Lindsay Balkenbush needed a male partner for a pricey Hyrox mixed-doubles race in Las Vegas.
asserted
Balkenbush → need → Vegas
A newcomer to Boise, Idaho, the paralegal and fitness instructor didn’t exactly have a Rolodex of potential race partners waiting in the wings.
asserted
paralegal → have → wings
So Balkenbush, 25, reached out to a local CrossFit gym, where owner Brian Wilkerson did her one better and volunteered himself.
asserted
Wilkerson → reach → himself
After training for and completing the race together, they went their separate ways — only for their athletic partnership to blossom into a romantic one a few weeks later.
asserted
partnership → train → one
“It was a good way to get to know Lindsay,” Wilkerson, 26, told The Post.
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Wilkerson → get → Post
“There’s a little bit of bonding when you go through some shared suffering.
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you → ’ → suffering
They’re not the only people discovering that Hyrox can double as a relationship litmus test.
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Hyrox → ’re → test
Across the fast-growing fitness competition, couples are using the grueling global races to strengthen their bonds, while singles are turning to the sport to find someone who can keep up, literally and otherwise.
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who → grow → someone
When a workout becomes something more
Hyrox combines eight 1-kilometer runs with functional exercises including sled pushes, burpee broad jumps, farmer carries, lunges and wall balls.
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Hyrox → become → pushes
Think marathon training meets CrossFit, with enough suffering packed into one event to expose whether a teammate is a cheerleader, a critic or a quitter.
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teammate → think → event
Balkenbush met Wilkerson at a particularly convenient time.
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Balkenbush → meet → time
His gym, CrossFit Casual, hadn’t opened yet, so “we had the whole gym to be able to train together and run together,” she recalled.
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she → open → ?
“We were training together probably two to three times a week.”
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We → train → times
“We were very serious about doing this race together, so we didn’t want to jeopardize that,” Wilkerson said.
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Wilkerson → do → that
Hyrox offered plenty of opportunities to find out whether those feelings would endure.
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feelings → offer → opportunities
Those who opt for mixed doubles — a woman and man duo — have to divvy up demanding exercises, communicate when one person is fading and trust the other to carry more of the workload when necessary.
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person → opt → workload
Wilkerson said the demanding format gave him a chance to see how Balkenbush handled challenges.
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Balkenbush → say → challenges
“You see somebody working hard or working out, and it’s like, ‘Oh, this person wants wants more out of life,” Wilkerson told The Post.
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Wilkerson → see → Post
“It’s attractive.
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It → ’ → ?
They didn’t cross the finish line as an item.
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They → cross → item
Instead, the two spent time together outside the gym, testing their chemistry without a race clock involved.
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clock → spend → chemistry
About one year after their first Hyrox, they moved in together — a happy ending to the meet-cute storytime that Balkenbush shared with her followers on Instagram.
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Balkenbush → move → Instagram
That kind of viral storytelling is baked into Hyrox culture.
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kind → bake → culture
The sport has exploded online, where competitors document everything from training triumphs to moments of exhaustion and regret (even crappy ones involving international diarrhea drama).
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competitors → explode → drama
Til death (or lunges) do us part
These same Hyrox videos found their way to Maha Haynes’ social media feeds for two years before the 27-year-old content creator decided she would join in.
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she → do → years
Then came the harder sell: “I somehow coerced, or encouraged, my husband to get us to do a couples race.”
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us → come → race
A former college football player, Christian Haynes wasn’t phased by the strength aspects of the course, but the endurance portion “intimidated” him.
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portion → phase → him
“I’m not a distance running type of guy, plus when you do workouts in between, I think that’s crazy,” Christian, 29, a content creator, told The Post.
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Christian → ’m → Post
“I wasn’t too thrilled about doing it, but she really wanted to do it, so I was like, ‘OK, I’ll just do it.'”
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I → do → it
Training for their 2025 Boston race began with plenty of shared gym sessions in their hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Training → begin → Charlotte
Maha, who played field hockey in college and for the Bermuda national team, dialed in on her running, while Christian skipped out on that portion.
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Christian → play → portion
Race day ultimately exposed that gap when cramping hit him during the running segments.
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cramping → expose → segments
By the time they reached the lunge station, his legs gave out.
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legs → reach → station
That’s when Maha “had to lock in,” he recalled, and finish that portion for the both of them.
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he → ’ → them
She has that dog in her to finish things,” Christian said.
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Christian → have → things
“I’m attracted to her at all times, but that kind of 10x-ed it.”
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kind → attract → it
Later, the roles reversed.
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roles → reverse → ?
Christian picked up extra wall balls when she needed help, launching a 13.2-pound ball toward a target about 10 feet high.
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she → pick → target
For the married college sweethearts coupled for nearly a decade, the experience reinforced that having different strengths and skills makes them stronger.
“It’s just a cool reminder to to show how we actually really work well in a team and and when we collaborate,” said Maha.
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Maha → couple → team
“It’s not one person’s better than the other, like we really pick each other up when when we need to.”
asserted
we → ’ → other
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
