Hyrox Elite 15 athlete says this surprising exercise can improve your burpee broad jumps

If you’re training for a Hyrox, then you’ll know you there are a lot of elements you need to brush up on, from strength to endurance, and power, in order to prepare you for the race’s eight workout stations. One of which is the burpee broad jumps.

In a survey carried out by Trio Fitness Training with 410 participants, burpee board jumps were voted the hardest Hyrox station (followed by wall balls and lunges). It doesn’t come as a massive shock, as having to jump as far as possible on already tired legs is pretty torturous and can lead to a lactic overload.

However, if you’re struggling to make yours more efficient or less exhausting, the key to improvement might lie in an unexpected place. According to Red Bull Athlete Lucy Procter, who recently took 5th place at the Hyrox World Championships in Chicago, there’s one surprising exercise that can seriously level up your performance – and it’s probably not what you think.

How to improve your burpee broad jumps

The exercise Lucy recommends is actually working on your bench press – as we said, probably not what you thought. “That movement off the floor is essentially a bench press, so build that and it will help you get off the floor quickly,” she tells us over video call.

Instead of focusing on absolute strength here, it’s probably more beneficial to work on strength endurance – so higher reps and slightly lighter weights – as you’ll be pushing your body off the ground more than once.

We have a full bench press guide for those who need some pointers on how to nail the perfect pressing pattern. But, remember you don’t have to use a barbell and weight bench; you can use a pair of dumbbells, or you could even do a floor press, or even work on your push-ups, if you don’t have access to weights.

Pressing obviously makes up one part of the movement, the jump is the second part. “The further you can jump, the less reps you have to do, so power development and anything that can help you jump further is also key,” she says.

For this, Lucy focuses on different jump variations, like box jumps, burpees to plate (that's a weight plate), and burpees wearing a weighted vest – “they’re always a good one, because as soon as you take that vest off you’re flying!” Lucy adds.

Lucy also took 2nd place in the women's doubles, alongside Sinead Bent, at the World Championships. You can watch more of her and other elite athletes ' journey into the world of Hyrox with Red Bull's brand new, free 5-part docuseries ‘Beyond The Rox’ – available to watch on Red Bull TV now.