14/10/2026
Does cycling for HYROX actually help?
Our monthly Engine Room newsletter covers just this...
A new study from Marcos Paulo Rocha and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen put 12 healthy, untrained young adults through a year of cycling. 3 sessions a week, building up to 1 to 2 hour rides with hard intervals.
VO2max (how much oxygen your body can use) went up about 27% in the first six months. That's a big win.
Then the researchers tested blood vessel function in the arms and found no measurable change.
Blood vessels seem to adapt where the blood flow is. Cycling is leg-dominant, so the adaptation is mostly local. The arm gets very little of that stimulus.
The study doesn't say cycling failed. Those people got fitter and healthier. It says adaptation depends on where the demand is.
HYROX uses your upper and lower body across its stations, from the ski erg and sled push to the lunges and wall balls. So some adaptations may not transfer as well, even when your VO2max number goes up. The study measured blood vessels and not HYROX results, so don't cut cycling because of one finding.
What to take from it:
* A better VO2max is beneficial in any sport, so don't dismiss the single-sport specific benefits.
*Specificity matters. A strong VO2max from running will transfer, but it won't fully prepare every system for the demands of a HYROX event.
*The body adapts to the specific demands you impose on it.
*If you want the vessels supplying your upper body to be well adapted for the ski erg and the sled push, you need to give them a reason to adapt too.
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