David Ledoux

Nobody talks about this part of Hyrox training. Let me explain. Today started like any normal Saturday training session. Doors opened at 8 am and it was already 35C. I grabbed the sled and the 10 m of turf in a big garbage bag and headed outside ready to work solo for an hour. Then my buddy Vaughan zoomed up on his red Vespa. He and I made the podium together back in March at Hyrox Cancun in Men's Doubles 50-54. Oh shit. The atmosphere instantly changed from a solo grind to "Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong!". You need a friend like Vaughan in your life. An absolute savage. He's the kind of guy who is up for any challenge and will push you to your limit. We set up the 10 meters of turf, the sled with rope, and started loading. The warmup was 10 meters push, 10 meters pull, then a 100 m run. Then you did a 20 m towel carry with 70 lbs followed by a 100 m run. What's a towel carry? Our heaviest dumbbells are 50 lbs, and our heaviest kettlebells are 53 lbs. But if you loop a towel through the handles and grip the towel, you can carry 2 kettlebells in each hand. So each towel had 2, 35 lb kettlebells. 70lbs in each hand. 140 lbs in total. Almost my body weight. The sled felt like a toy during the first 2 rounds of 45-90. Then 135-180-230. I threw on another 50 lb dumbbell. The pile and the sled weighed 300 lbs. We did 6 rounds of 10 m push, 10 m pull, 100 m run, 20 m towel carry, 100 m run. I threw the 100 lb sandbag on it for the coup-de-grace. 400 lb sled push. Unload the bag. 300 lb pull back. Reload the bag. A couple of rounds of that and it was 8:45 am. The Competition Class spilled outside with us. They were doing ring dips and heavy overhead carries with dumbbells. The atmosphere was charged. Music blasting, sweat dripping off of bodies everywhere you looked, chalk, and the quietness of focused work getting done. Vaughan and I took all the plates, sandbags, kettlebells, dumbells, turf, rope and sled back inside. He grabbed a wallball and the rower. He did a 1000 m row and 100 wallballs. He did a personal PR with an opening set of 50 wallballs unbroken. I went outside to a small patch of gravel under a palm tree. I clicked the stopwatch on my Garmin and hit the gas. For Time: 24 goblet squats with 35# kettlebell 100 m run 18 gs 100 m run 15 gs 100 m run 12 gs 100 m run 9:07 Remember that scene from Raiders of The Lost Ark when their faces were melting? That was me. I stumbled around for a minute. My shirt fell off, my hair was sticking up in the air like a haystack. I had that wild-eyed crazed look. I could see a couple of guys I didn't know waiting for the 9 am class. They were looking at me. I could see a mix of concern and fear on their faces. I remember that look. That was me in December of 2015 when I first walked in the doors for my first class so many years ago. Why do I write this stuff down? Life moves so quickly. There are amazing people in your life right now that won't be there next year. But we take so much for granted. We act like we have all the time in the world don't we? If you're reading these words, this is the sign you've been waiting for. Decide to do hard things,. To take risks. To live outside your comfort zone. Tell people you care about that they're special to you. Be the example. Say hola first. Smile first. Give away hugs and high fives. Be the guy that brings the energy and enthusiasm to the moment and share it freely. I appreciate you.

44 year old Mark dropped 2 pant sizes and ran a 5K in 11 months. No crash diets. No 6 day gym splits. Just one big goal and daily check ins. Here's exactly how it went down. First he picked one goal. Not "get healthy." Not "lose weight." "Finish a 5K under 32 minutes." That single target cut through the chaos of his job and family schedule. Everything else became noise. He told his wife and two closest buddies. Not for cheerleading. For pressure. He knew most people around him would quietly hope he failed because it made their own excuses feel safer. Every morning he sent me one message. What he ate. How he trained. How he felt. No essays. Just the facts. I replied with one short adjustment or "good work." That loop kept him honest when life tried to pull him off track. He built the training around his real life. Short morning runs before the kids woke up. One longer session on Saturdays. He protected those blocks like meetings with his boss. Missed days got made up same week. Food was simple. He tracked protein and total calories in a note on his phone. No fancy app. He still ate dinner out with his wife twice a week. Just made better calls. The one big goal made the small decisions easier. At month 8 he hit a wall. Work got crazy. Energy crashed. We adjusted the goal slightly but didn't quit. He kept the daily check in. That was the part that actually moved the needle. One clear goal plus daily accountability beats motivation every single time. You got this. If you're over 40 and ready for your own One Big Goal, comment GOAL and I'll send the free guide that starts it.

The other day, standing in front of the bathroom mirror at 10:28 PM, you caught your reflection and didn't recognize the guy looking back. Just a tired face, the lingering guilt of another day where you promised you'd hit the gym and instead spent 4 hours putting out fires on your laptop. No energy left. Just quiet disappointment.

@FitasaMamaBear So good. Keep setting the example!

10.2 sweaty kms this morning. There was a time I couldn’t run thirty seconds without stopping. Now this is my regular Sunday run. The only thing that changes is I started showing up. It’s never too late to start.

@Jainadave_ You're getting stronger! It will come. Have you tried static holds at the top position?

Me vs. my urge to do my pull-up before 2026 ends. Please pray for me

@GymFiesta Wow. Can you imagine how many times you fall in the early days learning a one arm handstand on a dumbbell?

Gym reactions to a calisthenics athlete

@Upworkout Incredible. You ever do sled push? I bet you can move a stack.

Some wholesome gym bro content for y’all 😭🤝🏾 661 x 1 .. My first attempt was disappointing since it’s a weight I’ve done several times before, I wasn’t about to leave it at that with my comp only 2 weeks away!

@LeanStrongLife1 Is it a bulk if you have abs?

Abs at 40 hanging on 9 months into the bulk 175->190

@RachyBull No momentum. So good. BBQ the muscles into new growth.

As I was doing this, I felt like I was cheating myself somehow 🤷🏻‍♀️slow and steady didn't feel enough? But my muscles have a new found HEAT 🔥🔥🔥💪💪💪 #carnivore #over50 #buildmuscle...

@RXRedHead_ Yup. All part of the process. Learning how to bail is a valuable skill in fitness, isn't it?

Yikes, that one was scary 😨😬 #crossfitgirls #ringmuscleup #stronggirls #girlswholift

@Gymvibe_ Outstanding. Stefi is even better at deadlifting.

The cage is meant only for animals

@WealthMail Do you have a goal in mind at the event?

Throwback to last year’s Arnold. Who’s trying to deadlift with me at this year’s Arnold? 👀

@Metabolic1992 Nice work Joshua. Work got done. Sweat achieved.

How bad were these reps? Do you include unilateral movements in your routine?

@__NadiaN Great job. You'll always have a family when you're part of a gym.

since my hip injury, my confidence has been down like it’s never been before. But I have this incredible group of athletes from my gym who talk me up, get me out of my head, & push me always. I ran my longest distance today, I’m not a runner, ndiz’thandela intsimbi. It was tough.

@RepByRepX Exactly. Gravity becomes the sparring partner.

2 months at the gym, and I've realized something: A lot of men don't start lifting because they love fitness. They start because life hit them hard. The breakup. The rejection. The self-doubt. The weights became therapy. And somewhere along the way, they became stronger than the pain.

@thestrongdoc We did these at CrossFit class recently. Really felt them the next day.

Some movements don't let you fake strength. A heavy leg press is strength. But it's not the whole definition of it. There's being strong in one fixed direction. And then there's being strong when you have to balance, shift, control the load, and still move well through a position you don't normally train. At some point, strength has to exist outside the most supported, predictable patterns too. That's where you get exposed. And I think that's the part people avoid. Once you're strong in one direction, it's easy to assume that's the whole of what you've got. But the body isn't one-dimensional. We get good at one version of ourselves and settle there, because anything new makes us a beginner again.

Most men over 40 think they need more goals. Wrong. One single, clear goal cuts through the noise of your job, kids, and mortgage better than any app or planner ever could. I watched a 47-year-old client finally drop 2 pant sizes and run his first 5k once he stopped juggling "get fit, save money, be present dad" and locked in. Everything else fell into line around it. I break this down in full in my free guide. Comment GOAL.

You aren't losing your fitness. You’re losing your tolerance for discomfort. Every time you choose the couch over the gym your ability to handle stress shrinks. You’re becoming fragile. You're trading your capacity to push through a tough afternoon for the fleeting relief of doing nothing. Soon, the smallest challenge will feel like a swarm of snakes in your gut.

@Bartek_Kamyk_ Great job, that's a big bench at any age! I'm just curious, how many strict pullups can he do?

Steve, 47, benched 2 plates for the first time in his life today. He’d never lifted before. Benched 50kg × 6 on his first session just 4 months ago. Police form and machine purists, feel free to come at me.

@NoContextHumans We'll take care of it for you

The British Museum coming back from holiday.