A new sports craze is taking hold in China.
It’s called Hyrox. There’s no Chinese translation for it — it’s just known by its English name.
Hyrox is a “hybrid fitness race” (混合健身竞速赛) founded in Germany in 2017 by Christian Toetzke. It has exploded across China’s first-tier cities over the past year.
Participants alternate eight one-kilometre runs with eight gym-based challenges: ski erg (滑雪机), sled push (推雪橇), sled pull (拉雪橇), burpee broad jumps (波比跳远), rowing (划船机), farmers carry (农夫行走), sandbag lunges (负重箭步蹲), and wall balls (药球投掷).
The physical challenge is intense. And that’s part of the appeal, with some clever wordplay thrown in with the character “疼 téng” which can mean “to miss or think about someone” and “physical pain”:
“If no one aches for you, go do Hyrox. Afterwards, every part of you will ache.”
没人疼你就去练Hyrox，练完没有哪儿不疼 [1]
But others say the real reason for its sudden popularity is the format.
Marathons are too long and monotonous, while CrossFit — another earlier fitness craze — involves practising weightlifting and gymnastics, and has a cut-off time which contestants must finish within.
The concept of Hyrox is also a good cultural fit for China, as one commenter notes:
“Hyrox has exploded in China because its format speaks directly to the ‘exam-expert’ mentality.”
Hyrox在国内这样受欢迎，是因为赛制精准击中了「做题家」们的心。
Like a standardised test, the rules are fixed, the challenges are known in advance, and everyone gets a ranked and comparable result at the end. So beating your personal best has become one of the things drawing people in.
“PB” is another English term borrowed straight into Chinese. “To beat your personal best” is “刷新PB” in Chinese.
Related
Hyrox described as the “Olympics for the middle classes” (中产奥运) in China. When it first started there, the lowest priced tickets were around 600 yuan. So the majority of participants were in the 30-to-39 age bracket, mostly urban professionals, who are also among the most active people on social media.
For them, every Hyrox event has two arenas: the physical venue, and the social media feed.
Even some celebrities have joined the craze, adding to the social media buzz, including Wang Shi (王石). He is the 75-year-old entrepreneur and founder of Vanke (万科), one of China’s major real estate developers, and a recent winner:
“Wang and his partner topped their age group in just 1 hour and 38 minutes, securing a direct ticket to this season’s World Championships.”
经历1小时38分钟，王石和搭档登顶所在年龄组冠军，直接拿下这个赛季世锦赛的入场券。[1]
The growth of Hyrox in China has been remarkable. From 1,600 participants at the inaugural Beijing event in 2024 to nearly 7,000 in Shanghai in 2025. And most recently, nearly 10,000 people registered for a Shanghai Hyrox event in May.
All of this has made Hyrox a magnet for sponsors. German founded sportwear brand, PUMA — which is now owned by China’s Anta Group — has been a global partner since 2017, and has extended its sponsorship through to 2030. Chinese sponsors include smartwatch maker Amazfit (华米), and ride-hailing platform Didi.
Partner gyms have become another source of revenue. By May this year over 500 gyms in China had partnered with Hyrox, up from barely a dozen a year earlier, each paying an annual licensing fee of 10,850 yuan (about 1,500 US dollars).
For participants, the costs add up too: from preparation to recovery, competitors reckon it costs them between 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per month. And many are happy to pay, because the appeal goes beyond the sport itself.
The real appeal is the status symbol joining a Hyrox race brings:
“Snapshots from training and race day have naturally become a new form of social currency.
China’s middle class has largely moved on from flexing luxury logos and fancy meals — now they show off the winding GPS run trackers on their fitness apps and their finishing moments at Hyrox.”
一张张备赛、参赛的照片，也能水到渠成地成为社交货币。如今，中产们早就放弃为奢侈品Logo和一顿漂亮饭拍照，转而开始展示运动App里蜿蜒的跑步轨迹和Hyrox的完赛瞬间。
And that’s what we’re discussing this week!
Favourite Five
1. 卷王 juǎn wáng
overachiever, ultra-competitive person
王海莉在杭州做健身教练已经有七八年时间，她的学员里就有不少「卷王」 - Wang Haili has been working as a fitness coach in Hangzhou for over seven years, and quite a few of her students are overachievers. [1]
Related:
卷自己 juǎn zì jǐ – push oneself excessively
卷PB juǎn PB – obsessed over beating one’s personal best
卷胜利 juǎn shèng lì – compete intensely for victory
卷训练 juǎn xùn liàn – overdo training
卷成绩 juǎn chéng jì – compete excessively for results or grades
2. 自虐 zì nüè
self-torture, self-inflicted grind
HYROX之所以能吸引这么多人“自虐”，还因为它是一场“开卷考试” - The reason Hyrox can convince so many people to embrace the grind is that the race follows a predictable syllabus. [2]
Related:
受虐 shòu nüè – be abused, enjoy suffering
3. 龇牙咧嘴 zī yá liě zuǐ
grimacing, baring one’s teeth in pain or strain
龇牙咧嘴一顿忙活，抬头一看还有那么多项目要比 - While grimacing and grinding through the pain, you steal a glance at the scoreboard only to realise that there are still so many stations to go through. [2]
4. 没苦硬吃 méi kǔ yìng chī
make oneself suffer unnecessarily
真想给没苦硬吃的自己来一巴掌 - I really feel like slapping myself for making myself suffer for no reason. [2]
5. 社交货币 shè jiāo huò bì
social currency
一张张备赛、参赛的照片，也能水到渠成地成为社交货币 - Snapshots from training and competitions have naturally become a new form of social currency. [1]
Related:
社交名片 shè jiāo míng piàn – social calling card, social flex
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Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 劲头 jìn tóu
enthusiasm, drive
王晓芸和朋友拿出追演唱会的劲头，每天定时去蹲回流票 - Wang Xiaoyun and her friends spent every day hunting for last-minute resale drops, treating the race registration like a sold-out stadium tour. [1]
Related:
狠劲 hěn jìn – fierce determination, intensity
7. 出片 chū piān
photogenic, produce good photos
观赛区立刻成了追星现场，最出片的位置永远挤满粉丝 - The spectator area instantly turned into a fan site, and the most photogenic spots were always packed. [1]
8. 冲刺 chōng cì
sprint, dash toward a goal
数以万计的参与者拿出最充沛的热情，将自己所有的力气投入其中，不断向着每一环节的目标冲刺 - Tens of thousands of participants poured every ounce of their passion and physical reserve into the race, as they charge through each station of the challenge. [1]
9. 劫难 jié nàn
ordeal, calamity
真正的「劫难」是推雪橇环节 - The real ordeal was the sled push. [1]
Related:
渡劫 dù jié – go through a trial or tribulation
10. 弃赛 qì sài
withdraw from a competition, quit the race
我弃赛了队友们怎么办 - If I quit the race, what will happen to my teammates? [1]
Related:
备赛 bèi sài – prepare for a competition
11. 斗志 dòu zhì
fighting spirit, determination
这直接激起了她的斗志，「我应该做得更好」 - Her competitive instincts kicked in immediately: “I can do better than this.” [1]
12. 较劲 jiào jìn
compete stubbornly, push oneself against something
Hyrox这项运动可以和输赢无关，只是一场「和自己较劲」的体验 - In Hyrox, winning or losing doesn’t really matter, since it’s a race against oneself. [1]
