I volunteered at Hyrox London for 8 days. Here's what I learned.

But first Why did I do it? Two reasons honestly.

1. I needed a new wardrobe.
   I swapped my free race ticket for an extra voucher so my closet is now 90% Hyrox merch. No regrets.

2. Professional one.
   As a personal trainer and Hyrox coach I needed to see with my own eyes what actually happens to people on the floor, not what the textbook says should happen, not what athletes remember after the race, but what's really going on in real time.

Eight days. Here are 8 things I learned.

1. After watching roughly 10,000 wall balls, the depth issue is almost never a strength problem. Most people have the legs to get there. What stops them is a setup that doesn't work for their body, stance too narrow, ankles too stiff, or simply not knowing what "deep enough" actually feels like when they're exhausted. Small adjustments before the race would fix most of what I saw.

2. The run lap before a station matters more than the station itself. I watched hundreds of athletes arrive completely empty. Not because they were unfit. Because they ran the previous lap like it was a race on its own. If I could coach one thing on race day it would be this: you're not running to run, you're running to arrive.

3. The volunteers care more than you think. I know what people say online "They're just there for a free shirt." No. I was there for 8 days. I saw people show up at 6.30am, stand on their feet for 8 hours, and genuinely try to get every call right.

4. The athletes who finish strong don't look fast. They look calm. This surprised me. The ones who performed best at the later stations weren't the fittest looking. They were the ones who looked in control of their effort, not fighting it.

5. Most people don't know the standards before they show up. Not because they're lazy. Because nobody told them clearly enough. This is a gap the sport hasn't solved yet, not an athlete failure.

6. The energy in the room changes everything and not always for the better. The music, the crowd, the screens, it's incredible but it's also dangerous. I saw people go out way too hard in the first lap because the atmosphere took over. The ones who had a plan and stuck to it stood out immediately from the ones who let the room decide their pace.

7. Every single person who crossed that finish line earned it. I don't care about the time on the clock. I saw people struggling, hurting, doubting, and finishing anyway. After 8 days of watching that I can tell you there is no such thing as "just completing" a Hyrox.

8. Eight days on the floor taught me more about coaching than months of studying. Watching real people under real fatigue, with real emotions, making real mistakes, there's no course that gives you that. I'm genuinely grateful for every shift.