Doubles is the fastest-growing way to race HYROX, and the format RoxDuo was built around. The rules are simple; racing it well is not. Here is how it works and how to split the work so your pair's finish time reflects both engines, not your weakest link.

How doubles works

• Both partners run everything. All 8×1km of running is done together, side by side. Running is never shared.
• Stations are shared. One athlete works at a time; the other rests. Swap whenever you like — every 25 m of sled, every 10 wall balls, halfway through the row. The station is done when the pair has completed the full distance or rep count.
• Same weights as solo. Open Doubles uses Open loads, Pro Doubles uses Pro loads — see the weights & standards reference for every number. The advantage is shared work, not lighter equipment.

Standards from public 2025/26 season rules — verify with the official rulebook.

Categories

Doubles runs in three compositions — Men's, Women's, and Mixed — each available in Open and Pro loading. Mixed doubles has become the signature category: couples and training partners racing together is half the culture of the event.

Split strategy: who takes what

The naive split is 50/50 on everything. It is almost never optimal. The right split depends on your pair's strength profiles:

Strength athlete + engine athlete

• Strength partner takes the bigger share of sled push, sled pull, and sandbag lunges.
• Engine partner takes more of the SkiErg, row, and burpee broad jumps — and sets the pace on runs, since the strength partner is carrying more station fatigue.

Two balanced athletes

• Split closer to even, but in short, frequent swaps — 15–25 seconds of work each on ergs, quarter-lengths on sleds. Short intervals keep both athletes' output near maximal and the machine or sled never slows down.

The universal rules

• Wall balls are shared no matter what. The last station punishes whoever is doing it; even the strongest partner breaks down if they take too much. Pre-plan sets (e.g. 15/15 alternating) before the race, not during it.
• Farmers carry is one athlete if possible — it is short (200m) and the handover costs more than it saves.
• Protect the runner. Whoever is weaker on runs should do slightly less station work — a pair moves at the pace of its slower runner on every single kilometre.

What a sub-1:15 doubles race looks like

1:15 puts a pair in the top ~28% of doubles pairs territory. Here is that goal decomposed into targets, using RoxDuo's split model:

Modeled on typical split distributions with shared station work (doubles station factor 0.55). Build your own targets in the race time calculator.

Transition craft: the free 60 seconds

Doubles pairs lose more time in the Roxzone than solo athletes, because two people have to make every decision. The fixes are boring and worth a minute or more over a race:

• Decide the split before the race — every station, every swap point, written down. Mid-race negotiation is how pairs blow up. (This is literally what the Team Sheet in the RoxDuo app is: who takes what, swap points, projected finish.)
• First worker is pre-assigned. Whoever starts each station should know it before the run ends — no eye contact required.
• The resting partner manages logistics: counting reps out loud, calling the next swap, grabbing water. Resting is a job.
• Rehearse handovers on ergs and sleds. A sloppy erg handover kills the flywheel; a clean one costs two seconds.

Training together, apart

Most doubles pairs cannot train side by side every week — different gyms, different cities, different schedules. That is fine. The pair sessions that matter are few:

• Individually: each athlete follows their own plan for running and strength — your 1 km repeat pace and your sled strength develop alone.
• Every 1–2 weeks together: one shared session practising swaps at race intensity — erg handovers, sled quarter-splits, alternating wall ball sets.
• Race-week: one full transition walkthrough and a final Team Sheet agreement.

RoxDuo runs exactly this model: two synced individual plans plus shared doubles sessions, with both partners' PBs feeding one projected finish. New to the sport entirely? Start with the beginner guide, then come back.

FAQ