Is Strength Training Finished?

Raw Iron

Are we witnessing the end of the golden age of weightlifting? Has the barbell been replaced by wall balls, sleds, and farmer's carries? With the surge of Hyrox and other hybrid fitness competitions, the fitness community is asking the question: Is strength training finished?

The Rise of Hyrox: A Sign of the Times

We’re living in an era of instant gratification. Social media rewards progress pics and performance metrics, not consistency and long-term health. Wearables track our every breath and heartbeat, and fitness is now something to be quantified as much as it is to be felt.

Enter Hyrox: an accessible, time-efficient, visually impressive competition format combining functional fitness, cardiovascular output, and measurable performance data.

For many, it's the ideal training model in today's high-stimulation, low-patience world. Most Hyrox participants are not elite athletes. They're beginners or intermediate-level gym-goers who are attracted to the idea of trackable progress. Resting heart rate down? VO2 max up? Running splits improving? All clear signs you’re doing well.

So yeah, on the surface, Hyrox looks like the king. But here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud: it has a ceiling.

What Hyrox Can't Give You

As you age, your recovery slows. Your joints don’t bounce back from hard pavement or endless reps. Your desire to post every workout fades. And motivation becomes less about likes and more about longevity.

This is where strength training becomes not just relevant but essential.

The Strength Advantage

Strength training offers what no other training modality can:

• Joint Integrity: Stronger muscles support healthier joints, reducing your risk of injury in everyday life and all other sports.

• Metabolic Flexibility: Lifting builds lean muscle, which is the foundation of a healthy metabolism.

• Hormonal Health: Resistance training supports testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin sensitivity—all key factors in ageing well.

• Mental Fortitude: The discipline to progressively overload, to sit with discomfort, to earn small wins over time—this is a mindset builder.

• Sustainability: You can lift weights in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. Try saying the same for pushing sleds and burpee broad jumps.

And perhaps most importantly: strength training is not a phase. It’s a foundation.

The Balanced View

Hyrox has undeniably made fitness fun again. It’s competitive, it’s social, it’s scalable, and for many people it has re-ignited purpose in training. That deserves applause.

But let’s be clear: if you're training only to shave minutes off a Hyrox time, you're building a house without a frame. Strength training isn't outdated…it's overlooked. In the rush to optimise, we're forgetting the basics that built bodies in the first place.

You don’t have to choose one or the other. You can run your laps and lift your weights. But if you’re after a resilient body, a long training life, and performance that doesn’t crumble with age, strength training will always be your base layer.

Final Word: Silence the Noise

Social media tells you faster is better, leaner is better, more intense is better. But real fitness isn’t found in hashtags or race bibs. It’s found in consistent, thoughtful training that builds you up instead of burning you out.

So, no, strength training is not finished.

It's just not shouting as loud.