Podcasts – The Hybrid Experiment http://www.hybridexperiment.com Hybrid Racing Training, News, Reviews & Interviews Mon, 16 Oct 2023 15:04:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5 213478524 Hyrox Podcasts For Your Long-Runs http://www.hybridexperiment.com/2023/10/14/hyrox-podcasts-for-your-easy-long-runs/ http://www.hybridexperiment.com/2023/10/14/hyrox-podcasts-for-your-easy-long-runs/#respond Sat, 14 Oct 2023 07:02:00 +0000 http://www.hybridexperiment.com/?p=197 Personally, I have to listen to upbeat music when I’m doing a track, threshold or simulation-style workout. However, when it’s an easy or long-run day I like to lose myself in a Podcast.

In addition to keeping any possible boredom at bay, I also feel I’m being a little more productive with my time. I’m working my aerobic engine with the zone 2 running, but my mind is also active and engaged.

If you want to take this a bit further, in addition to listening to Podcasts for entertainment, you can choose one with an educational focus to help you improve as an athlete by increasing your training knowledge too.

Today’s list features some of our favourite Hyrox Podcasts. The rules we’ve set ourselves are simple. Either:

  • They must by athletes who have completed a Hyrox
    or
  • They must be primarily about Hyrox or Hybrid Racing

Alright, let’s help you find a new podcast!

The Roxzone

The RoxZone is a great entry point into the world of Hyrox Podcasts. Essentially, you have three mates who stumbled across Hyrox discussing the sport. None of the hosts Ben, Max or Tom have their sights set on the Elite 15, but rather they’ve fallen in love with the community aspect of the Hyrox, the style of training it requires and the amount of fun each event offers.

Being close friends long before finding Hyrox, the conversation is always easy and there’s plenty of banter between the three guys. What sets The RoxZone apart from many Podcasts I’ve listened to in this space is that the focus is on Hyrox as a hobby. The RoxZone does offer solid training advice and they cover events too, but it’s with the goal of breaking down barriers and boosting everyone’s enjoyment of the sport.

If I’m doing a long-run and feeling a bit bored, I’ll often chuck on The RoxZone and find myself laughing at the lads ripping each other whilst covering a topic I find interesting such as ‘Juggling Hyrox With Work’, ‘Breaking Down The Hyrox PFT’ or ‘Best Shoes For Hyrox’. Some of the podcasts that can really put you at ease in the early days of your training include ‘Movement Standards’, ‘Hyrox Mythbusters’ and ‘Training For Your First Hyrox’. Their coverage of Hyrox events is good fun and often released just a few days after the event has wrapped up. They have regular interviews too.

Who: Max Schlummer, Ben Rawls. Tom Previte & Lucy Mitchell (Guest Host)

What: Three friends discuss training for Hyrox and having fun whilst doing so

Back Catalogue: 36 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | RSS Podcast

Reinforced Running Podcast

I probably shouldn’t have favourites, but I’m certainly partial to Rich Ryan’s Reinforced Running Podcast. And not just for the alliteration. Even before I got involved with Hyrox, I’d been listening to Rich Ryan’s Podcast where he deep dives into how to train as an athlete wanting to be competitive in functional fitness and hybrid racing.

Rich Ryan is probably the best runner in Hyrox right now. He was a Spartan Pro, is a reigning Deka World Champion, and a Hyrox Elite 15 athlete too. He’s also been involved in CrossFit for over 10 years. Many people will favour him to be on the podium for this year’s Hyrox World Championship.

As an athlete who wants to be competitive myself, I love how Rich’s Podcast really go into detail on how to improve as an athlete. ‘Pacing A Race’, ‘Preventing Burnout’, ‘Tapering Tactics’, ‘Compromised Running’, ‘Pre-Race Routines’, ‘Off-Season Training’, ‘Should You Take Creatine’ – over the course of 3+ years of Podcasting, Rich has covered pretty much any question you can find yourself asking. Rich also covers his race strategy after each event, interviews some of the leading athletes in Hyrox, and also brings on industry experts.

Who: Rich Ryan

What: Content for athletes seeking to be more competitive

Back Catalogue: 264 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | Buzzsprout

The Hybrid Approach

James Muscart is one of the top five Hyrox Pros in the UK and one of the people who got me interested in Hyrox due to his enthusiasm and love of the sport showcased through his YouTube Channel: JayFit. In The Hybrid Approach Podcast, James teams up with fellow Hyrox Ambassador and Hyrox World Championships qualifier Joe Patrick.

Both James and Joe are competitive athletes and are training hard to improve their race times further. James and Joe have a fun dynamic and aren’t afraid to poke fun at each other, which makes the Podcast very easy to listen to.

Content revolves mainly around improving your Hyrox performance through intelligent training, observations about the sport, and coverage of races. There’s a lot of non-Hyrox related content too, especially during the off-season, where Joe is working on his running and James is taking part in all kinds of functional fitness events across Europe as a MyZone athlete. Many episodes also feature a high-profile guest and both James and Joe do a good job of bringing them into the conversation and getting a lot of insight from them. Hint: Any episodes featuring the Hogans are laugh-out-loud funny 🙂

Who: James Muscart and Joe Patrick

What: Training discussion and Hyrox event coverage for all

Back Catalogue: 26 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | Podbean

Rox Lyfe

If you’re looking for something a bit more data-driven and analytical then The Rox Lyfe could well be what you’re looking for.

I’ve no idea what host Greg Williams does for a living, but I imagine it’s something with spreadsheets and projections. If you’re the kind of person wanting to know how fast in seconds you should be doing your burpee broad jumps compared to the rest of the field to be competitive or are curious about how the differences between venues could hurt/help your performance than Greg is the go-to source for this kind of information.

All that being said, The Rox Lyfe and Greg himself is certainly not boring. All the information is broken down and explained in an interesting way so that it should appeal to newer and more experienced athletes whether they are looking to be competitive or just finish a race. This analytical study of Hyrox is clearly working for Greg too as his personal Hyrox times have tumbled from 1:29 down to 1:12.

I have especially enjoyed the Race Recaps that Greg does where he goes into detail on the season’s races – covering winners, average times and any records set – and his interviews with some of the sports leading and upcoming names.

Who: Greg Williams

What: Data-driven Hyrox coverage

Back Catalogue: 26 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | Anchor

Fitness Racing Podcast

If you’re in the UK, then you’ve probably heard about the Fitness Racing Podcast as the hosts are very active in the UK Hyrox Facebook Group.

I really love this show as the goal of it seems to be building and promoting the UK hybrid scene. If some podcasts are like journals and others are like newspapers, I’d say that the Fitness Racing Podcast is more of a magazine.

Host Ian Kay interviews a wide range of people involved in the sport from judges to new entrants with an interesting story to tell to YouTubers to elite athletes. Ian is an experienced host and conversations with guests are always seamless. They also do a great job of providing in-depth race previews and reviews of UK events.

If I’m on a long-run and want something really easy to listen to I’ll often chuck this on and find myself enjoying the run a lot more.

Who: Ian Kay

What: Interviews and UK race coverage

Back Catalogue: 60 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Nitty Gritty Training

Although it’s not exclusively Hyrox focused, Nitty Gritty Training is one of my favourite podcasts to listen to on a run.

Each show has a set topic and the two hosts, Faye Stenning and Jessica O’Connell, chat through them drawing upon their experiences and expertise. Faye was on the Spartan Pro Team and had more podium finishes than any other female athlete over the past decade; she also has a degree in Kinesiology. Jessica O’Connell is an Olympic runner, specializing in the 5000m with a personal best time of 15:06 (wow!); she has a degree in Exercise Physiology. So, basically, they’re pretty qualified! But if you’re still not convinced, Faye has done a Hyrox and she won it maintaining running splits between 3:35 – 4:08 for the entire event.

What I enjoy about Nitty Gritty Training is that it’s very easy to listen to. Faye and Jess have known each other and trained together since they were at school and so couldn’t be more comfortable chatting with each other. And, essentially, that’s how the show comes across: as a conversation between two friends.

Topics are always relevant to the masses too. Whether it’s ‘Breaking Through Plateaus’ or ‘Training For Multiple Different Events’ or ‘Building A Home Gym’ or ‘Sleep’ or ‘Types Of Run Workouts’. They also run regular Q&As where they answer questions submitted through Instagram and have done interviews with Hyrox Athletes such as Hunter McIntyre and Lauren Weeks.

Who: Faye Stenning & Jess O’Connell

What: Running and OCR topics by a Spartan Pro and Olympian.

Back Catalogue: 70 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | Stitcher

Race Brain Podcast

Another Podcast hosted by Rich Ryan and featuring a reoccurring panel of Brakken Kraker, Jack Bauer (not the badass from 24, sadly?), and Kirk DeWidnt! If you’re not familiar with these guys, their expertise come from being a mixture of Spartan Pros, coaches, authors, stats gurus and popular podcast hosts. As a result, this Podcast is super slick, professional sounding and very in-depth.

This Podcast is geared more towards those who want detailed coverage and analysis of all things OCR, hybrid fitness, and endurance racing. If you’re new to this world, you may initially feel a little lost with this one. However, if you’re familiar with the various events and athletes involved then this is one of the very best to get your news and deepen your understanding of the sport.

Hyrox is a relatively small piece of the overall OCR/Hybrid Racing puzzle, and so if that’s your only interest there may be limited episodes you choose to listen to, but there are some great episodes previewing the season and reviewing record-breaking performances that you should make time to check out.

Who: Brakken Kraker, Jack Bauer, Kirk DeWidnt, and Rich Ryan

What: OCR & Hybrid Racing Coverage by top level athletes and creators

Back Catalogue: 38 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | Buzzsprout

OFX Podcast

This is an enjoyable, professional-level Podcast that covers Hyrox when there’s a race on in the US, but focuses primarily on the Spartan branded events such as Spartan OCR and Deka. The hosts are Dave Claxton (VP of Obstacle Sports Canada) and Bethany McChesney (an accomplished Spartan Pro).

Many of the Podcasts on this list are based here in the UK and primarily cover the European scene. OFX, being based in Canada, covers mostly North America. What’s quite nice about this is that Dave and Bethany often invite guests onto the show and these guests often include some of the Elite 15 Hyrox Athletes you don’t regularly hear from on the European Podcasts – even if they are mostly talking Deka or Spartan.

Bethany and Dave have a great dynamic and are incredibly knowledgeable on the OCR and Hybrid Racing scene. Episodes are often over an hour, but never seem to drag, so make perfect listening for your longest run of the week.

Who: Dave Claxon and Bethany McChesney

What: North American Hybrid Racing coverage by an industry pro and pro athlete

Back Catalogue: 109 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | PodcastRepublic

Obstacle Racing Media

Matt B. Davis is one of the most well-known commentators on Obstacle Course Racing and his Podcast has been running seemingly forever. If you think of Rich Ryan as a Podcasting veteran, with over just over 250 episodes in the bag, Matt dwarfs that with over 850!

This Podcast certainly isn’t Hyrox specific, in that it covers news related to all kinds of OCR and Hybrid Racing events, but many episodes will mention and cover Hyrox. You also have regular interviews with athletes, event organisers, industry professionals (e.g. there’s a great episode with Lauren Rantala and Marc Howe of Hyrox America for example).

Because Matt is so experienced as a host and knows many athletes personally, his podcasts always flow seamlessly. When it comes to interviews, Matt can ask questions to athletes others may feel intimidated to ask and often has a more open conversation with them.

If you want a news show in the style of a show you’d find on talkSPORT Radio then this is it.

Who: Matt B. Davis

What: The longest-running show for OCR & Hybrid Racing coverage

Back Catalogue: 859 Episodes

Where: Apple | Spotify | RadioPublic


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