Coach Yusuf Kay

Hyrox After 40: The Race Should Be the Test of Your Training, Not a Substitute for It

The growing popularity of Hyrox is encouraging. It has motivated many adults in their 40s and beyond to train with purpose, improve their fitness and challenge themselves again.

Marathons can have the same effect. Signing up gives us a goal, a date on the calendar and a reason to become more consistent.

I speak from personal experience. Over the past 20 years, I have completed multiple marathons, Spartan races and Hyrox races. These experiences have taught me that challenging events can be incredibly rewarding, but they also demand respect, preparation and an honest understanding of our own limits.

We need to remember something important: registering for a race does not mean we are ready for it.

This article has highlighted the physical demands of Hyrox and marathons, particularly on the cardiovascular system. A marathon places prolonged stress on the body over several hours, while Hyrox repeatedly combines running with demanding strength stations such as sled pushes, burpee broad jumps and wall balls. Neither event is automatically more dangerous. The risk depends greatly on our health, fitness and preparation.

This is especially relevant for those of us above 40.

Turning 40 does not mean we should stop doing hard things. I strongly believe that we should continue setting ambitious goals as we grow older. But ambition must be matched by preparation.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is signing up for a race first and assuming they can somehow become ready later. The excitement of the event, encouragement from friends and impressive race-day videos can make Hyrox appear more accessible than it really is.

The individual movements may look familiar. Most people have run, performed lunges, pushed a sled or thrown a wall ball before. But doing these exercises separately in training is very different from performing them repeatedly while tired and with an already elevated heart rate.

The same applies to a marathon. Being able to complete a few short runs does not mean the body is prepared to cover 42.195 kilometres.

These events will push us towards our physical limits. That is part of their appeal—but it is also why we should respect them.

Preparation does not begin with an intense 12-week training programme. It begins with the months and years of regular exercise that come before it.

Before we worry about race pace, finishing times or how heavy the sled feels, we need to establish the habit of moving consistently. That means gradually building aerobic fitness, developing strength, improving movement quality and allowing the body enough time to recover.

For adults above 40, preparation also needs to account for previous injuries, current health conditions, work stress, sleep and the longer recovery that many of us begin to notice. We cannot simply copy the programme of a younger athlete or suddenly double our training because race day is getting closer.

A sensible Hyrox or marathon preparation plan should progressively build the specific fitness required for the event. It should include easier sessions as well as harder ones, strength work, aerobic training, recovery days and practice under conditions that gradually resemble the race.

Consistency matters more than a few heroic workouts.

Someone who exercises three or four times a week throughout the year will usually have a stronger foundation than someone who trains intensely for two weeks, disappears for another two and then tries to make up for lost time.

When I race, I also try not to become overly stressed about finishing faster or chasing a particular time. My focus is more on monitoring my intensity throughout the event and making sure I am managing my effort intelligently.

That means paying attention to how hard I am working, how my breathing feels, how quickly my heart rate is rising and whether I am still able to maintain control. In a Hyrox race, this is especially important because the running sections and workout stations continually affect one another. Starting too aggressively can leave us struggling later, even if the early stages feel comfortable.

The same principle applies to a marathon. A controlled opening pace and steady effort are often more valuable than an ambitious start that creates unnecessary fatigue. I would rather remain aware of my intensity, adjust when necessary and finish feeling that I managed the race well than sacrifice the entire event in pursuit of a faster time.

This approach does not mean avoiding hard work or refusing to compete. It means understanding that pacing is part of performance. The goal is to stay engaged with what the body is telling us and make sensible decisions throughout the race, rather than allowing the clock to dictate every action.

We also need to separate fitness from health. Being able to run quickly, lift heavy weights or record a high VO₂ max does not automatically rule out an underlying medical issue. Some cardiovascular conditions produce few or no obvious symptoms until the body is placed under significant stress.

This does not mean every person above 40 needs every available heart test before entering a race. It means we should be responsible about our individual risk. Anyone beginning a new endurance sport, significantly increasing training intensity or managing risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking history or a family history of premature heart disease should speak with a doctor about an appropriate assessment.

Symptoms such as chest pain, unusual breathlessness, dizziness, fainting, an irregular heartbeat or sudden extreme weakness should never be dismissed as a lack of fitness or something to “push through.”

There is no shame in slowing down, stopping or withdrawing from a race. The real goal is not simply to cross one finish line. It is to remain healthy and capable enough to keep training for many years afterwards.

Hyrox, marathons and Spartan races can be fantastic challenges for adults above 40. They can give us confidence, community and a renewed sense of what our bodies are still capable of achieving.

But the medal should represent months of consistent preparation—not one day of unnecessary risk.

Sign up for the challenge. Train progressively. Respect recovery. Monitor your intensity. Understand your health. Arrive prepared.

The race should be a celebration of the work you have already done, not the first time your body discovers what it is being asked to do.

Fit enough for Hyrox or a marathon? Why that doesn’t necessarily mean your heart is ready Experts explain why training performance and VO2 max don’t tell the whole story about your heart health – and when an ECG or other screening tools may be warranted.

If I had to pick one meal where people quietly miss their protein, it wouldn't even be close. It's breakfast.

Toast. Coffee. Maybe some fruit if it's a good morning. It feels light and sensible, which is exactly why nobody questions it — but out of the whole day, it's usually the meal contributing the least protein by far, often close to zero.

That matters more than it seems. Your body works best with a steady protein supply spread through the day, not just loaded into dinner. So when breakfast contributes almost nothing, you're already starting the day behind, and it's genuinely hard to make that gap up later.

The good part is that this is the easiest meal to fix, because it usually just needs one small addition, not a new routine. Kaya toast with two eggs instead of plain. Soy milk and a handful of nuts alongside what you already have. Greek yoghurt instead of fruit on its own. Even last night's leftover chicken or tofu, eaten cold or reheated — it still counts, and it still works. Another easy add on is smoked salmon, no prep needed!

None of these require a special "diet breakfast" or a trip to a health food store. They're small additions to a meal you're probably already eating most days.

If you only change one thing from this whole protein conversation, I'd start here. It's the lowest-effort fix with the biggest ripple effect through the rest of your day.

The pioneer generation never counted a gram of protein in their life. They didn't need to.

Their meals were built the way a lot of our grandparents' meals were — a proper piece of fish or chicken, always, not as a side thought but as the centre of the plate.

Vegetables alongside. Rice in a sensible portion, not the main event. Nothing fancy, nothing tracked. Just a habit passed down without anyone calling it a "protein strategy."

Somewhere between their generation and mine, that habit quietly eroded. Portions got smaller as "watching your weight" became the priority, and the protein was often the first thing to shrink, because it felt like the "heavier" part of the meal. Salads and fruit filled the gap instead, dressed up as the healthier choice.

I think about this a lot when I'm cooking for my own family now. I've made a point of putting that centre-of-the-plate protein back where it belongs — not because I'm chasing gains, but because I watched what happens when it quietly disappears from a plate for years. Fatigue that people write off as "just getting older." Strength that fades without anyone noticing until it's gone.

The pioneer generation weren't following research. They were following instinct, and habits built in a different food culture. It turns out a lot of that instinct was right.

I'm not saying go back to exactly how our grandparents ate. I'm saying there might be more wisdom in that old habit than the diet trends that replaced it.

Same effort. Same "healthy" intentions. Completely different amount of protein.

I ran this comparison with a client recently, because she genuinely couldn't see where her diet was falling short. So we laid her actual day out, meal by meal.

Breakfast was kaya toast, no egg. Lunch was a salad with a light dressing. Dinner was rice and vegetables, with a small piece of fish on the side. Total protein for the day: somewhere around 40 grams. Every meal looked reasonable. Nothing about it looked like a "mistake."

Then we rebuilt the exact same day, changing almost nothing about the effort involved. Breakfast became the same toast, plus two eggs. Lunch became the same salad, with grilled chicken or tofu added in. Dinner became the same rice and vegetables, with a proper palm-sized portion of fish instead of two thin slices. Total protein: over 90 grams. Roughly double, from the same three meals, cooked the same way.

That's the part I really want to land: this isn't about eating more food, more meals, or following a stricter diet. It's about what's sitting at the centre of each plate. Protein needs to be the anchor, not the afterthought squeezed in next to the vegetables.

If your meals already feel healthy and something still isn't clicking — energy, strength, recovery — this is usually the first place I'd look. Not what you're cutting. What's quietly missing.

She showed me her food diary. Colourful, "clean," barely any protein in sight.

Salads for lunch. Fruit for snacks. A small portion of rice and vegetables for dinner. On paper, it looked like exactly what a health-conscious person over 40 should be eating. She was proud of it, and honestly, most people would look at that diary and say "well done."

But she was losing strength, not weight. Her energy was flat by mid-afternoon most days. And she couldn't understand why "eating healthy" wasn't translating into feeling better.

Here's what we found when we actually added it up: she was getting maybe 40 grams of protein a day. For someone her age and activity level, she needed closer to double that.

This is the mistake I see more than almost any other, and it's rarely about willpower or discipline — it's about a generation of health advice that taught us to focus on calories and "clean eating" without ever mentioning protein by name. Vegetables are good, protein... nobody really explained.

After 40, your body needs more protein than it used to, not less — because it's working harder to maintain the muscle you have, and muscle is what protects your metabolism and your strength as you age. Under-eating it doesn't show up as weight gain. It shows up as fatigue, slow recovery, and muscle quietly slipping away even while the scale stays put.

We didn't change her plate size. We changed what was on it — protein at every meal, not as an afterthought, but as the anchor. Within a few weeks, her energy came back before the scale even moved.

If your food feels "healthy" but something still isn't clicking, this is worth checking first.

For years, I wore "I only need 5 hours of sleep" like a badge of honour. Up early, training clients, running the business, driving the kids around, squeezing in my own workouts — sleep felt like the one thing I could afford to sacrifice.

I was wrong, and it took me a long time to admit it.

Here's what changed my mind. I noticed my own strength gains had quietly plateaued, even though my training hadn't changed. My recovery between sessions felt worse. My patience felt shorter. And when I actually looked at the research I share with my own clients — the same research I'd been telling them for years — I realised I wasn't practising what I preached.

Muscle isn't built in the gym. It's built during recovery, and sleep is where most of that recovery happens. Cutting sleep short doesn't just make you tired — it directly undermines the strength training you're doing, and after 40, your body has less margin to absorb that kind of shortfall than it did in your 20s.

So I made a boring, unglamorous change. I protected 7 hours, most nights, like it was a training session I couldn't skip. Because it is one.

Within a month, my energy came back. My lifts started moving again. And honestly, I stopped being irritable with people I care about, which might be the underrated win in all of this.

If you're chasing strength or fat loss and sleep is the thing you keep sacrificing "just for now" — I'd gently push back on that. It's not the flexible part of the plan. It might be the most important part. It's OK to sleep more!

Maybe you were doing really well for a while.

You were exercising regularly. Eating better. Sleeping earlier. You finally felt like you were getting somewhere.

Then life happened.

Work became hectic. The kids needed you. Someone got sick. Travel disrupted your routine. Or maybe you simply lost momentum.

And now it feels like you’re back at square one.

But you’re not.

You still have everything you learned the last time. You know what works for you. You know what feeling stronger feels like. You know you’re capable of building a routine because you’ve already done it before.

You don’t need to start over.

You just need to start again.

And sometimes, starting again means nothing more complicated than taking a walk today, doing a short workout tomorrow, and rebuilding from there.

Your previous effort wasn’t wasted. It prepared you for this comeback.