Hyrox Wall Ball Guide: Everything You Need To Know

What Are Wall Balls | Hyrox Weight & Target | Technique | Common Mistakes | Pacing | Exercises | Wall Ball Workout

Looking for a new fitness challenge this year? Signing up for a Hyrox race is a great way to keep motivated and improve your overall fitness. In this blog, PureGym Stockport South Assistant Gym Manager and Hyrox Athlete Marcus Rayfield breaks down everything you need to know about one of the Hyrox exercise stations, the wall ball.

Wall balls are a full body plyometric exercise that works multiple major muscle groups while improving strength, explosive power, coordination, and cardiovascular fitness. This exercise involves squatting down with a weighted ball held at chest height, exploding up while throwing the ball to the target, and then catching the ball as you sink back into a squat.

The main muscles worked in wall balls include:

• Quadriceps
• Glutes
• Hamstrings
• Chest
• Shoulders
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Core

The wall balls Hyrox station is the last station in a Hyrox race, meaning you will have completed 8x 1km run and 7 functional exercise stations by the time you reach this exercise. You will need to complete 100 wall ball reps to finish this station.

• Women and women doubles: 4kg ball to a 9 foot target
• Men, men doubles and mixed doubles: 6kg ball to a 10 foot target
• Women pro: 5kg ball to 9 foot target
• Men pro: 9kg ball to 10 foot target

Hyrox has strict standards on all its stations, and wall balls are no different. You must pick the ball up from the ground and stand completely upright before starting your first rep. For each rep to count, your knees need to go below 90 degrees and the ball needs to hit the centre of your designated target.

Wall balls are a challenging exercise, and particularly so in a Hyrox event when you are at the end of the race and likely the end of your limit. As the last station, making good time in this exercise can have a big impact on your overall Hyrox time. Here are three ways to help maximise your wall ball performance.

Learning what the common mistakes are in wall balls can help you to avoid these on the day, ensuring you move through your 100 reps as efficiently as possible.

• Squatting too shallow. It is important you are squatting to at least 90 degrees so that your reps count during the race. Squatting to full depth is also a more efficient way to perform wall balls and will help you maintain power. If you struggle with squatting deep enough during practice, use a box to help gauge when you have reached the correct depth.

• Poor catch position. Keep the ball at chest height to avoid unnecessary movement that can wear you out quicker.

• Rushing. Although you'll want to push yourself in this last station, avoid rushing and  maintain smooth, controlled movement to avoid early burnout.

The wall ball station is the last exercise in a Hyrox race so you may feel you have to worry less about pacing than in the other stations, but it's still important to pace to avoid burning out before your reps are done. At this point in the race you'll be fatigued so maintaining your energy is the only way to get through it:

• Breathe in during the squat, out on the throw to control heart rate.
• Break reps into structured sets (e.g., 15-15-10-10 instead of 50 unbroken).
• Maintain a steady cycle time - avoid rushing early.

A good Hyrox training plan will aim to improve your overall strength, power, speed, and fitness endurance so that you can power through each exercise station. While training each of the eight functional exercises is important, your workouts should include additional exercises that will help to strengthen the muscle groups involved in each Hyrox workout.

To improve your Hyrox wall ball, try adding these exercises into your workouts:

• Front squats: builds lower body strength
• Thrusters: builds explosive power
• Wall sit holds: builds lower body endurance
• High-rep shoulder presses: builds endurance in pressing muscles
• Box jumps: builds explosive power
• High-rep air squats: builds lower-body endurance

In addition to the above training exercises, incorporate wall ball focused workouts to help build technique and speed for this station. This EMOM 10 Minute Wall Ball Workout can be added on to the end of any workout 1-2 times a week to ensure you are regularly practicing wall ball exercises.

EMOM 10

• Odd minutes: 15-20 wall balls

• Even minutes: 10-15 cal SkiErg or Assault Bike (to simulate Hyrox fatigue)

• Goal: Maintain consistent effort while controlling heart rate.

Need more Hyrox training advice? Check out our Hyrox hub here, or join one of our Hyrox classes.