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• After a friend told Lau Wen Loong about Hyrox, he signed up for a race and trained for six weeks.
• It's now been two years since he got started, and he's already competed in 21 races in 11 cities.
• These three host cities have been his favorites.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lau Wen Loong, 37, who, over the past two years, has competed in 21 Hyrox races in 11 cities around the world. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I hadn't exercised regularly in two years when a friend said to me, "I think you'll be interested in this." He was taking part in Hyrox, an endurance race that combines running with fitness stations. You can race individually, as doubles, or in a relay, and there are both amateur and professional racers. He asked if I wanted to race with him.

My friend ended up doing the race with his wife, so I decided to do it on my own. "Don't be crazy," he told me. But I signed up six weeks before the event and completed my first race in Singapore in August 2024. My final timing was just under 73 minutes. I was a cross-country runner in high school, but for the first time in my life, I understood why some people hate running.

After finishing one race, I started asking myself what I wanted to do next. I'd put so much time into training for that first race, and I didn't want to lose that momentum.

The competitions come with demands

It's been two years since I got started in Hyrox, and I've completed 21 races in 11 cities, including Chengdu, Bangkok, and Mumbai. I have seven more lined up for this year. I'm in between jobs at the moment and working on an AI startup with my brother.

Each race costs about $150, while flights and other expenses can add up to $1,500. In terms of race prep, I recently bought a yearlong membership at a gym in Seoul, where I'm currently based, for about $55 a month. I've become an ambassador for several Hyrox-related brands, and they help cover some of my costs.

Hyrox is a good mix of running and weights. I think I may be the fittest I've ever been. I never imagined I could be faster than my younger self.

So far, these have been my three favorite host cities:

1. Osaka, Japan: January 2026

Every Hyrox venue is different. Similar to F1 tracks, the setup is tweaked, and the runs between stations are never the same for each race. It was my first winter Hyrox, and I hit a personal best of 61:51.

The winter part was interesting, because the race was held between two halls in a small venue. You ran in one hall, crossed to the other side to do the workout, and crossed back to run again, getting a blast of fresh air in the process.

I spent seven days in Osaka, most of it around the race area, but I managed to do a bit of shopping in the Dotonbori district. I had dinner at a famous crab restaurant with my father, who sometimes comes to support me at my races, depending on his schedule and whether he likes the city.

2. Incheon, South Korea: May 2026

It was my friend's first Hyrox. He raced before me, and I got to see it. Not only that, but I also came in first in my age group and did a personal best

Like many Hyrox races, the Incheon edition was held in a major convention center. The layout provided for a very smooth race, unlike at other races, which can sometimes disrupt your rhythm

I'm based in Seoul, so I went there daily. It was one hour each way. On the first day of the race, when I hitched a ride back with a friend, I got to try out the hyugaeso, or rest stops along the highway. They are like mini shopping malls, and the one I went to had three floors and lots of small stalls.

In the course of my races, I have made a lot of friends, like my doubles partner Ian, and Yvonne, a Singaporean working mom who has done 55 races. A couple on the plane from Seoul to Singapore also noticed my Hyrox bag, and we started chatting and became friends.

3. Jakarta, Indonesia: June 2026

The race venue was in a beautiful part of Indonesia I'd never been to — I hope to return.

It was the very first Hyrox race in Indonesia, so it was new for everyone. It was held in a convention center in one of Jakarta's green spaces, which is very scenic.

It was my first time doing two doubles races, and I didn't even know the guy I was racing with until I met him on the day. We were introduced through a mutual friend, and we only trained together once.

The drive to finish and win

I was competing in separate races at the September 2026 Hyrox event in Beijing, where Joanna Wietrzyk soiled herself. I saw her from afar, but didn't see what happened firsthand.

I've tried to put myself in her shoes and wondered if I would continue. I don't think I would or could. I do hope that she'll bounce back from it.

I've seen a lot of people crying at Hyrox. Whether it be tears of joy or tears of frustration, it still surprises me. Hyrox is a bit like therapy, as you are processing through your body. I intend to continue racing for at least another year.

I think the biggest benefit is that it enables you to be more self-aware.

• In his 40s, Jonathan Yang decided he wanted to get hot — and stopped feeling ashamed to say it.
• His paycheck funded hair transplants, a nose job, and GLP-1s, which he continued post-layoff.
• As his body changed, he said he felt more confident and also noticed that people treated him better.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Jonathan Yang, who was laid off from Meta in late 2024 after more than three years on the office design team. The 43-year-old shares how his job, cosmetic procedures, and weight loss shaped his confidence. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

At Meta, I worked really hard. I had golden handcuffs. I did not prioritize my health. You go to Meta, and they call it the "Facebook 15." Well, it was probably more than 15 pounds because of all the food that's available and all the stress. So, I just really let myself go. I put in everything I could to keep the job.

One upside was that having a bigger paycheck allowed me to start exploring things that I'd always wanted to do — emotionally, physically, aesthetically. I could finally afford a $10,000 hair transplant.

I also got a nose job. I've also had another hair transplant. Looking good and feeling good, to me, are fundamentally tied together. That's for me, and not everybody needs that. A lot of people out there are very successful being their own person and not letting that get to them. I'm not that strong.

I just wanted to get hot

Doing these things started to change how I felt about myself. It started to take away some of the shame that I had around getting aesthetic treatments. Because, as a man, it's seen as superfluous, and it's frowned upon. Before that, I had done a lot of soul-searching, therapy, and all kinds of things.

I hired a trainer, and I felt good, but the change wasn't happening fast enough. Then GLP-1s came out. I'd been waiting for something like that. I finally got on them, and then the weight started to come off, and I just started to blossom.

Once I started seeing the results, I just wanted to get hot. I wanted, at 43, to finally feel confident enough to say that out loud without having any kind of qualms about it. I think working out is a segue for people to think about improving their lives emotionally — to talk about those things — and fitness is an acceptable way for men to kind of go into that.

At work, I would get up onstage and be much more confident. Before that, it wasn't a conscious thing where I knew why I was so meek. When I look back, I would be nervous. I wouldn't smile. On GLP-1s, I started to really change and show up differently at work, and I was getting promotions. I just felt like I had more command because I lost the weight. My coworkers and managers all treated me better.

Now I'm on a lower dose of GLP-1s. I have to pay for it myself now that I'm self-employed. That's not something I'm going to stop.

People look at me differently

After my layoff, my weight was something I could control. I had to build a new routine. My body needed it, too. I had sciatica, and I had all this nerve pain. It really was like my body broke. I had never felt something like that.

I became hyper-focused on wellness, keeping fit, and eating well. Losing weight gave me the confidence to share my story. It allowed me to shed any insecurity or cringe. We say that a lot, but it was like I'm at this point now where I've only got one life to live. I know what it tastes like now.

After all the changes I made, people looked at me differently. A thing that people don't really talk about is how, on the surface, it really is about looks. I would walk into a situation with this naive sense of, "Oh, they're not looking at my weight."

As soon as I started looking more conventionally attractive, I noticed that was the first thing people would comment on. I would meet people, and they would say, "Well, you obviously go to the gym a lot," or "Oh, look at those arms!" I was like, "Wow! We live in this world where we're told, 'Aesthetics don't really matter. People look at your character.' Unfortunately, it's not true. I wish it were.

Do you have a story about how your appearance has affected your work or career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

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