How hybrid athletes get injured (and how to avoid it)

Kat Torre is a physical therapist, strength and conditioning specialist, and running coach who works at Pure Sports in Washington, DC. Kat has spent the last 12 years treating, educating, and healing athletes. Kat works with many hybrid athletes in the DC area, including both of the authors of this newsletter. We talked to her about the unique stresses of hybrid competitions, the most frequent causes of injury among hybrid athletes, and simple exercises to stay healthy. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The fitness industry has changed a lot since you started as a physical therapist. Have the typical injuries that bring athletes to your practice changed as well? 

It’s interesting – when I first started working in PT almost 12 years ago, I saw a lot of bursitis injuries. Those are injuries near joints that can be caused by frequent repetitive motion. A lot of the injuries were inflammatory and got severe pretty quickly. You had to stop doing everything right away.

Fast forward to today, and there are so many avenues of fitness. Pilates, yoga, and HIIT [high-intensity interval training] are more mainstream. Even education around mobility and recovery is popular. The majority of athletes I see are not doing just one thing anymore. It is rare to see runners that don’t strength train. What that means is I now see athletes coming in after a year of having a little nagging injury. Often, the root of the issue is not where the pain is, and that can be challenging. 

You work with a lot of athletes doing hybrid fitness or competing in hybrid races. What is the most common issue you see in hybrid athletes?

I will almost always see someone with medial (inner) or lateral (outer) knee pain, normally stemming from an IT band issue or lateral hip weakness. I talk about these components separately, but they are all connected in that chain. Lateral hip weakness is a strong driving force of most pain I see in these types of athletes.

I explain to hybrid athletes that everything that they do is moving forward. You run forward, you squat forward, and most movements are forward-moving. Hyrox is all forward movements. Deka has one lateral movement, and the rest are all forward movements, just for a shorter span of time. Deka requires a bit more power, and Hyrox is more about muscular endurance. But both can uncover imbalances, particularly with the type of training and volume both require.

If you think about running – and most of these events have a lot of running – it is one singular leg movement at a time. And what helps you stay on one leg as you run is your lateral hip. If you don’t train the muscles that support that, you are putting constant pressure on that lateral hip. When you get tired, overcompensation of the knee, foot, and back shows up as pain. It creates a whole chain of dysfunction.

What are some things that hybrid athletes can do to avoid injury?

Athletes should be dedicating their time to working those lateral muscles. You will see a change in performance and in recovery by adding in movements and mobility that target lateral weakness.

Movements

1. Banded monster walks

2. Single leg squats

3. Lateral lunges

4. Curtsy lunges

Mobility

1. Pigeon stretch

2. 90/90 stretch

3. Hip CARs (controlled articular rotation)

4. Kneeling hip flexor stretch

What else do hybrid athletes need to keep in mind to stay healthy?

Remember that even if you do a really tough workout, you still have to do the not-so-sexy work. Core work, mobilization, and activation are especially important if you are competing or wanting to perform at a high level. Those are the things that can prevent injuries in the long term. Even three times a week while you are watching TV can make a big difference. The boring stuff is what can make you a pain-free athlete. That’s the way you can stay healthy and keep doing what you love for a long time. 

Hybrid athlete of the week: Tyson Greaves

Name: Tyson Greaves
Age: 36
Hometown: Columbus, GA

When did you start hybrid training? I got into Hybrid training in Fall 2022. I competed in the New York Hyrox without much prep and without the right gear. I barely made it to the finish line, but I got hooked instantly. Now, I’ve got six races behind me, and the 5:30 AM Hybrid training sessions with my teammates at Elevate Interval Fitness in DC are easily the best part of my week.

Do you have a race goal? I think it would be dope to compete in every race division at least once. I’ve got a couple of Open and Pro races under my belt already, and I’m eyeing a GoRuck race in Miami and then Men’s Doubles in DC. From there, I’d love to earn patches from all the other race categories.

Favorite race to date? Sydney, for sure. Being part of that historic first race in Australia was epic. I met some awesome people while in line to register, including a guy who was training to set the world record for lawn-mowing, and they all stuck around to cheer me on.

Favorite station? My favorite station, hands-down, is the lunge station. For me, this is where all the thoughts of doubt and despair get pushed aside, and the grit and resolve kick in. Knowing all I have left from there is a final victory lap and 100 wall balls gives me an extra spark. Plus, this is the one station where every competitor you pass tells you, “Keep it up” or “You’ve got this.” It’s an awesome reminder that I’m part of a community of people who embrace challenges and who uplift each other.

Least favorite station? There’s something about the Burpee Broad Jump station that makes me rethink my life choices. It’s sandwiched between my two weakest stations (the Sled Pull and the Rower), and it just never seems like it’s going to end. All the doubt and despair that I mentioned dissipated during the lunges seem to be at their peak for me somewhere around reps 5 and 6 on the BBJs.

Something you wish you knew when you started racing? My coaches always say to start these races at the speed you want to finish. These races are long and intense. They’re all about managing energy, holding back where it makes sense, and knowing when it’s time to go out there and eat! 

Provocation of the week: Rylan Schadegg on PEDs

Rylan Schadegg, an experienced hybrid competitor, has burst into the elite ranks of Hyrox over the last few weeks. In October, he won Hyrox Valencia with a time of 58:11, qualifying him for the first Hyrox major of the year in Chicago last weekend. In Chicago, Schadegg finished in 55:46 – one of the fastest times ever – finishing in second place and securing a spot in next year’s Hyrox World Championships. 

But Schadegg says he might not be around the sport for long. 

In an Instagram post, Schadegg said he was disappointed to learn there was “no rule “ against Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) in Hyrox. He said the failure to create clear guidelines may “create a sport where the young people think they need to do drugs to compete at the highest level.” (Schadegg has a background in competitive cycling, which was tainted by pervasive doping.) He said that he does not believe many Hyrox competitors currently take PEDs, “but with a sport growing as fast as Hyrox, it is only a matter of time.”

At 25, Schadegg is the youngest of the top male Hyrox athletes. Now, Schadegg says that “if there is no rule [against PEDs] put in place by the end of the season, I definitely will not continue with any sort of focus.” 

Rules concerning PEDs have not been a focus of Hyrox, likely because prize money is minimal and there are few athletes competing professionally. But, as Hyrox co-founder Christian Toetzke told The Hybrid Letter, that is expected to change. Toetzke expects more lucrative sponsorship opportunities to create a new class of professional Hyrox racers.

What do you think? Should Hyrox create a rule against PEDs? And would such a move be meaningful without a system of testing for elite athletes? 

Look for an interview with Schadegg in a future edition of The Hybrid Letter.