Karla Maganto Parisotto was feeling uninspired with her regular exercise routine, when she saw a concept on social media that sparked her interest.
"I was feeling really unmotivated, really flat, needed something different to do," she said.
"I was just scrolling on TikTok on social media, and I kept seeing all these Hyrox challenges.
"I've gone, 'you know what? Why don't I try do it? Why don't I try to motivate myself and do something different?'"
The 26-year-old — who comes from a football background — is one of thousands in Australia and around the world joining the Hyrox movement as a "hybrid athlete".
"It just went crazy, I knew everyone doing it … now it's just the new thing," she said.
Hyrox — which stands for hybrid rockstar — is a fitness race that combines eight 1 kilometre runs with eight functional exercises like the row and ski ergometre.
It's one of the fastest growing fitness sports in the world with races in more than 11 countries and 30 cities.
The Melbourne event late last year was almost sold out, while the upcoming Brisbane event has seen huge demand.
This race has global leaderboards and a cumulative World Championships at the end of each race season, with Australia's Joanna Wietrzyk currently the third fastest in the world.
For Maganto Parisotto, her training schedule in the lead up to a Hyrox event is structured and intense.
"I train about six days a week, with sessions in the mornings and afternoons, balancing strength, endurance and movement,"she said.
"My routine includes two lower body strength days, two upper body strength days, and one HIIT session each week.
"I also aim for three runs, two short and a longer run.
"Recovery is just as important so I usually dedicate two days to it, incorporating compression, ice baths and sauna sessions."
Hybrid training not a new concept
People who train and compete in Hyrox events are part of a broader fitness movement on social media, branded as hybrid training.
A hybrid athlete generally refers to someone who trains across multiple disciplines, like endurance running, cycling and strength work in the gym.
Fitness influencers are sharing their training schedules and workout ideas and thousands of followers are trying it for themselves.
Musculoskeletal physiotherapist Nick Ilic said it's not a new concept.
"We've applied it [hybrid training] to athletes such as heptathletes and decathletes for a while," Ilic said.
"You can also apply it to tactical athletes such as special forces soldiers … you can apply it to sports like AFL where you need to run up to ten kilometres in a game but have the strength to tackle hard.
"I think seeing muscle bound guys with their shirt off, running marathon distances is intriguing, is interesting, is extraordinary and all of these things feed engagement on social media."
How to avoid burnout or injury
While fitness trends like this generally promote positive outcomes, hybrid training needs to be exercised with some caution to avoid burnout or injury.
Ilic said progressive overload is key.
"Big jumps in training — like going from eight hours one week to 15 for the next two weeks put sub-optimal stresses on the body," Ilic said.
"If you're making a start and you're already doing a lot of strength work, get into the endurance stuff slowly and gradually.
"If you're an endurance athlete … get into the strength work gradually and maybe seek the advice of a strength conditioning coach, to get some technique checks."
While hybrid training often requires skill acquisition, like correct swimming techniques or how to row, Ilic said time also needs to be allocated specifically to nutrition and recovery.
"Make sure you're fuelling yourself properly and getting your nutrition right, because you can have an imbalance between energy output and energy intake, and that can cause a whole bunch of medical issues down the track," Ilic said.
"From hormone dysregulation, menstrual dysfunction, lower testosterone in men and bone stress injuries such as stress fractures particularly in women.
"Recovery may come down the bottom of the list [of priorities], when it's really important to factor these things in so you can make sure you perform and recover appropriately after big training loads."
'It's a social thing'
When done correctly, as Maganto Parisotto found, it was the camaraderie and diversity that kept her and her community back for more.
"There were different fitness components, different ages, different body types," she said.
"It's the community in it, everyone's doing it, it's a social thing as well.
"Like, for example you come to the gym, we have a program, and you just do it with people that are starting up, go for coffee after.
"We go for runs together and train together."
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