From Hyrox to Crossfit: Five tough sports with real effects

There is a golden rule for everyone who does sport: it has to be fun. It sounds incredibly simple, but it is so important. And yet it is all too often ignored. I do sport up to five times a week, not because I have to, but because I enjoy it. I enjoy cycling or lifting weights. Running is also OK, whenever I feel like it. But it is also true that my path to regular sport was paved with failed attempts and long breaks from training. I only became a “real” athlete when I found sports that suited me and fit into my life. Of course I can dream of playing tennis regularly. But that remains just a dream, my schedule rarely allows for fixed appointments. I always think dancing is pretty to look at, it is also supposed to be healthy, but I would certainly not enjoy it at all.

I have been writing about fitness topics for many years. I dare say that I have heard all the “you must”, “you should” and “it’s healthy for you” motivations in some form or another during this time. But I am pretty sure that none of these exhortations have ever convinced anyone to exercise regularly. The small, subtle and so simple secret to success is “fun”. And to find out whether someone really enjoys exercise, you have to try a lot of things. To give you a little inspiration in your search for the right physical activity, we present five sports that we think are worth trying out.

Hyrox combines fitness training with running

Behind the name lies a relatively new sport that was co-developed by Olympic hockey champion Moritz Fürste, among others. The question is, why is there no separate competition for the many, many fitness athletes? The answer is also the Hyrox. At the heart of the event is a fitness race that now tours all sorts of cities around the world. In the Hyrox, athletes run a kilometer eight times. In between, they have to complete a kilometer on a ski ergometer, first push and then pull a heavy sled, followed by 80 meters of burpees with a jump, 1000 meters of rowing, 200 meters of carrying two heavy kettlebells, 100 meters of lunges with a weight on the neck and finally throwing a medicine ball 75 times at a target three meters high. Sounds exhausting? It definitely is.

But: It is expressly a sport for everyone, the exercises can be done by anyone who has a certain basic level of fitness and can run and jump. In the races, unlike the marathon, there is no time limit and no sweeper. The rate of those who reach the finish line is around 99 percent. The best complete the course in just under an hour. The slowest participants managed it in a quick five hours. Even people over 70 take part in the Hyrox. And every achievement is celebrated.

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The success of the Hyrox race series is enormous. The events are now quickly booked out. And numerous fitness studios offer courses to optimally prepare for the race. Since both muscles and endurance are required on the course, this is naturally a sport that offers an all-round carefree package.

Krav Maga, a sport from Israel

The sport comes from Israel and the name means contact combat in Hebrew. Krav Maga is an art of self-defense that uses many striking and kicking techniques, but also includes grappling techniques, levers and ground fighting. To put it simply: you have to enjoy fighting to feel comfortable with this sport. Krav Maga’s roots lie in the Israeli army, and the sport developed from there. Today it is taught worldwide. Krav Maga trains endurance, strength and the ability to react. But also the psyche, because many of the exercises are carried out under stress. Threatening situations are often simulated from which you then have to escape. This is at least sweaty, but it also generates a lot of adrenaline.

CrossFit, the perfect combination of endurance and strength

CrossFit is perfect for anyone looking for a workout that combines endurance and strength. The sport comes from the USA. It is a very popular sport that combines endurance and strength training quickly and intensively. It originated in the USA in the 1990s, at that time as training for firefighters, soldiers and police officers, and was later given the brand name CrossFit – there are now an estimated five million people worldwide who do cross-training.

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It is an extremely effective full-body workout using squats, pull-ups and push-ups, rowing (rowing) or wall ball shots (throwing a medicine ball at a target three meters above the ground). All of this is compressed into one-hour training sessions, always supervised by trainers. This type of interval training is very intensive, but also effective. Through my work as a science editor, I know that we lose muscle mass with each year of our lives. But with targeted training, this mechanism can be significantly slowed down. The earlier we start, the better. And CrossFit is a sport that counteracts the loss of muscle mass well.

Swimming & running – on land and on water

Not many people know about the sport and say that it falls more into the category of “complicated”. But it is great fun. Swim & Run is an endurance sport and consists of the disciplines of swimming and running. The idea comes from Sweden and arose from a bet about getting from island to island. The principle is very simple: you start running and if there is a lake between the start and the finish, you swim across it.

Since 2006 there have also been swim & run competitions, including one held annually in Stockholm. Lots of islands have to be crossed and short or long swimming sections have to be overcome. The swimming course is ten kilometres long in total, the running course 65 kilometres. But there are also numerous races in Germany now. Anyone who trains beyond this should always go with a partner so that they can help each other in the water if an emergency situation should arise.

Paddle tennis – big in the USA, on the rise here

As a former tennis player, I love this sport. The principle is the same as tennis. The only difference is that the game is played on small courts with short, unstringed rackets. The rackets used to be made of wood, but today they are mostly made of plastic. The sport is particularly popular in Spain, South America and the USA. The court markings are similar to those used in tennis. In some variants, the walls around the courts are also included in the game.

Paddle tennis is played either as a singles player or with a partner in doubles. The roots of paddle tennis go back over 100 years. The priest Frank Peer Beal is said to have invented the sport. He was in Manhattan looking for an exciting leisure activity for young people. The first paddle tennis courts were set up in 1915 in Washington Spuare Park in New York. Today the courts are usually made of concrete and points are counted like in tennis. In Germany, too, more and more indoor and outdoor facilities for the popular sport are currently being built.