Hyrox shot: what to look for and when to take one
A Hyrox shot is a 60ml drink you take before the start, usually built around caffeine. The good ones print the dose. The rest print a story.
Eight 1km runs, eight stations, and 60 to 90 minutes of work for most of the field. A small drink you can carry to the start pen beats a powder you can't mix there. But format only helps if the dose behind it is right.
What a Hyrox shot should contain
Caffeine comes first, because it has the best evidence. The ISSN position stand on caffeine puts the effective range at 3 to 6 mg per kg of body mass, with a minimum effective dose possibly as low as 2 mg/kg. It reports 2 to 4% improvements in aerobic endurance across dozens of studies. Very high doses (9 mg/kg) bring a high rate of side effects and aren't needed.
Do the maths for your own weight. At 75kg, the range is 225 to 450 mg. One Pre-Shot has 200 mg of caffeine anhydrous per 60ml shot, which is 2.7 mg/kg at 75kg and 2.2 mg/kg at 90kg. That sits at the low end of the research range. If you want more, you choose it on purpose, you don't stumble into it.
The rest of the label matters less than the caffeine line, but read it anyway. Per shot, Pre-Shot also has 1,000 mg arginine AKG, 1,000 mg beta alanine and 400 mg beetroot extract.
Two honest notes on those. The beta-alanine research (see the ISSN position stand) runs on several grams a day over weeks, so one shot is a small contribution to a daily total. Our beta-alanine guide covers the dose. And the nitrate studies use 6 to 8 mmol (roughly 350 to 500 mg nitrate) from beetroot juice concentrate, taken 2 to 3 hours before exercise, per the Australian Institute of Sport. Nitrate content for the extract in a shot isn't in our dosage reference, so we make no nitrate claim for it.
When to take a Hyrox shot
Studies usually dose caffeine about 60 minutes before exercise. The Pre-Shot label says drink 15 minutes before training. Both are in use, and your stomach and start time decide which suits you.
Heats run through the day. If your wave is in the evening, 200 mg of caffeine close to bedtime can cost you sleep, and the ISSN flags sleep as an individual response. Our caffeine timing guide goes deeper on this.
How to test a Hyrox shot in training
Race day is the wrong place to learn how you react. Pick your hardest mixed session, something like 4 rounds of a 1km run into a station. Take the shot at the time you plan to use on race day. Note your stomach, your focus and your heart rate in the second half.
Repeat it once more the following week. If you get jitters or a sour stomach both times, drop it or change the timing. Keep notes. A shot you've tested twice is a tool. A shot you've never tried is a gamble.
Shot, powder or gel
A shot gives you a fixed dose and no mixing. A powder lets you adjust the dose but needs water and a bottle. A gel is a carbohydrate product first, so it does a different job; we looked at that in energy gels for Hyrox. Many athletes use a shot before the start and a gel during the race.
Read the label before you buy
Look for a caffeine figure in mg. If it's missing, skip the product. Check for proprietary blends that hide individual doses. Check the sweetener too: Pre-Shot is sweetened with sucralose, and it's printed on the label.
Where to start
Pre-Shot comes in a 6-pack from £10.99. The variety pack gives you all three flavours (two of each) so you can test a few before race day. If you're building a Hyrox kit, the Hyrox Bundle is the shortcut.