Competitive fitness is moving towards structure. For years, the category has been defined by variation: different workouts, different formats, different interpretations of what “fitness” means. That has driven participation, but it has limited comparability and made it difficult to scale as a spectator sport.

Xenom is part of a new wave attempting to change that. Positioned as a “decathlon of fitness,” it introduces a fixed, repeatable competition format designed to measure all-round physical performance and scale globally.

Xenom is a multi-event fitness competition that standardises how strength, endurance and skill are tested through a fixed set of events, allowing performances to be measured and compared across locations and over time.

What is Xenom?

Xenom is a two-day, ten-event fitness competition designed to test broad work capacity across multiple physical domains.

Athletes compete in the same events in the same order, with cumulative scoring determining overall rankings. The format is fixed, meaning performances are directly comparable across different competitions.

The structure mirrors traditional multi-event sports, where success is determined by consistency rather than dominance in a single discipline.

How does a Xenom competition work?

A Xenom competition takes place over two days and includes ten distinct events that test different aspects of fitness.

Athletes complete every event, earning points based on their performance relative to the field. Final standings are based on total points accumulated across all events.

The format is designed to reward:

• consistency across different physical domains
• the ability to recover between events
• proficiency in both simple and technically demanding movements

Unlike race-based formats, there is no single defining moment. Performance is cumulative.

What events are included in a Xenom competition?

Xenom combines strength, conditioning and gymnastic skill across a structured set of events.

While formats may evolve, the current competition design includes:

• Olympic weightlifting tests
  One-rep max snatch and heavy clean ladder events to assess peak strength and technical lifting ability
• Short-duration power output
  High-intensity efforts such as a 60-second Echo Bike sprint, designed to test maximal output and anaerobic capacity
• Erg-based conditioning
  Events using machines like the SkiErg to measure sustained power and aerobic capacity
• Mixed-modality workouts
  AMRAP-style (as many reps as possible) events combining multiple movements across time domains
• Gymnastics-focused events
  Workouts incorporating movements such as toes-to-bar, bar muscle-ups and ring muscle-ups to test coordination, control and upper-body strength

One of the more demanding sequences combines:

• toes-to-bar
• double dumbbell hang snatches
• bar muscle-ups
• ring muscle-ups

This type of structure deliberately pushes into higher-skill territory, differentiating Xenom from simpler, lower-skill formats.

The combination ensures that no single strength profile dominates. Athletes must be capable across multiple systems.

How is Xenom different from Hyrox and CrossFit?

“The way we think about it is Hyrox is the marathon of fitness,” says Xenom founder Keith Barlow. “About 1.8 million people taking part this year, probably two, two and a half next year.”

“And if you were to put Hyrox into that bucket of the marathon of fitness, then we would be Ironman. That is the model, that is the comparator of an existing business. On the surface, there are some similarities; people run in a marathon, people run in an Ironman, but they are very much different competitions. Xenom differs from existing formats in how it balances standardisation with breadth of testing.”

Hyrox uses a fixed race format built around running and functional stations, emphasising endurance and pacing. CrossFit uses constantly varied programming, rewarding adaptability and unpredictability.

Xenom combines elements of both. It uses a fixed structure like Hyrox, but incorporates heavier lifting and more complex movements typically associated with CrossFit.

The result is a format that is:

• standardised enough to scale
• broad enough to test multiple expressions of fitness

Why Xenom focuses on standardisation

Standardisation is the core design principle behind Xenom.

In traditional competitive fitness:

• workouts change between events
• performance is difficult to benchmark
• formats are harder to follow as a spectator

By fixing the structure, Xenom enables:

• consistent scoring systems
• direct comparison between athletes globally
• clearer narratives for audiences

This is the same mechanism that allowed endurance sports to scale. Once formats stabilise, they become easier to understand, follow and commercialise.

When and where are Xenom competitions held?

Xenom is launching as a global competition series.

The first season includes more than 11 events, beginning with:

• Dallas, USA — June 27–28, 2026
  Held at The Star in Frisco, the Dallas Cowboys’ training facility, with approximately 2,000 athletes expected to compete

Additional confirmed locations include:

• London
• Paris
• Miami

Further cities are expected to be announced as the series expands. “So we’re going to do 11 events in season one,” says Barlow. “We have a plan to scale that to 60 by season five.

“Based on the existing community of people who are engaged in constantly varied functional fitness, we think that’s eminently doable. If we do that, we’ve got 100 to 120,000 people taking part in these events a year. That would be an incredible thing to have done.”

The model is designed for international replication, with each event following the same structure and standards.

What problem Xenom is trying to solve

The core problem is not participation, but translation. 

Millions of people already train across strength, conditioning and skill. What is missing is a format that translates that training into something measurable, comparable and externally meaningful.

Xenom addresses this by:

• structuring training into defined events
• making performance legible to spectators
• creating a system that can scale across locations

It turns individual training into a shared, structured experience.

Where Xenom fits in the competitive fitness landscape

Xenom sits within a broader category that includes multiple approaches to competitive fitness.

• Hyrox — standardised, race-based, endurance-focused
• CrossFit — variable, community-driven
• Emerging formats like Xenom — standardised, multi-domain, format-led

These are not mutually exclusive. Many participants move between them, treating each as a different expression of fitness competition.

The category itself is expanding rather than consolidating.

Real-world applications and use cases

Xenom operates across several practical layers:

Mass participation events
Large-scale competitions where athletes compete in a standardised format across global locations

Training integration
Gyms and individuals preparing for events by replicating competition-style workouts

Fitness tourism
Participants travelling internationally to compete, combining events with broader travel experiences

Community activation
Pre-event engagement through gym visits and local sessions to build awareness and participation

This combination of competition, training and culture is central to how the format scales.

Why Xenom is emerging now

Several factors are driving the rise of structured fitness competitions:

In-person experiences are increasing in value
As digital health tools expand, physical events offer shared experiences that cannot be replicated online

Functional training has become mainstream
Multi-modal training is now widely adopted, creating a large base of participants already prepared for this type of competition

Fitness is merging with lifestyle and travel
Competitions are increasingly part of broader experiences, including travel and cultural engagement

Format is becoming a strategic advantage
The ability to design a repeatable, scalable format is now central to building a successful fitness platform

Future implications for Xenom and competitive fitness

Over the next five to ten years, Xenom reflects a broader structural shift in fitness.

Standardised formats will become more common
As competitions scale, consistency will become more valuable than variation

Fitness will move closer to sport
Structured formats will enable clearer narratives, rankings and spectator engagement

The category will expand rather than consolidate
Different formats will coexist, serving different segments of the same audience

Commercial ecosystems will grow around events
Sponsorship, media, equipment and travel will all expand alongside participation

Fitness could become a unified global sport category
With participation already at scale, the missing layer is structured competition

Xenom is an attempt to define that structure.

For more on Xenom, click here.