Athletes at the February 24 HYROX competition in Fort Lauderdale, FL, may have noticed some shiny new equipment lining the event space. This was thanks to a new collaboration between the popular fitness race series HYROX and Centr, a health and wellness company founded by Chris Hemsworth.
Centr is now the official equipment provider for HYROX, with custom equipment ranging from battle ropes and power sleds to bumper weight plates and more. The Morning Chalk Up caught up with Andrew Sugerman, CEO of Centr, and Christian Toetzke, founder and CEO of HYROX, to discuss the origin of their partnership and plans for the future.
[Related: The Ultimate Guide to HYROX: What It Is, How It’s Different, and More]
Remind me: HYROX is a fitness race format that originated in Germany. It has recently gained popularity in the U.S., especially in the CrossFit space, where notable athletes have participated individually and on teams. The race consists of the same format across all events, which includes machine work, running, and cross-training movements, such as wall balls, farmers carry, burpee broad jumps, and sled pulls.
The equipment Centr has launched will supply all HYROX events going forward. The idea came about after Centr CEO Sugerman attended his first HYROX race last year.
- “The minute I walked in, I was like, ‘What is happening here? Where am I? What am I feeling?’ Because there was this energy and this sort of vibration, a buzz in the air that was just this very supportive community of 2,000 people who were engaged in functional fitness and training,” Sugerman tells the Morning Chalk Up.
- “And so I felt like okay, I haven’t heard of this before, but this is incredibly powerful what I’m seeing. I saw all the events and I could imagine ways that we could help elevate pieces of the competition through the equipment.”
- He adds: “It was a very collaborative, creative endeavor that got us to the finish line. I think from the start to launch [which was February 24], I think the whole thing happened in nine months. So it’s pretty fast.”
[Related: The Best HIIT Workouts for Any Fitness Goal]
For Toetzke, he wanted uniformity across the country for each of his events and was looking for a “global solution” when Centr came into the picture. HYROX races are held in more than 11 countries and over 30 cities around the globe.
- “You actually need to use the same equipment wherever you have an event in the world, which is a pretty big play,” Toetzke tells the Morning Chalk Up.
- “We were indeed looking for someone who wants to become a global partner, and we were talking to a couple [of] other brands, but I think we immediately felt like the positioning of [Centr], the vision, was super aligned […] It’s also an investment on the Centr side, but it was a very quick fit and we all felt this is the right partnership.”
The equipment launch continues across the U.S., and the full line will be introduced in Europe in April and then into other regions. According to Toetzke and Sugerman, more than 2,000 athletes competed with the new equipment at the Fort Lauderdale event.
“I think the idea is that there will be around seven sets of equipment that will be in different continents and regions of the world. And then from there, going into 2025, we’ll just be looking to ramp up in line with HYROX,” Sugerman says.
Centr’s equipment for HYROX is also being sold to the public. It was created for multiple environments, such as home gyms, studios, or affiliate gyms, so athletes can train on the equipment they will use on race day.
Details: The HYROX race consists of eight stations with a 1-kilometer run between each. The flow of the race is as follows:
- 1-kilometer run
- 1000-meter SkiErg
- 1-kilometer run
- 50-meter sled push
- 1-kilometer run
- 50-meter sled pull
- 1-kilometer run
- 80-meter burpee broad jump
- 1-kilometer run
- 1000 meter row
- 1-kilometer run
- 200-meter farmers carry
- 1-kilometer run
- 100-meter sandbag lunges
- 1-kilometer run
- 75/100 wall balls
Distances and reps change depending on whether you’re doing the event as an individual, as a pair, or as a relay team. But don’t expect the format to change for quite some time, according to Toetzke.
“I don’t think you’ll make things more exciting by changing stuff because it’s only exciting for a little while and then it becomes a new standard,” he says. “So I don’t think that’s the point here. It’s a pretty well-rounded fitness test that takes almost all the natural movements into account and I think that’s not to be played with.”
Featured image: Centr
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