tub that had a bunch of holes in it.
SPEAKER_00Have you seen that video? You just slap it on. Like, what? Yeah, he died from a cocaine overdose, by the way. That's nuts. Good for him. Good job, Billy Mays. Um, and on that note, we'll see you guys in the next one. That's our thoughts on high rocks. Yeah. Do it if you haven't or don't. It's up to you. All right, peace. That's so funny. Do it or not.