A New Contender in Competitive Fitness: APEX Brings NFL Combine Energy to Everyday Athletes
The opportunities for gym-goers looking to test their abilities and step outside their comfort zones continue to grow.
- From HYROX to the LT Games, the ATHX Games, and XENOM, an athlete could build an entire season of competition and travel, ticking off events every few months.
If your bucket list of competitive fitness events isn’t quite full yet, we have another one for you to add.
The most recent addition to the landscape is APEX – an NFL Combine-style competition held in one day and consisting of seven scored events.
The Details
Over the course of an afternoon, athletes take on the following scored challenges, categorized into APEX’s four pillars: Speed, Power, Strength, and Endurance.
- Fast Forty – Two attempts at a forty-yard dash
- Max Toss – Overhead med-ball throw
- The Vert – Full approach vertical jump
- The Broad – Standing broad jump
- The Pull – Trap bar deadlift, one-minute AMRAP
- The Push – Bench press, one-minute AMRAP
- The Mile – timed one-mile run
Each pillar contributes 250 points to your APEX Score, for a total of 1,000 points.
The “Fast Forty” and “The Mile” each are worth 250 points on their own, while “The Pull” and “The Push” are averaged together, as well as “Max Toss,” “The Vert,” and “The Broad.”
The Results
In addition to athletes receiving an overall points score, which can be found on the ATHX official website, updated records are posted there.
- Jared Whitehead holds the men’s 40-yard record at 4.38 seconds, while Emily Renna holds the women’s 40-yard record at 4.86 seconds.
- The male broad jump record, held by Blaine McConnell, is 11 feet, three inches, and the female record is held by Erica Lowry at 9 feet, four inches.
- The men’s fastest mile is 5:27, run by Tory Haywood, and the women’s fastest mile is 5:45, run by Abigail Crowe.
Worth noting: There have been only two APEX events, and these records will likely be broken as the competition grows.
Like HYROX, ATHX, and XENOM, the seven scored events in APEX remain the same, so athletes can periodically test themselves throughout their training, comparing themselves to previous competitors and record-holders.
Get Involved
Two events in Texas have already taken place, and the next competition is scheduled for June 20 in Chicago, IL. Both the men’s and women’s divisions are full, but anyone interested can join the waitlist in case a spot opens. APEX is just getting started, with plans for more events, and rumor has it that an event in Boston, MA, is coming up next.
