The row is station 5 of 8, and you cover 1000 m on it. That puts it in the middle of the race rather than at the front, which changes everything about how it should be raced. Nobody sits down at this machine feeling fresh: you arrive with a heart rate already high, a back that has already pulled a sled, and a grip that still has a carry to survive.
The row is the only station you spend sitting down, and the rulebook explicitly permits you to stop and rest. That makes it the place a race can be quietly rescued, or quietly thrown away.
- The row is station 5 of 8 over 1000 m. No load, no division split: every racer covers the same distance.
- The stroke order is legs, then body, then arms on the drive, and the exact reverse coming back.
- Section 8.5 of the rulebook presets the damper and the footplate position for every division, and you may change the damper as often as you like once racing.
- Stay seated until the full distance is complete and a judge confirms it. Leaving the rower early is a disqualification, not a time penalty.
- The race is eight rounds, each a 1 km run followed by one functional workout station, so the row is a place to recalibrate breathing, not to chase a split.
Where the row sits in a HYROX race, and why that changes everything
Position is the whole argument for how to row. This is station 5 of 8, reached through ROXZONE, the central transition zone athletes run through between every run and station, after a 1000 m leg. Worldwide, that sequence is fixed: SkiErg, Sled Push, Sled Pull, Burpee Broad Jump, Rowing, Farmers Carry, Sandbag Lunges, Wall Balls. Our guide to every HYROX station walks the floor end to end.
Only the opening leg is run on fresh legs off the start line, and the row sits deep enough into the sequence that you meet it with the back half of the race still ahead. You come in off the burpee broad jump at station 4, which wrecks breathing more than anything else on the floor, and you leave into the farmers carry at station 6 over 200 m, a pure grip test. Both neighbours shape how you should row.
Why the rower is not the SkiErg in disguise
Two Concept2 machines, the same distance to cover, and almost nothing else in common. On the rower your feet are strapped down, your body slides along a rail, and the power starts in the quads and glutes. On the SkiErg you stand with your feet planted and the power comes down from the lats through a hinge. That is why they land differently: the SkiErg opens at station 1 over 1000 m on the freshest legs of the day, while the row asks those same legs for a hard effort halfway through. Our ski erg technique guide covers that machine.
The rules a judge enforces on the HYROX rower
Everything below comes from section 8.5 and the penalty code table of the Season 9 (2026/27) rulebooks, both linked at the bottom of the page. Where the Doubles book is more explicit than the Singles book, that is noted.
| What the rulebook says | What that looks like in the seat |
|---|---|
| The Judging Team resets the monitor | You do not touch the screen before you start. A judge sets it. |
| Feet on the footplates before the handle | Touching the handle first costs 15 seconds per infringement under the penalty code table, with no warning first. |
| Stay seated until the distance is complete | No standing, no stepping off, no dismounting early. |
| You may stop rowing at any time | Re-rack the handle and rest, feet on or off the plates. Explicitly permitted. |
| Wait for the judge to confirm | You may only leave once a judge confirms completion. The Doubles book spells out raising an arm to signal. |
| The damper is preset for every division | Section 8.5 sets it to resistance 6, and you may change it as often as you like once racing. |
| The footplates are preset for every division | Section 8.5 sets them to position 4, and you may adjust them before you begin. |
Stopping is legal. The rulebook permits you to stop at any point, place the handle back in its holder and rest, feet on or off the footplates. Hardly any athlete knows this, so they keep pulling because they believe they have to, and row themselves into a hole rather than taking eight controlled seconds to get their breathing back.
Leaving the rower early is a disqualification, not 15 seconds. The rulebook's penalty code table lists leaving the rower before the full distance as a DQ, recorded as an incomplete station. Disqualification ends your race: a disqualified racer may not carry on competing in that event. Nothing else here is priced near it. Touching the handle before your feet are set is a flat 15 seconds per infringement with no warning attached, and the remaining faults run the usual ladder of a warning, then a time penalty, then a further penalty for each one after. Standing up early sits outside all of it. Our guide to HYROX rules, judging and penalties covers the wider judging picture.
The four phases of the HYROX rowing stroke
One stroke, four beats, in this order every single time.
- Catch. Shins vertical, arms straight, shoulders relaxed in front of the hips, chest tall and core braced. This is a loaded position, not a rest.
- Drive. Legs first, then swing the body back, then draw the arms. Push the machine away from you rather than yanking the handle towards you.
- Finish. Legs flat, a slight backward lean, handle drawn into the lower chest, elbows past the torso, wrists flat and level.
- Recovery. The exact reverse: arms away, body forward, then let the knees bend. Slower than the drive, and deliberately calm.
Concept2, who manufacture the machine, put the drive-to-recovery ratio at roughly one to two, so the recovery takes about twice as long as the drive. That is their HYROX training guidance rather than a rulebook requirement, but the point holds on race day: the recovery is where your breathing settles, and rushing it is how a controlled row turns into a redline.
This breakdown, from an indoor rowing instructor who also races HYROX, works through posture and where the power actually comes from.
Legs, body, arms, and why the order is not negotiable
Breaking the arms early is the most common fault here, and it happens because the handle is the thing in your hands, so pulling it feels like the way to make the machine move. Mechanically it is backwards. Your legs are the largest muscle group you own and your arms are among the smallest, so a stroke that leads with the arms asks the weakest link to work while the strongest one waits. Less power per stroke, faster fatigue, and you burn out exactly the forearms the carry is about to need. Push the seat back with your legs, let the handle follow, and the arms become the last few centimetres of a movement rather than the whole thing.
How far to lean back at the finish
A slight lean past vertical is correct. A deep lay-back, where the torso drops towards the rail on every stroke, is not. The extra lean feels powerful and mostly is not: it arrives after the legs have finished driving, so it adds range without adding much force to the flywheel. What it does add is core fatigue, a slower recovery, and a hip flexor bill that lands on the first fifty metres of the run out.
Grip, and the debt you are taking on
Hold the handle firmly enough to control it and no firmer. Relaxed hands, flat wrists, and an open grip on the way forward, where the chain is pulling you in and there is nothing to fight. The sled pull at station 3 already took a bite out of your forearms, and the carry at station 6 is waiting. Anything you squeeze out of your hands here is borrowed at a bad rate.
Damper setting, drag, and what the rulebook actually presets
The most misunderstood question at the station, and most answers circulating online are answering a different question than the one being asked.
Start with what a damper is. It is an air-flow lever on the side of the flywheel cage, not a resistance dial. Opening it lets more air in, so the flywheel slows faster between strokes and each pull feels heavier and more weight-like. Closing it makes the stroke feel lighter and faster. It changes the character of the stroke rather than simply making the machine harder.
Now the part that matters on race day. Section 8.5 of the Season 9 (2026/27) Singles rulebook presets the damper to resistance 6 for every division before racing begins, and states plainly that racers may adjust it as many times as they wish. So the setting you sit down to is not a choice made for your division, and it is not locked.
Concept2 recommend a lower damper range in their own HYROX training guidance, and that is where most of the numbers quoted in HYROX discussions come from. Keep it in its box. Even HYROX-specific advice from the people who build the machine is guidance for how to train, not a statement of what the race machine is set to, and the rulebook still presets 6. Quoting Concept2's number as the race setting is citing the right source for the wrong question.
The honest coaching answer sits underneath both. Damper preference is a fit question, and you find yours by rowing at a few settings in training when you are tired. On race day most athletes are better served leaving the machine as they find it, because working a lever at near-maximum heart rate costs real seconds and returns almost nothing.
The footplate position
Section 8.5 presets the footplates to position 4 for every division and permits racers to adjust them before they begin. Concept2 suggest the strap sits across the ball of the foot, which for most people means it crosses the widest part of the shoe rather than the laces.
The practical point is not the number, it is the speed. Straps are fiddly with shaking hands and a high heart rate, and the transition is timed. Sit, strap, first stroke, as one rehearsed movement.
Stroke rate versus split, how to pace the row
Look at what surrounds this machine. 8 separate runs add up to 8 km on foot, and the row is a few minutes in a seat in the middle of that. Rowing is not what your race is made of. This station is a chance to bring a heart rate down while still covering ground, not a time trial with an audience.
Understand the lever and the rest follows. A lower stroke rate with a long, committed pull and a higher rate with a shorter, snappier one can produce the same split at very different metabolic costs. The lower rate loads the legs harder per stroke and buys more recovery between efforts. The higher rate spreads the work but keeps your breathing pinned. The right one is whichever leaves you able to run out of the station.
You will not find a target split or a prescribed rate on this page. The rulebook sets neither, and borrowing one from an athlete whose engine is nothing like yours just hands you a number to fail against. Concept2's HYROX training guidance suggests a cadence range, a reasonable place to start in the gym, but what governs race day is your own split under fatigue, off a run. Our HYROX pacing guide covers how the row fits into the wider race-day splits.
The transition in and out of the rower
The part nobody trains. There is a decision before you sit: strap tight and lose two seconds, or strap loose and lose power on every stroke. Take the two seconds, then use the first three strokes long and unhurried to find the rhythm.
Going out matters more. Standing up after a hard row is disorienting: the legs have been horizontal and loaded for minutes, and the first strides feel worse than they should. Expect that, and let the first fifty metres be slow on purpose. Sprint off the seat and everything you saved by rowing sensibly is gone inside two hundred metres.
Splitting the row in Doubles and Relay
Across Singles, Doubles, Team Relay (4 athletes), and Adaptive, the row is the same length every time.
Doubles partners share one 1000 m, divided however suits them. The rulebook gives its own "you go, I go" example of switching after a self-selected distance, so pairs are free to work to their strengths. Three restrictions apply here: the resting partner stays in the marked area behind the working partner and must not obstruct other racers, partners may not pass the handle directly to each other, and partners may not adjust the damper or the footstraps for one another. That last one catches pairs out: if your partner wants the plates moved, they move them on their own turn, and it comes out of the clock. Our guide to racing HYROX doubles shows how pairs divide the rest of the floor.
Relay is the one format where rowing hard is defensible, because a single athlete takes the whole 1000 m and then hands over. Even so, hold something back unless this is your final rotation. If another round is coming, it will not be the row, but it is still a run and a station, and emptying yourself on the erg buys a fast split you pay for in a leg you have not raced yet.
How to train HYROX rowing technique
Rowing volume alone will not fix a HYROX row. Three different jobs, and they do not substitute for each other.
Own the sequence. Legs-only pulls with the arms and back locked out, then legs plus body, then the full stroke, all at low rate with plenty of rest. Ugly, boring, and the fastest way to stop the arms jumping the queue.
Learn one rhythm and hold it. Longer continuous pieces where the target is not a fast split but an unchanging one. If your first two hundred metres and your last come out within a couple of seconds of each other, the row is under control.
Row on wrecked legs. Run, row, run. Nobody trains this because it is unpleasant and the numbers look bad, which is exactly why it works. It is also the only version of this station you will ever meet in a race.
If you want all three laid out across a week, our HYROX training plan does that, and single sessions to slot in are in the HYROX workouts library.
Where HYROX rowing technique goes wrong on race day
- Touching the handle before both feet are on the footplates.
- Standing up or stepping off before a judge confirms the distance.
- Breaking the arms early and leaving the legs out of the drive.
- Leaning so far back at the finish that the core pays for it on the next run.
- Rushing the recovery, so the stroke gets shorter and faster without producing more.
- Death-gripping the handle and arriving at the carry with nothing left.
Frequently asked questions
How far do you row in HYROX?
The row is station 5 of 8 and covers 1000 m. Because nothing is loaded onto this station, no division rows further or shorter than any other. Your judge zeroes the screen first, and the full distance has to be showing before you get out of the seat.
What damper setting does HYROX use on the rower?
Section 8.5 of the Season 9 (2026/27) Singles rulebook presets it to resistance 6 for every division before racing begins, and lets racers change it as many times as they wish once on the machine. Concept2's own HYROX guidance suggests a lower range, but that is advice on how to train, not the race setting.
Can you stop rowing during the HYROX row?
Yes, and it is the least-known useful rule here. The rulebook explicitly permits racers to stop at any time, put the handle back in its holder and rest. What you may not do is stand up, leave the seat or dismount before the distance is complete.
What happens if you leave the rower early in HYROX?
You are disqualified. The penalty code table lists leaving the rower before the full distance as a DQ, recorded as an incomplete station, and a disqualified racer may not carry on competing in that event. Nothing else here is close. Grabbing the handle before your feet are set is a flat 15 seconds, and the rest run a warning, then a time penalty, then a further penalty each time.
What is a good stroke rate for the HYROX row?
The rulebook sets none, so treat every number you read as coaching guidance. Concept2's HYROX training guidance suggests a cadence range. The principle transfers better: the rate you can hold with a full, committed stroke while your breathing settles is the right one.
How long should the HYROX row take?
We deliberately do not publish target split times, because the honest range across athletes and divisions is wide enough that a single figure would mislead most readers. Time your own rows in training, off a run, and judge this station by whether you can run out of it.
What is the difference between the rower and the ski erg in HYROX?
Posture, mostly. Rowing is done seated and sliding, with the legs driving. Skiing is done standing and hinging, with the lats driving. They also bookend the race: the SkiErg opens at station 1 over 1000 m, the row lands mid-race at station 5. Our ski erg technique guide covers it in full.
Can you adjust the footplates on the HYROX rower?
Yes. Section 8.5 presets them to position 4 for every division, and racers may adjust them to their preferred setting before they begin. Concept2 suggest the strap sits across the ball of the foot. Rehearse getting in and out quickly, because the transition is timed.
Is the rowing distance different in doubles or relay?
No. It stays 1000 m across Singles, Doubles, Team Relay (4 athletes), and Adaptive. In doubles the pair splits it however they choose, may not pass the handle directly to each other, and may not adjust the damper or footstraps for one another. Our doubles guide covers the format.
Does the HYROX row get harder in the Pro division?
No. PRO divisions use heavier loads than Open, but there is nothing to load on an erg, so every division rows the same. Pro athletes reach this machine having already pushed and pulled heavier sleds, which is the real difference: not the row itself, but the state you sit down in.
How do you get better at rowing for HYROX?
Three things, in order. Fix the sequence so the legs drive before the arms pull. Build a repeatable rhythm rather than one fast piece. Then row sandwiched between runs, because you will never meet this machine fresh on race day.
References
- Official HYROX Singles Competition Rulebook (PDF) – section 8.5 covers the distance, the judge-reset monitor, the remain-seated rule, the permission to stop and re-rack the handle, and the preset damper and footplate settings. The penalty code table carries the disqualification for leaving early.
- Official HYROX Doubles Rulebook (PDF) – confirms the distance is unchanged in doubles, gives the "you go, I go" split example, and sets the partner restrictions described above.
- HYROX race format – the official explanation of the race structure and where the row sits in the sequence.
- Concept2 and HYROX – the official erg partner, confirming the RowErg and SkiErg used at every event worldwide.
- Concept2 rowing technique – the manufacturer's own breakdown of the four stroke phases and the legs-body-arms sequence.
- Concept2 erg tips for HYROX – the manufacturer's suggested damper range, cadence range and drive-to-recovery ratio. Training guidance, not the race setting.
Rules and standards on this page are current for Season 9 (2026/27). They change by season and can vary by event, so confirm against the official rulebook for your own race before you compete. RoxTribe is an independent community resource and is not affiliated with HYROX.