There’s a new way to get fit in Saint John, and it’s gaining popularity.
HYROX is a form of fitness racing that puts athletes through a series of functional exercises mixed with running.
“HYROX is more of a functional race,” said Heidi Northrup, comparing to other fitness competitions like CrossFit.
Northrup is a trainer at Afterburn Performance in Saint John. Afterburn recently became a certified HYROX affiliate.
Afterburn owner Terry Blizzard had looked into the possibility of bringing HYROX to Saint John in the past, but decided to pursue other avenues.
But in March, he got the required certification and launched the program at the gym’s Bayside Drive location.
According to its website, HYROX launched in Germany in 2017 and quickly established itself as “the fastest-growing fitness sport in the world.”
According to its website, “HYROX combines both running and functional workout stations, where participants run one kilometre, followed by one functional workout station, repeated eight times.”
Northrup said she first discovered the sport in Asia.
“For whatever reason, it’s big, big in that half of the world,” she said. “I did a personal training program over there and they really focused on HYROX.”
When she returned to Saint John, she saw that Afterburn was getting a program off the ground.
“So I messaged him (Terry Blizzard) and I was like, ‘Oh, I’d really like to come in and chat and just see kind of where you’re at in the HYROX world.’”
Northrup said she was recruited to run the program as a coach.
“We’re all kind of working together to make it what it is,” she said.
Classes are offered at Afterburn for anyone who wants to try out the sport, but as with any sport, there are competitions.
The weekend of Oct. 3 to 5, a group of athletes from Saint John travelled to Toronto to participate in a competition at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place.
One of those athletes was Danielle Blizzard. Heading into the weekend, she said setting expectations was tough.
“When I first signed up they make you guess how long it’s going to take you,” she said. “I put an hour and a half.
Blizzard competed in the women’s doubles event with partner Laura DeMerchant.
They did a little better than Blizzard’s expectations, finishing in one hour, 19 minutes and 26 seconds. That time was good enough for 156th place out of 1,189 competitors in the women’s doubles.
Other Saint John competitors had strong showings. Leigha Richards finished in a time of one hour, 33 minutes and 59 seconds in the women’s open category.
Brad Yowart finished in one hour, 21 minutes and 32 seconds, including a three-minute time penalty.
Evan Boucher and Katelyn Clark competed in the mixed doubles event, finishing in one hour, 32 minutes and 30 seconds.
Blizzard said adrenaline sets in when competing and the clock is running.
“But when you’re training, you’re working against the clock and you’re looking at the clock and you’re like ‘I want to do it in this time,’” she said. “But I think as long as you go in there conditioned and prepared for what you’re going to do it just happens.”
Just six competitors went to Toronto this time, but Northrup said she’s spoken to other trainers and gym members who have expressed interest.
“I think my role here is to kind of help encourage people,” she said. “Get the basics, get everyone understanding what it is.”
Northrup said once people have a handle on what HYROX is, she wants to get them excited about it and learning more about the sport.
“Then people are going to be like, ‘You know what? I do want to race,’” she said. “I just want people to know that it’s not intimidating.”
Afterburn has a second location in Rothesay, and it has all the equipment to train. But Northrup said for now it’s going to be exclusive to the Saint John gym.
“It’s bigger, you have more space,” she said.
She said keeping it Saint John-only for now also allows for community-building.
“It’s really just a community that you can come and you can have a kind of structured workout you can do together,” she said.
Blizzard added HYROX differs from other similar programs where a person might come in and feel they are already far behind their classmates.
“But this really is for everyone,” she said. “We can start you everywhere and then you get to see yourself grow, get stronger, get better, and that’s what it’s all about.
“If it’s scary, you should probably do it.”
