Eight 1km runs. Eight workout stations. SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges, wall balls – all strung together without meaningful rest, inside a venue where 14,000 athletes are grinding through the same suffering alongside you.
Hyrox is not a marathon. It is not a CrossFit competition. It sits in a category of its own — a hybrid fitness race that punishes you equally for weak running and weak strength endurance. And the nutrition strategy it demands is different from both.
AIA Hyrox Singapore returns to Singapore EXPO from November 26-29, 2026 – a first-ever four-day race weekend. Whether you’re competing in Singles, Doubles, or Relay, your nutrition decisions in the days and hours leading up to your wave will determine whether you hit a wall at station six or power through all eight with pace to spare.
This guide covers exactly what to eat, drink, and supplement – built specifically for the tropical indoor conditions at Singapore EXPO.
Why Hyrox Nutrition Is Different from Marathon or Gym Nutrition
A marathon is steady-state aerobic running for 3-5 hours. A CrossFit competition involves short, explosive efforts with rest between events. Hyrox sits awkwardly between the two – sustained effort over 60-90 minutes that alternates between running and high-intensity functional work with no real recovery between stations.
This creates three nutrition challenges most people don’t plan for.
Challenge 1: You need both aerobic and anaerobic fuel.
Running between stations burns glycogen aerobically. Sled pushes, wall balls, and burpee broad jumps burn glycogen anaerobically – much faster. You deplete fuel stores from both energy systems simultaneously, which means you run out quicker than a pure runner or a pure strength athlete would.
Challenge 2: Your stomach gets rattled.
Burpee broad jumps, sled pulls, and sandbag lunges create significant abdominal compression. Anything sitting heavy in your stomach will come back to haunt you – sometimes literally. Your pre-race meal and mid-race fueling need to be low-volume and fast-absorbing.
Challenge 3: Singapore EXPO is
indoors but still tropical.
The venue is partially air-conditioned, but with 14,000 athletes generating heat across four days, the indoor temperature climbs. You will sweat more than you expect. Dehydration and electrolyte loss will affect you faster than training at your usual air-conditioned gym suggests.
Race Week – 5 Days Out
Daily Nutrition
No dramatic dietary changes. Eat what you normally eat with a slight increase in carbohydrates from day three onwards. Your glycogen stores need to be full by race morning, but Hyrox doesn’t require the aggressive carb loading of a marathon – you’re racing 60-90 minutes, not 4-5 hours.
Add an extra serving of rice or pasta to your main meals. Snack on bananas, toast with jam, and low-fibre cereals. Cut back on raw vegetables, heavy curries, and anything that disrupts your digestion – you need your gut calm and predictable on race day.
Supplement
Preparation
Continue your daily stack.
Magnesium bisglycinate in the evening for muscle recovery and sleep quality. Your muscles need adequate magnesium for the hundreds of contractions across eight stations — deficit means earlier cramping and slower recovery between stations.
Beetroot nitrate loading.
Take a Beet It Sport Nitrate 400 Shot daily from five days out. Research shows that sustained nitrate loading improves oxygen efficiency during both aerobic (running) and anaerobic (sled push, wall balls) efforts. For a hybrid race that taxes both systems, this dual benefit matters more than it does for pure running.
Creatine.
If you’ve been using creatine during your training block, continue at your normal dose. Creatine supports the phosphocreatine system — the energy pathway that powers those first 10-15 seconds of explosive effort at each station. If you haven’t been taking creatine, don’t start now. It needs weeks of saturation to work.
Collagen for joint prep.
Eight stations of functional movements put significant stress on knees, shoulders, and grip tendons. A collagen recovery shot taken 30 minutes before your training sessions this week delivers collagen peptides, vitamin C, glucosamine, and chondroitin directly to connective tissue that’s about to be tested hard.
Night Before Your Race
Eat dinner by 7pm. Keep it boring and familiar.
White rice with grilled chicken or fish. Plain pasta with a light sauce. Nothing spicy, nothing new, nothing heavy. Your gut needs to be empty and settled by morning.
Hydration pre-load:
Mix a Hydra 10 electrolyte sachet into 500ml of water with dinner. The 343mg of sodium helps your body retain fluid overnight so you wake up hydrated rather than depleted.
Prep your race bag tonight:
Race bib, timing chip, shoes, towel, shaker bottle with pre-measured recovery powder, one energy gel, one caffeine melt, electrolyte tablets, a banana for post-race, and a change of clothes. Racing at EXPO means MRT access via the Expo station on the Downtown Line and East-West Line – plan your transport now so morning logistics are zero-stress.
Sleep.
Take your magnesium. Apply BetterYou Sleep Lotion if that’s part of your routine. Set two alarms. Pre-race nerves are normal – one rough night doesn’t affect performance.
Race Morning – 2-3 Hours Before Your Wave
Your wave time determines your morning. If you’re in a 9:00am wave, eat at 6:00-6:30am. If you’re in an afternoon wave, eat a normal breakfast and a light top-up meal 2-3 hours before your start.
Pre-Race Meal
Keep it simple:
Two slices of white toast with honey or jam plus a banana. Or a small bowl of plain porridge with honey. Or two plain pancakes.
High carb. Low fat. Low fibre. Nothing that needs more than 2 hours to digest. Your stomach will be compressed during burpees, lunges, and sled work — anything heavy will punish you.
Drink 300-400ml of water with your meal. Not more.
60 Minutes Before
Your Wave
Sip a Hydra+ effervescent tablet dissolved in 200ml of water. Light electrolyte top-up without volume.
If you’re using a beetroot shot for race day, take it now – peak nitric oxide levels arrive 2-3 hours after ingestion, putting you at maximum benefit right as you’re hitting the hardest stations.
15 Minutes Before
Your Wave
Take one energy gel with a few sips of water. This puts fast-acting carbohydrates into your bloodstream right as you start your first 1km run. Your pre-race meal has digested – the gel bridges the gap and gives you fuel for stations one through four.
During the Race – Station by
Station Fueling
Here’s where Hyrox nutrition differs most from marathon nutrition. A marathon lets you fuel consistently every 30-45 minutes during steady running. Hyrox gives you no convenient fueling moments – you’re either running, working a station, or transitioning between them. There’s no relaxed aid station jog where you can tear open a gel packet.
The Reality of Mid-
Race Fueling
For most athletes finishing in 60-90 minutes, you don’t need to fuel during the race. Your pre-race meal and gel provide enough glycogen for 90 minutes of mixed-intensity work. Mid-race fueling introduces stomach risk that outweighs the energy benefit for Hyrox-length efforts.
The exception:
If your expected finish time is over 90 minutes, or if you’re competing in Doubles where your total active time may stretch longer, take one gel during the transition between station four (burpee broad jumps) and the fifth 1km run. This is the natural halfway point and the moment where glycogen depletion starts affecting pace.
Wash the gel down with water only – never with a sports drink. Gel plus isotonic creates stomach problems that will destroy your second half.
Hydration During
the Race
Sip water at any opportunity – between stations, during transitions. Small sips, not gulps. The EXPO environment will be warmer than you trained in, and the combination of running and strength work generates enormous body heat. Dehydration sneaks up on you because the indoor setting masks how much you’re actually sweating.
The Caffeine Timing
Play
This is your secret weapon. Save your caffeine for when it matters most.
Take a Nutrition X Caffeine Melt – 100mg of fast-acting caffeine that dissolves on your tongue — during the transition before station six (farmer’s carry). No water needed, no chewing, no stomach risk.
Why station six? Because stations six through eight (farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges, wall balls) are where Hyrox races fall apart. Your grip is burning from the farmer’s carry, your legs are screaming from lunges, and wall balls demand everything you have left. Caffeine sharpens focus, reduces perceived effort, and gives you a mental edge precisely when your body is begging you to slow down.
Taking caffeine at the start wastes its peak effect on stations you can handle. Taking it at station six puts the peak right where the race gets ugly.
Finish Line – The First 30 Minutes
You crossed the finish. Your legs feel like concrete, your grip is gone, and your shirt could be wrung out.
Within 5 minutes: Drink water. A lot of it. You’ve just produced enormous body heat in a partially enclosed venue – rehydration is priority one.
Within 15 minutes: Take a Beet It Regen Cherry+ Recovery Shot. The tart cherry anthocyanins reduce the inflammation and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that Hyrox’s eccentric loading creates – sled pulls, lunges, and wall balls cause significant muscle damage that cherry compounds directly address.
Within 30 minutes: Get protein and carbohydrates into your system. A recovery shake mixed with water from the venue is ideal – fast-absorbing protein plus carbohydrates for glycogen replenishment. If you brought a protein cookie instead, eat it now with water.
Apply magnesium gel to your forearms (grip fatigue from farmer’s carry and sled pull), quads (sled push and lunges), and shoulders (wall balls and SkiErg). BetterYou Magnesium Gel delivers targeted relief to the muscles that just took the worst beating.
The Day After – Recovery Priority
Hyrox beats your body differently from running. The combination of eccentric loading (sled pulls, lunges), explosive movements (burpees), and sustained grip work (farmer’s carry, rowing) creates muscle damage across more muscle groups than any single-discipline event.
Morning: Light walking for 15-20 minutes. Blood flow helps clear metabolic waste from damaged tissue.
Nutrition: Keep protein high – 1.5-2g per kg of bodyweight. Your muscles are repairing across your entire body, not just your legs. Continue magnesium supplementation. Take another collagen shot for joint and tendon recovery.
No training for 3-5 days. Let the adaptation happen. The strength gains from your Hyrox effort lock in during recovery, not during the race itself.
Read our complete guides on pre and post workout supplementation and supplements for runners for detailed recovery protocols.
The Complete Hyrox Supplement Checklist
| When | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 5 days out (daily) | Beetroot shot + magnesium + creatine (if using) | Nitrate loading, muscle prep |
| Night before with dinner | Hydra 10 sachet in 500ml water | Sodium pre-loading |
| Race morning | Beetroot shot (if using for race day) | Peak nitric oxide at stations |
| 60 min before wave | Hydra+ tablet in 200ml water | Light electrolyte top-up |
| 15 min before wave | Energy gel + water | Immediate carb boost |
| Station 6 transition | Caffeine Melt on tongue | Mental boost for hardest stations |
| Finish (5 min) | Water | Rehydration priority |
| Finish (15 min) | Cherry recovery shot | Anti-inflammatory, DOMS reduction |
| Finish (30 min) | Recovery shake or protein cookie | Muscle repair, glycogen replenishment |
| Finish (on muscles) | Magnesium gel on forearms, quads, shoulders | Targeted muscle relief |
| Evening | Magnesium bisglycinate | Sleep quality, overnight recovery |
| Next day | Collagen shot + continued protein | Joint and tendon repair |
Browse the complete sports and active lifestyle range to build your Hyrox nutrition kit.