We recently had the opportunity to speak with George Anderson, a well-being and performance coach, a speaker and a very impressive athlete, about the mental side of competing in HYROX events.
In our conversation, George spoke about how mindset is a critical factor that can separate the top performers from the rest of the pack. While physical attributes like strength and endurance certainly matter, developing grit and the ability to embrace discomfort is what allows competitors to find their limits and push past them – especially in a sport such as HYROX.
Here are some of George’s top strategies for getting your mind right as a HYROX athlete…
Get Out of The Chair
This concept comes from George’s experience of running a 100-mile ultra marathon. Around mile 65, exhausted and demoralised in the middle of the night, he made the mistake of sitting down in a chair. As soon as he sat down, it became extremely difficult to motivate himself to get back up and keep going – even though he still had 35 gruelling miles left.
George realised that the key was not to think about the full 35 miles, but just focus on getting out of the chair first. If he could just stand up, he would be able to take the next step. And eventually, taking those small steps would get him to the finish line.
“In HYROX, just focus on getting through the next rep, or element, rather than thinking of the whole race,” George advised. “Get that first burpee done rather than dwelling on 80 metres of them, for example.“
This strategy applies perfectly to the constant surges and transitions in a HYROX workout. When you’re gassed at a station but know you must push through so much more, don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by what’s to come. Just refocus and commit to nailing the first few reps. Maintaining that short-term focus will keep you present, motivated, and moving forward. This is something that the Men’s pro winner in HYROX London, Harry Thompson, also spoke about when we interviewed him.
No Rep Yourself
George believes in holding himself to high standards in training when it comes to movement quality. Even when training alone, he does not count sloppy reps.
This instills an important discipline that helps to minimise the chances of no reps from judges in competition. By thoroughly ingraining proper technique over time, it becomes second nature.
HYROX athletes can apply this mentality of “no repping yourself” in their own training. For example, if you fail to hit the target on a wall ball rep in practice, call yourself out on it and don’t count the rep. This type of discipline prepares you (mentally and physically) to maintain composure if a judge calls you out mid-race. You’ll be ready to shake it off and calmly crank out more perfect reps.
Create a Race Day Routine
George recognizes that the atmosphere at HYROX venues can trigger nerves and anxiety for some competitors. He recommends several strategies to harness these nerves as fuel rather than letting them derail your performance…
First, remind yourself why you are there – to challenge yourself, improve your mental toughness, and become better than you were yesterday. Yes the race is hard, but that’s why you’re there.
Second, have a plan for how you will pace certain elements and transitions in the race. Feeling mentally prepared with a strategy will help calm nerves. There’s nothing like knowing you’re prepared for what lies ahead to help calm you!
Thirdly, remember there is nothing to be nervous about, the community is welcoming and supporting, not intimidating or judgmental.
Finally, develop pre-race rituals that settle you into that optimal zone – pumped up but focused. This might involve listening to certain music, visualising your race, or jumping around to feed off the infectious energy in the venue. Find what works for you.
Embrace the Suck
A key mindset shift George recommends is embracing pain and discomfort, rather than fearing it. Remind yourself that HYROX is supposed to be hard – that’s the whole point! You want to finish feeling like you left it all out on the floor.
“Those feelings of pain and exertion can be quite unnerving to some if you aren’t used to it. When you instead see them as signals that you’re giving maybe another 5-10%, and that it’s not going to get any worse, and you just need to sustain this for a short period of time, that does something quite fundamental to your motivation and how you perceive the effort you’re putting in” George explained.
He continued “I remember interviewing Liz Yelling, a world-class half marathon runner, many years ago. She explained that among distance running elites, there is likely very little separating them physically in areas like VO2 max, strength and speed. However, what sets the top performers apart is their willingness to suffer – their ability to embrace discomfort and simply endure more pain than others. “
This willingness to suffer, and sit with physical discomfort, is what separates the good from the great. Adopting this mindset allows you to turn up the intensity when every fibre in your body is telling you to back off. You’ll be able to push into zones you never thought possible.
Through the Line
A lesson George learned from his track coach is the importance of running through the finish line rather than slowing down prematurely. This applies to HYROX races too (and training).
On elements like the walking lunges, in training, it’s common to finish a rep and be a few inches short of your prescribed distance. It would be easy to finish the set there. But George suggests always going through the line – do one more rep. It’s an important discipline to practice, as that’s exactly what you’d need to do come race day.
“Always think about going beyond the end point, going through the line. Don’t lose that last little bit of performance which could make it or break it,” George advised.
This through-the-line mindset ensures you never leave anything on the table by coasting early.
Overcome and Become
George believes one of the greatest benefits of HYROX is the opportunity it provides for competitors to discover their true limits and overcome them in a relatively safe environment. This transforms how you see yourself.
He recommends taking time after each tough training session to reflect on how you were able to push past resistance in your own mind – when that voice was telling you to slow down or quit. By recognising that you overcame your perceived limits, you start to adopt a new identity as the type of athlete / person who can face adversity head-on and keep grinding.
This “overcome and become” mindset creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you cement your identity as someone who always goes the extra mile, you will be far more likely to replicate that resilience and determination in future challenges. HYROX provides the perfect environment to develop this kind of mentality.
Summary
George firmly believes that cultivating your mental game is what transforms good HYROX competitors into great ones on race day. By applying techniques like getting out of the chair, no-repping yourself, and overcoming nerves, you can unlock performance levels you didn’t know were possible. Not only will your race day times improve, but you’ll emerge with a mental toughness that translates far beyond HYROX.
You can follow George on Instagram. Also check out his fantastic podcast “A Bit of a Boost”, and listen to a full interview with him on the Rox Lyfe podcast here.
