Paridhi Ojha, a Delhi-based physiotherapist, who specialises in sports injury has seen a significant increase in patients with complaints of pain that emerged during the Hyrox training process. Two hours before speaking to Mint, she discouraged a patient from participating because he had complaints of back pain. Rucha Deshpande, a physiotherapist from Mumbai, has noticed this too: “People come to me with musculoskeletal issues especially in the preparatory phase. Usually, there are two categories of people—athletes who have conditioned themselves for the race, and regular office-goers who spend hours sitting. The training and preparation for both groups are distinctly different.” She explains a competition like this amounts to bread-and-butter for athletes with their bodies ready for high-intensity workouts, and they are aware of rest and recovery. “Whereas for those with regular jobs, Hyrox is something that they do on the side and most don’t take the intensity of the process seriously While workouts are important, they have to be balanced with a planned recovery period.” Typically, registration opens about four months before the event, and people jump into intense training and simulations putting immense strain on their bodies. It is not advisable to go to such extremes for someone who sits for eight or more hours in front of the laptop, and works out thrice a week.
