When you’re looking for the most comfortable shoes in the world, you can’t go wrong with Hyrox. Hyrox has been making shoes for over 30 years, and they’ve been a go-to shoe brand for many celebrities, including Queen Elizabeth herself. The company is headquartered in London, but has offices all over the world—including New York City, Paris, and Tokyo. They have a unique approach to shoe design that makes them stand out from the pack: they use technology to create shoes that are light and flexible but also durable enough to last through even long treks on rough terrain. The best part about their shoes? They’re comfortable—and we mean COMFORTABLE. They’re comfortable enough to wear all day long without any pain or discomfort (and we’re talking about days at a time). They’re also incredibly lightweight, so they won’t weigh down your feet while you’re walking around town or hiking through the woods. And they come in an array of different styles so that everyone can find something that fits their personality!

Best Shoes For Hyrox

What is the Best Footwear for Hyrox?

When preparing for your first Hyrox, there’s a lot of things to consider; you’ve got the training, the tactics, the nutrition, and more.  But one major question that regularly comes up is what footwear should you wear for a Hyrox race? You see, Hyrox isn’t just a running event; the range of functional exercises also required mean the typical concern in competitors minds is whether running shoes are best, or is it more of a CrossFit event (and so are CrossFit style shoes more appropriate)? And if it’s running shoes, which of the plethora available are best for an event like this? There’s no doubt that having the right footwear is an important area to get right in Hyrox.  8km+ is a lot of distance to cover in the wrong trainers, not to mention having the wrong footwear on some of the functional exercises – such as the sled push – can really mess up your race. In this article we will look at the main things to consider when choosing your footwear for competing in Hyrox.  At the end I also share with you the specific shoes that some of the top athletes in the sport have been wearing. Let’s dive in…

Comfort

We’ll start with something that’s probably goes without saying, but is also the most important; You want something that you feel comfortable in. If a shoe meets all the other criteria that I mention below, but doesn’t feel comfortable to you, then it’s the wrong choice.  Furthermore, it should be something that you’ll feel comfortable wearing whilst running 8km plus. For this reason, I think CrossFit shoes – like the Nike Metcon’s – aren’t appropriate for Hyrox.  Whilst they are comfortable in general, have good grip, and would be great for the functional exercises, they just wouldn’t be comfortable enough for 8km+ of running, or perform as well as other trainers might.  Running shoes are far more appropriate. Some running shoes will be more rigid than others, some lighter in weight, some bouncier, and so on.  Differing shoes have differing heel drop (which is essentially the difference between the height of the heel and the height of the forefoot). Those factors all come down to personal preference, so I won’t give too much specific direction on them here in relation to Hyrox. I will though just say that, in general, the less weight the better (but don’t overthink it as a few extra grams won’t make much difference to your time) and people who run with their heel striking the ground first may benefit from a slightly higher heel drop (perhaps 5-10mm). Simplistically speaking, I’d encourage you not to overthink any of this – if you’d be happy to run 5-10km in them, that’s a good starting point.

Grip

The shoe you wear for Hyrox will need a sufficient amount of grip.  This is primarily because of the sled pull and sled push exercises, but can also be important for slippery areas on the floor (especially in the places where water has been spilt). If you have a lack of grip on your footwear when pushing or pulling the sleds, your feet can slip on the carpet, thereby making something very hard, much harder.  This is certainly something that has caught out many Hyrox competitors in past events. The grip of your trainer is primarily impacted by the amount and texture of the rubber on the outsole.  The outsole is the underside of the shoe, at the front end, from the mid foot up to under the toes.  It is the part that will have the most contact with the carpet on the sled push.  You don’t want the outsole to be completely smooth – some ridges (lugs) will help to add to the grip. As an example, here’s the underside of my Hokas Clifton 8 which have a good amount of grip…

  In my experience it’s not something to stress over a huge amount if the lug height isn’t as big as in the picture above. I’ve also raced in those pictured below, which are the outsoles of the Nike Pegasus 37 Turbo 2 (which Nike no longer sell but you can sometimes find some on Ebay).  The ridges are much smaller but were still fine for Hyrox…

However, I’ll add a disclaimer and say that lugs as small as those may not be appropriate on all shoes, I just know that they worked ok for me on those particular shoes. If you aren’t sure if your shoe has enough grip, the best thing to do would be to test it out on a sled push prior to the event.  Tip – if you haven’t entered a Hyrox before, when testing the shoes out on a sled push, make it heavier than you’re expecting it to be.

Super Shoes

A lot of the more expensive racing “super shoes” being brought to the market are great for running in but may not be appropriate for Hyrox.  One of the reasons for this is the lack of grip they provide.  Many of them are simply designed for running long distances in.  Therefore, the companies minimise the amount the shoe weighs by sacrificing rubber on the outsole.  It’s certainly something to check out before making an expensive purchase.

Heel Counter

The heel counter is at the heel of the shoe and helps to provide stability to the back of the foot.  It can be an important consideration for Hyrox as if the shoe you’re using doesn’t have a solid heel counter, that fits snugly and securely around your foot, then your feet could slip out of the trainer when you are pushing the heavy sled, even if it feels fine when you are running. Again, this is another thing to be testing in training preferably (or in the warmup area at Hyrox, providing you have a backup pair of shoes with you!).  If you do find you have an issue, then tightening your laces can help, and / or using “heel lock lacing”…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrX8nXRq9zY