Hotel Room Hyrox Training: Keeping Your Prep Alive While Travelling (No-Gym Series, Part 5)
Travelling for work or holiday should not stall your Hyrox preparation. Here are five hotel room sessions of 20–35 minutes each, designed for any phase of training, that require nothing but your bodyweight and the floor space next to a hotel bed.
The travelling athlete’s problem
You have been training consistently for 8 weeks. Your race is in 4 weeks. Then a work trip, a wedding weekend, or a family holiday lands in the middle of your training block.
Most athletes either skip training entirely (and lose fitness) or spend the trip frustrated about disrupted preparation. Neither is necessary. A hotel room — even a small one — has enough space to maintain Hyrox-relevant fitness for trips of 1–7 days.
The goal of hotel room training is not to make new fitness gains. It is to maintain what you have built. A 25-minute hotel session every other day for a 5-day trip preserves your training adaptation almost completely.
The full 6-part No-Gym Hyrox Athlete series
New parts drop every 2nd day. Bookmark the No-Gym Hyrox Athlete hub to follow along.
- Part 1 — Training for Hyrox Without a Gym: What You Can Actually Achieve
- Part 2 — The 12-Week No-Equipment Hyrox Training Plan
- Part 3 — The £50 Equipment Upgrade: Bands and a Kettlebell
- Part 4 — Park and Outdoor Training for Hyrox
- Part 5 — Hotel Room Hyrox Training While Travelling (you are here)
- Part 6 — The Race-Week No-Gym Taper
What you have in a hotel room
Floor space: Most rooms have at least a 2m × 1.5m clear area (next to the bed or in front of the desk). Enough for squats, lunges, push-ups, planks, and burpees.
A bed: Useful for elevated push-ups, decline push-ups, and as a marker for movements.
A wall: For wall sits, handstand holds, and wall-supported core work.
A chair or desk: For tricep dips, step-ups, and elevated movements.
A water bottle or two: Improvised light weights if needed.
What you do not have: equipment for SkiErg, sled work, or rowing simulation. Hotel sessions therefore focus on the stations and components that translate to bodyweight: running (outside, even briefly), burpees, lunges, squats, and core work.
Pre-trip preparation
Before any travel, decide on three things:
1. Will you run? Most cities, even foreign ones, have safe running routes. Look up “running route [hotel name]” in advance. A 30-minute run is the single most valuable training you can do while travelling and the easiest to lose if you do not plan ahead.
2. What is your minimum acceptable session? For a busy trip, agree with yourself: “I will do at least one 20-minute session every other day.” This commitment, even if minimal, prevents the all-or-nothing trap.
3. When will you train? Mornings work best on travel days. Evenings get hijacked by work meetings, dinners, and tiredness. Train before the day’s other demands arrive.
Session 1: The 20-Minute Maintenance Session
For trips where you have minimum time. Maintains baseline fitness without being demanding.
- 5 min jog in place or shadow boxing for warm-up
- 5 rounds of:
- 20 air squats
- 10 push-ups
- 15 walking lunges per leg (or stationary lunges if space limited)
- 30 sec plank
- 30 sec rest
- 2 min cool-down stretching
Total: ~22 min. Use this on travel days, jet-lag days, or days with significant other demands.
Session 2: The 30-Minute Hyrox Maintenance Session
For when you have more time. Targets the cardiovascular and muscular endurance specifically needed for Hyrox.
Warm-up: 5 min jog in place + dynamic stretches
Main work — 4 rounds, no rest between exercises within a round, 60 sec rest between rounds:
- 30 air squats
- 20 burpees (replace with mountain climbers if downstairs neighbours are an issue)
- 25 walking lunges per leg
- 15 push-ups
- 45 sec plank
Finish: 5 min cool-down with full-body stretching.
Total: ~35 min. Use this every other day during a trip lasting 5+ days.
Session 3: The 25-Minute “Stations Without Stations” Session
A bodyweight session that sequences movements to mimic the muscle demand pattern of an actual Hyrox.
Warm-up: 5 min movement
Round 1 (SkiErg substitute): 50 standing toe touches (hinge from hip, reach down, stand tall, drive both arms down) — pulls the hip hinge and arm-drive pattern.
Round 2 (Sled push substitute): 50 squats with explosive stand-up at the top.
Round 3 (Sled pull substitute): 30 reverse lunges per leg.
Round 4 (Burpee broad jumps): 30 burpees.
Round 5 (Rowing substitute): 30 superman pulls (lying face-down, simulate a rowing pull motion with arms).
Round 6 (Farmers carry substitute): 60 sec plank in tall position with shoulder taps.
Round 7 (Lunges): 30 walking lunges per leg.
Round 8 (Wall balls substitute): 50 squat to overhead reach.
Total: ~25 min. Mimics the variety of Hyrox without requiring equipment.
Session 4: Race Pace Tempo Run + Bodyweight Finisher
If your hotel has access to a treadmill (most chain hotels do), or you can run outside.
Warm-up: 5 min easy jog
Tempo block: 4 × 5 min at moderate-hard effort (zone 4) with 90 sec recovery jog between
Bodyweight finisher (back in room):
- 30 burpees
- 50 squats
- 60 sec plank
Cool-down: 5 min walk + stretching
Total: ~40 min. Use this once per trip if time allows — keeps your running fitness sharp.
Session 5: The Mobility and Recovery Session
For travel-heavy days where flying or driving has stiffened you up.
- 5 min easy walk or jog in place
- 10 cat-cow stretches
- 10 thoracic rotations each side
- 10 deep squat holds (drop into a deep squat, hold for 3 sec, stand, repeat)
- 10 lunges per leg, focusing on full hip flexor stretch
- 10 hip circles each side
- 5 min easy plank/dead bug/bird dog rotations
- 5 min full-body stretching
Total: 25 min. Not a fitness-building session — a stiffness-clearing session that lets your next training session be more effective.
How to schedule sessions during a trip
| Trip length | Sessions to aim for |
|---|---|
| 1–2 days | 1 session, ideally Session 2 or 3 |
| 3–4 days | 2 sessions, alternate Session 2 and 5 |
| 5–7 days | 3 sessions, mix Sessions 2, 3, and 4 if you have running access |
| Longer trip | Same frequency as your normal training week |
Use Session 5 (mobility) on heavy travel days regardless of whether you do another session.
Considerations specific to hotel rooms
Downstairs neighbours: Burpees and jumping movements transmit through floors. If you are above another guest, consider:
- Substituting burpees with squat thrusts (no jump)
- Replacing broad jumps with lunges
- Doing jumping movements on a folded towel for impact reduction
If still concerned, ask the hotel for a ground-floor room or a corner room when booking.
Time of day: Early morning (before 8am) or after 8pm is when other guests are most likely to be sensitive to noise. Mid-morning sessions reduce this risk.
Sweating in the room: Open a window if possible. Place a towel on the floor under your training spot. Hotel rooms accumulate humidity quickly during a 30-minute session.
Footwear: Train barefoot or in clean socks rather than dirty outdoor shoes. The carpet will thank you, and barefoot work actually improves foot and ankle activation.
What’s next
Part 6 — the final part of the series — covers race week without gym access. How to taper, sharpen, and arrive ready when your only available training is bodyweight and running.
→ Part 6: The Race-Week No-Gym Taper
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