Dexter Buchanan: Optimal Body Weight, Sled Technique & Chasing a Sub-50 HYROX | ENDUROX Podcast Ep. 5
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Dan Plews (00:13)
What's going on, Adam? How are you today?
Adam Storey (00:15)
Very good, thanks mate. Excited about this episode actually. I've been looking forward to having a decent, hearty guest on.
Dan Plews (00:24)
Yeah, exactly. We've got the one and only legend. I call him Big Dex, because not only is he big, he's also the big wig of NZ HYROX. So welcome to the Endurox Podcast, Dex.
Dexter Buchanan (00:38)
Thanks mate. Thanks for the intro. I'm looking forward to chatting with you gurus. I respect you a lot and I'm keen.
Dan Plews (00:43)
Mate, you're our second guest, but you're our first proper, bona fide HYROX expert and HYROX athlete. When me and Adam were talking about the guests we want to have on, you were top of the list. I was thinking about this when I was out riding today. You're definitely the best in New Zealand, but you're also kind of the best in Australasia at the moment. Would that be fair to say?
Dexter Buchanan (01:15)
It's a bit controversial, mate.
Adam Storey (01:18)
Say it, mate. Own it. Own it.
Dan Plews (01:19)
This is the endurance podcast. We're all about controversy.
Dexter Buchanan (01:23)
Obviously you've got Bo Wills, who's done really well for New Zealand. You've obviously got JK as well. But I feel like the gap's closed over the last couple of years. What do you reckon? It's a tough call.
Dan Plews (01:36)
Is it tough? As my dad always told me, you're only as good as your last performance, right? And you were the first APAC finisher at Stockholm as well, right?
Dexter Buchanan (01:51)
Yeah, I think so. I finished tenth, and the next was JK, I think he finished twelfth. So I'll claim it. I'll claim it.
Adam Storey (01:59)
A hundred percent, mate. I guess the vast majority of our listeners will know who you are, but for the slim minority that don't — the ones that tune in just to see Plewsy's face and how wonderful it is on a daily basis — just give us a rundown of your background, Dex. Even before HYROX, what brought you to the sport?
Dexter Buchanan (02:01)
Yeah. So I grew up in New Zealand, a classic New Zealander idolising Richie McCaw. I played a lot of rugby, a lot of cricket, a little bit of running, but never specialized in it. Generally a lot of team sports. Then at university I specialized a bit more in rugby league and got into my weight training down at Otago University. That was really cool. I studied down there for five years and got to travel a little bit with rugby league.
After Dunedin, I moved over to Australia to continue pursuing rugby league. Then during Covid I finished up with rugby league and transitioned into more endurance sports. A couple of mates were doing triathlons, Ironmans, half marathons, marathons, ultras, so I got into that. Then I found HYROX in 2024, through friends and social media. My first race was 2024 in Sydney, and I've never looked back from there.
Adam Storey (03:49)
That's cool, man. I love the rugby league background. What gravitated you towards rugby league as opposed to rugby union? Rugby union's a bit of a religion in New Zealand, whereas rugby league isn't as popular — obviously massive in Aussie. What drew you to that?
Dexter Buchanan (04:09)
Yeah, interesting one. I was always decent at rugby union, but probably never quite big enough in the forwards, whereas rugby league suited me a bit more. A little more mobility, and the aerobic fitness nature of the sport is more of an aerobic capacity demand. I also had some mates who recommended I come over and give it a go, and it just naturally suited me a lot more. Doing hit-ups and tackles for eighty minutes, rather than getting caught up in rucks and mauls. So it suited my body type and attributes a bit better.
Adam Storey (04:43)
That's cool. AUT — where Plewsy and I are based — did a study, probably about ten years ago now, looking at the differences from a posterior chain and muscle activation point of view between rugby union and league. With the backtracking and back-pedaling in rugby league, it showed the posterior chain — glutes, hamstrings, calves — was so much more developed in league players. And from a training perspective, people need to be mindful that the sport places a hell of a lot more demand on that area, so you need to train it accordingly. Have you found that a bit of a posterior chain — a good trunk behind you — enables or contributes to your HYROX performance?
Dexter Buchanan (05:43)
It's an interesting one, Adam. Potentially, yeah. That's an interesting study, I've never heard that before. But maybe it's helped with HYROX performance.
Dan Plews (05:55)
Knowing Dex, I'd say you're good at the stations that require a stronger posterior chain. The sled push — definitely the sled pull, a hundred percent. I was putting you through our Endurance Intelligence and looking at your strengths and weaknesses, and it does seem like the sleds are your strength. Would you agree with that?
Dexter Buchanan (06:24)
Definitely. Having that experience of weight training at university, and a bit of a strength background from rugby league, has helped with the sleds and HYROX for sure. It's an area where I look to make a bit of a move in the race. I'm probably not as fast as some of the other athletes in terms of pure running, and because I'm on the heavier side, exercises like burpees are a bit more challenging for me. So I have to pick a couple of stations where I try to maximize my potential and make some moves in the field, and the sleds are definitely two stations where I feel like I can make some moves on the opposition.
Dan Plews (07:15)
Just for the listeners, Dex, what's your body weight and height now? And what was it when you were doing rugby league? I'm assuming the height's the same, but I'm guessing your weight has changed a bit. You never know, maybe it was pre-pubescent doing the rugby league — we don't know, but we'll find out.
Dexter Buchanan (07:30)
Yeah, I've grown. Height's one hundred and eighty-seven centimeters, so about six foot two. Weight now is ninety kilos, whereas in rugby league it was around ninety-eight to a hundred kilos. So I've dropped quite a bit of body fat and a little bit of lean muscle tissue as well as I've progressed in HYROX.
Dan Plews (08:02)
I saw a post from you some time ago — I follow you on Instagram — I think it was like a year-on comparison, with your shirt off. In HYROX everyone has their shirt off. But even within the HYROX realm, you've made a shift since you've been doing it a while. I wouldn't say leaner, and I wouldn't say there's even been a loss of muscle. Is that fair?
Dexter Buchanan (08:33)
Yeah. My mates joke that I'm on Ozempic.
Dan Plews (08:38)
Well, you're still pretty big.
Dexter Buchanan (08:41)
It's weird — all the rugby guys are like, "Whoa, you're so skinny," but then all the HYROX guys are like, "Whoa, you're huge." So it's kind of funny. But no, I've definitely leaned up, a hundred percent. A little bit of muscle loss and a little bit of strength loss, but that's as the running and aerobic capacity have improved. It's really interesting.
Dan Plews (08:48)
Yeah, it's all relative, isn't it?
Adam Storey (09:08)
You've still got the title of being called Big Dex, mate, so take that. This is something Plewsy and I have been talking about for a while — what are the optimal body types, sizes and weights. Are you pretty comfortable with that ninety-kilo mark? I know you've got a background in nutrition as well — are you trying to dial yourself in around ninety, or are you looking to play around with some body weights? I mean, XG comps.
Dexter Buchanan (09:38)
Good question. Obviously Hunter and myself are probably around ninety, but if you look at the top athletes now — like Dylan Scott — they're probably low eighties. I was speaking to Dylan after the race and he said, "I feel like you'd probably be a bit better if you trimmed down to like eighty-six." But I love lifting weights, I love being a bit stronger and a bit bigger. So for me it's maybe a happy medium — dropping a few kilos, but doing it slowly and making sure I'm not under-fueling and my performance is still high. Because I also feel like having a good level of strength and a bit of weight behind you — as long as you can run well — is a real advantage. It's that fine balance. So I think this season I might look at dropping a couple of kilos, but only if my performance is still holding at a high level.
Dan Plews (10:45)
What I think's really interesting about that is my philosophy with weight — it's always more of a demand-driven aspect. You're quite a low-volume trainer generally, right? You do around twelve to fifteen hours a week, is that right?
Dexter Buchanan (11:00)
More like ten to twelve.
Dan Plews (11:06)
Okay, so you're a very low-volume trainer. If you shifted your training to more aerobic volume, I think you'd naturally go to eighty-six kilos. I don't know how you plan to evolve your training. That's an interesting question, because you're working quite a lot at the moment, and you've got a young baby at home. So do you have aspirations to try and — because it's going to be hard to compete on ten to twelve hours when the top guys are doing twenty to twenty-five hours now. Is that your plan, where you want to take your training?
Dexter Buchanan (11:45)
I think so. The plan is probably not to go to twenty or twenty-five hours straight away, but to tweak my lifestyle so I can gradually increase my training volume more towards that fifteen or sixteen. I'm probably not going to be a twenty-hour-a-week athlete, but if I can bring it towards fifteen or sixteen, I think it's going to make a big difference. I've even noticed a massive difference going from the seven to nine hours I was doing previously to ten to twelve — a huge difference to my running and my HYROX performance, just my aerobic capacity. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of sponsors now, and with my lifestyle I can adjust it a little bit so I can get more training in. But I always prefer to be slightly underdone than overdone. My lifestyle sort of forces that, with the work and the baby. I don't want to cook myself and overdo it. I'd rather show up healthy and be consistent than overdo it and potentially get injured. It's that fine balance.
Dan Plews (12:58)
Is that why you did an FTP test recently? Are you planning to get that volume higher by doing a bit more cycling? There's a really good systematic review that's just come out comparing running versus cycling for running VO2 max. Basically it was shown to be pretty much equal — if you swapped running and cycling, there was really no difference. But the difference came when one study tried to match energy expenditure. So they did more cycling, because it's not whole-body. Cycling was slightly better when added with running — not instead of running, but with running. I'll probably write something on Instagram about it to give a bit of a review. Me and Adam talked last week — or the week before — about how we think training is going to become more polarized and more endurance-focused generally, which it's doing anyway. When you reference someone like Dylan Scott, there's probably going to be a limit to how fast they can do the stations. So if you talk about a sub-fifty performance, which will probably be the requirement in a few years, I don't believe it will come from someone who's seventy-five kilos.
Adam Storey (14:27)
No, and I was going to build on that — and not to make this whole conversation about your body weight, Big Dex. But I think it's a very important consideration, and that's why I was interested to see where you naturally resonate towards. Coming from that contact sport background, you'll have some very well-developed deep musculature. It's not as if you've come from being overweight or obese, carrying a lot of body fat, and now we're talking about dropping weight in that fashion. So for you to now start thinking about dropping another three, three and a half, four kilos — unfortunately that's going to come at the cost of muscle mass. That's a different kettle of fish. The more muscle mass you lose, there's a strong association between muscle mass and things like immune system functionality. So you start compromising your overall system for the sake of a body weight, and as a result your ability to recover after sessions is going to be compromised. That's why it's an area we're really keen to dive into more — what's an optimised body weight for you versus Plewsy versus myself, as opposed to saying you should be eighty-six kgs or seventy-seven or whatever.
Dan Plews (15:50)
That's what I think, though — I reckon the worst thing you could do, Dex, is try to get to eighty-six. Just focus on your training, focus on doing more training, and the rest will take care of itself. If it goes there, it goes there; if it doesn't, it's because your body doesn't want to. As long as you're eating clean and eating well. Having been in the endurance world a long time — at university, especially in triathlon — body weight was talked about all the time. People are only realizing now that whole foods, good eating and the right training take care of everything else. Even when I did Kona, I never really thought too much about it. A few little thoughts here and there, but I did some thirty-hour training weeks and that was the end of that.
But speaking of performances — what we like to do on this podcast, Dex, is treat our guests as co-hosts. We've been quizzing you with a lot of questions, but we like to discuss topics too. One topic I wanted to talk about today: I don't know if you saw the 10k results of Jake Dearden and — was it Chorley? I think it was the Chorley 10k. Sinead Bent ran 33:55, and Jake ran thirty-one high as well, didn't he? A massive PB for him, like a minute. Which goes to show — Sinead's from a running background as well, doing HYROX and now running faster. What do you think, Dex? Any thoughts?
Adam Storey (17:26)
Both PBs, yeah.
Dexter Buchanan (17:26)
Have you studied the course, Dan? Is there any elevation?
Dan Plews (17:43)
No, I haven't checked. Is it slightly downhill or something?
Dexter Buchanan (17:59)
I thought you would have checked their Stravas. But it's just incredibly impressive, and you're right — they're full-time athletes now. They've got amazing coaches, they've got their lifestyle dialed in, they're doing a lot of cycling, running and aerobic work, and they're continually improving and setting the standard. The more professional the sport becomes, the more you're going to see these incredible athletic achievements.
Dan Plews (18:23)
What I find most interesting is this: okay, Sinead Bent has had a very good year — she's third or fourth in the world. But Jake — I would not say his HYROX performance in general is representative of that running time. His running times aren't representative of that run, and his performance in HYROX isn't representative of that run. So there's clearly a mismatch between the type of training he's doing and the way he's able to execute a 10k. I don't think his PB is much more than about fifty-four, fifty-five — I don't think he's much faster than you. What's your 10k, Dex? Like high thirty-threes, low thirty-fours or something?
Dexter Buchanan (19:09)
Yeah, the recent one was at Noosa, thirty-four thirty. But that was about twenty degrees with a lot of wind — I reckon on a good day it would be thirty-three mid. It's interesting, with HYROX there are people like me who might not be as amazing at running, but who can hold pretty close to that pace in a race, not too far off. Look at someone like Louis Ossola, who finished second — I don't think his 10k is incredible, but he's able to hold pretty close to that 10k pace on a HYROX course. Whereas you see guys who are more specialist runners, or who've gone too far with the running side, and they struggle to emulate that on a HYROX course. The stations have such an impact on them. So maybe with Jake Dearden — he's done all this marathon training, he's been focusing so much on his running, that maybe his station work or his compromised running isn't as effective at the moment.
Adam Storey (20:13)
Yeah, I didn't see it, but I got told this week that he'd posted something along those lines — that he's still quite cooked, systemically, from his marathon training. So he's caught in a bit of a grey zone: he's not doing full-noise marathon training, which he was, and he's not doing full-noise HYROX training, which he was previously. So he's kind of in between two worlds at the moment.
Dan Plews (20:40)
It's an interesting concept. Two things spring to mind, knowing Dex was coming on the podcast. It comes back to that — me and Adam have been writing a "Is a sub-fifty HYROX possible?" paper at the moment. One of the things we talk about is the requirement to reconstitute your anaerobic capacity during the runs. That reconstitution has to be done under threshold, but the amount of reconstitution depends on the amount of depletion. So for someone like you — very strong — say you and I both did a sled push at two hundred kilos, my depletion of my anaerobic system would probably be about fifty percent more than yours. So you're depleting much less than me, and then I have to run a lot below my threshold, whereas you can run really close to it and still get a restoration. That's probably one of the things happening there.
I also think about it in terms of lactate profiling. We don't talk about LT1 very much in HYROX training — it's always LT2, anaerobic threshold. But if you have two athletes both with an LT2 at, say, seventeen and a half kilometres an hour, and one has a really flat line then a sudden kick up to threshold, while the other has a short flat line then a gradual build towards the same threshold — the one with the really nice flat line at the start, even though the thresholds are the same, is going to be so much better at HYROX. Because when they compromise, they just don't slow down. So I'm not convinced Jake Dearden's training is as good as it could be. Not that I'm saying anything about his coach — I'm sure his coach is really good — but I'd love to see his lactate profiling, because I'm intrigued by the difference we're seeing. Maybe it's just concentration on different factors. Very interesting.
Adam Storey (22:56)
And on the topic of sleds, Dex — I'm quite keen to hear what a sled session looks like for you. Are you still focusing quite a bit on the resistance training you mentioned, which was always a passion area from your rugby league days? What's the split in terms of how much you're focusing on that in training?
Dexter Buchanan (23:21)
Good question. I still like to do my compound lifts, but it's very much maintenance now. It's definitely dropped off since I was a hundred kilos versus ninety now. But I still like to touch on those compound lifts. For example, this week I built to a heavy five of bench press, and today I built to a heavy five of back squat. I've been through a HYROX-specific phase leading into Worlds and into Sydney, where I did a lot of sled work, probably twice a week — once isolated, like after some compound lifts, and then always in a HYROX-specific session as well. But now I don't have any big A-races coming up soon, so I'll go a bit away from that, and then closer to the races I'll add the sleds back in more frequently. I still like to touch on my compound lifts — I enjoy it, but I also feel like it has good carryover to stations like the sled. It's a bit of a controversial topic at the moment, but I think once you've got your technique down pat on the sleds, you don't need to touch them every single week.
Dan Plews (24:48)
What's controversial about it, Dex? I don't know what's controversial.
Dexter Buchanan (24:52)
Well, some athletes are saying they never touch the barbell anymore — they just do sled-specific work.
Dan Plews (24:59)
Okay, I honestly didn't know that was a thing. Interesting.
Adam Storey (25:04)
It's a big anti-barbell club out there.
Dexter Buchanan (25:08)
But then others are saying they enjoy it, or they think it's important as well. So it's an interesting topic at the moment.
Dan Plews (25:16)
One of the things — we had a catch-up before you went out to Stockholm and we talked a bit about your running and went through your program. What I found interesting was that you almost treat your strength training as recovery in some regards. You put them around your easier days, and they're kind of your recovery sessions. Do you do that because you feel it really is just maintenance — tapping the edges and keeping things in check?
Dexter Buchanan (25:34)
Exactly. My number one focus is running and muscular endurance, because those are the areas I need to work on most. So those are my key days. I don't mind, for example, putting an upper body strength session and some easy aerobic work before a hard running day. For me, the upper body strength session doesn't affect the hard running day the next day.
Dan Plews (26:16)
What about if you did heavy legs? What happens if you did a really heavy leg session — still fine?
Dexter Buchanan (26:19)
So what I do is I always do my leg session after my big running day. I use that knowing I'm going to be a bit fatigued, but I'll still get some lifting in. It might not be at what I used to do, but it at least maintains that strength and that squat pattern. That's how I break up my week. My number one priority is the quality runs, and then the strength stuff is on the recovery days. But I never would do a big lower body session before a quality run day.
Adam Storey (27:01)
You haven't played around with that — a bit of a primer type effect?
Dexter Buchanan (27:04)
You mean doing a heavy squat day on a Monday and then my big key running session on a Tuesday? No, I haven't tried that.
Adam Storey (27:15)
Not necessarily full noise — ninety percent plus intensities — but even some type of compound lift in that seventy to seventy-five percent range the day before, almost as a primer session for your threshold or your VO2. Have you trialled that?
Dexter Buchanan (27:35)
I haven't with the lower body, but it's something I could definitely try. Has there been some research done on that?
Adam Storey (27:41)
Yeah, for some athletes that kind of stuff really works well. And it's not about doing exhaustive max strength or strength endurance sessions — you're treating them as primer sessions. Sleds are a great example, where you can work up to race load with your sleds even the day before a run-based session. And I really need to emphasize this: you're not trying to get strength gains on that sled, that's not the purpose. The purpose is creating that functional stiffness through the lower limb. Stiffness is synonymous with tightness in people's minds — they think it's going to cause injury — but functional stiffness is about literally making the leg like a stiff spring, and that leg stiffness is what contributes to running economy. That's what you want to see. So maybe just something to play around with. The sessions don't need to be massively long, but just that bit of a stimulus — relatively heavyish, moderate to heavyish — the day before can help with those sessions. I personally do it myself, I find it quite good. I don't like running on legs that don't have a bit of tension in them, if that makes sense. They feel a bit too flaccid. That's the word, Plewsy — flaccid.
Dan Plews (29:05)
Flaccid? You'd say you don't like running on flaccid legs — is that what you meant?
Adam Storey (29:13)
When you think of flaccid, do you think of Plews?
Dan Plews (29:18)
That's what you meant, I just said it for you. Exactly.
Dexter Buchanan (29:21)
Stiff and strong. Stiff and strong.
Adam Storey (29:20)
Stiff and strong, no flaccid.
Dan Plews (29:27)
It is a great topic. We had one of my PhD students do sequencing of strength training and looked at kayak performance, and we generally found that the sequence Adam was talking about tended to work best for a VO2 match session after, rather than the other way around. So there is some sequencing data. But at the same time, I think about backgrounds as well, because for myself, I'm just so weak generally that I can run before and I'm still just as weak — so it doesn't make a difference. But maybe someone who's actually strong might find it fatigues them.
Adam Storey (30:14)
Yeah, interesting. We often get some of our athletes who really like to do a deep dive into technique on some of the stations. I've had athletes send me video clips of themselves doing sleds, comparing against other Elite 15 people, trying to compare — "so-and-so is doing this, should I be trying this?" You mentioned sled technique before, Dex. What are some of the cues you think about on sled push and sled pull when you're executing it?
Dexter Buchanan (30:55)
Good question. With sled push, you want to maximize the amount of body weight you have, and it's a horizontal force — so you want to produce as much horizontal force as possible. I like to think of my body position like a rugby scrum: very horizontal, leaning right forward, back flat, nice and powerful with my legs, nice and aggressive. And then obviously breaking it up as needed, so I'm not building up so much lactate in the legs that I can't run properly. So that's probably my number one technique with sled push. I see people who get themselves into a slight angle position, and the classic one is that nose-dive of the sled into the turf — it's not that perfect slide. So it's more of a body position thing for them, maximising their body weight. And I do like having the elbows at ninety degrees, rather than the arms extended, to get the head right forward.
Adam Storey (32:15)
And on sled push, what about the cadence of your feet? Have you played around with longer, powerful strides versus a higher-frequency step? What works for you?
Dexter Buchanan (32:27)
I find the high-frequency step works better for me. I'm able to cover a little bit more ground — it's a bit more effective for my technique.
Dan Plews (32:41)
I was listening to Sean Noble and he was saying to keep your feet as close to the sled as possible. But surely it's a bit of a compromise, because the closer your feet are to the sled, the less your body weight goes through it; the further away your feet are, the more your body weight goes through it. So do you ever think about where your feet are? I've seen Josh Van Zieland — when he does a sled push, his feet are very far back and he's very flat. So there's a different consideration, but the flatter your back, the further your feet are from the sled. Are we then compromising power in the legs? Any thoughts?
Dexter Buchanan (33:25)
Yeah, for me personally I like to have my feet back, more like Josh's technique — the back flat and the feet back. I haven't actually tried bringing my feet really close to the sled. I'll give it a go and let you know.
Dan Plews (33:42)
Maybe it'll be a disaster. Probably. Maybe.
Adam Storey (33:51)
What about sled pull?
Dexter Buchanan (33:52)
Have you guys tried it?
Adam Storey (33:54)
No, I haven't actually.
Dan Plews (33:56)
I just thought it was an interesting example. I heard Sean Noble talking about it when he was commentating at the World Champs — he focuses on trying to keep his feet as close to the sled as possible, which I thought was interesting.
Adam Storey (34:11)
And sled pull for Big Dex — what are some focuses that you have?
Dexter Buchanan (34:16)
Yeah, sled pull, mate. When I first started, I went to a training camp with Chris Willie before I started HYROX — he's a bit of a legend in the sport. Back then it was all about the drop method: make sure the rope's nice and clean on one side, do the step back, then drop the rope. I did that for the first season. Then I was watching a couple of the elites — especially Alexander Ronkovich, who's someone I look up to — and I started looking at the way he does the sled pull, holding onto the rope. I started playing around with that and found it a lot more effective for me, because I'm quite tall. I use a lot of energy getting to the ground and picking up the rope, whereas if I can just stay in a nice upright-ish position and not have to drop to the ground all the time, I find it a lot more efficient, effective and less tiring. So holding onto the rope, utilizing that entire box, getting a nice big arm reach in, and using my body weight on the way back. I'm a big fan of Ronkovich's technique with the pull, and it's something I'm constantly refining.
Adam Storey (35:20)
I agree, man. It's the half-percenters — not even a half-percent — but for me, dropping the rope is just wasted energy. It's like an extra squat you don't need to be doing. It's all about efficiency.
Dan Plews (35:52)
What about dropping the kettlebell though, Adam? Is that wasted energy too?
Adam Storey (35:55)
Yeah, mate. Well, talking about sled pull — this guy likes to put the rope in someone else's box, so don't listen to that guy.
Dan Plews (36:01)
Well, Adam likes to put the kettlebells down — he thinks he's fine. Even on the open wave he sometimes puts them down. There's a story — we've got this really good video from the World Champs. Me and Adam did doubles, and I'm throwing the rope over and I tripped this guy so good. Poor guy. He was quite rightly a bit mad, wasn't he?
Adam Storey (36:25)
He was steaming, mate.
Dan Plews (36:30)
Yeah, he was steaming, and then we ran off. One of the other stations you've really improved on is the wall balls. You're going unbroken wall balls for most races — not mentioning the APAC champs, that looked like a very painful experience for you — but most of the time you're hitting them unbroken. Is that just because you've improved your overall aerobic fitness and you're getting there a little bit fresher? Have you done anything in training to allow for that? The first time I met you, at Sydney, I was complaining about the wall balls and you just told me to do hundreds and hundreds of push press. Do you remember that?
Dexter Buchanan (37:12)
Yeah. It's an interesting one. For me it was more of an aerobic fitness and shoulder endurance issue when I first started. My first race I think it was closer to five minutes, and then I slowly worked on it. Luckily, the last six races or so — five of them have gone pretty much unbroken. I think it's a mixture of reasons: the aerobic capacity, pacing the race a lot better, and I've built a lot of muscular endurance through the legs and shoulders. I'm also just a lot more efficient at the wall ball itself, even small things like breathing. And I like to do wall balls — I think I talked to you about this in our last conversation, Dan — after threshold running or a lot of aerobic work, so the heart rate's super high. But I also like to do them under a lot of muscular fatigue. So I might do a workout with push presses, dumbbell snatches, goblet squats, so the upper and lower body are really fatigued, and then go into a big set of wall balls. So I'm comfortable doing them in all different circumstances and scenarios. But if you're new to wall balls, it's really important to be efficient at the wall ball itself and take time — before you introduce fatigue — to master how to do it fresh. Once you've established that, then you can go into doing them under different types of fatigue.
Adam Storey (39:03)
And under different types of fatigue — have you played around with a weight vest as well during wall balls?
Dexter Buchanan (39:10)
Not specifically. I haven't used a weight vest, but I think it would be really beneficial. I just haven't incorporated it in yet. I think it would be, though.
Adam Storey (39:22)
Yeah, it's good. There's a company that's just launched a new one — Morpho. I'm helping them build some S&C frameworks and considerations around that. They're the brand that's partnered up with HYROX as well, so they're launching a HYROX-specific branded vest. This sounds like a bit of a plug, but it's not meant to be. The reason I like the vest is it's very tight-fitting, and the loads are much better distributed around the body, as opposed to some of the traditional ones that are either really front-loaded or back-loaded. That particular vest would be quite good for a lot of the movements — burpee broad jumps, lunges, but also wall balls. So potentially watch the space, or give it a nudge.
Dan Plews (40:13)
Was that also just a segue so we can tell the audience how you won the vest in a push-up competition, and how awesome you are? What was the competition — you had to do as many push-ups as you could to win the vest, with the vest on, right? It was at the coaching conference, wasn't it? And Adam won it.
Adam Storey (40:29)
Yeah, I did. Coaches Summit, yeah.
Dexter Buchanan (40:40)
How many, Adam?
Adam Storey (40:40)
It's just dad strength. I did seventy-eight from memory.
Dexter Buchanan (40:47)
Wow. With a thirty-kilo vest on?
Dan Plews (40:47)
How much was the vest?
Adam Storey (40:50)
I'll say it was thirty kg — it was ten, but we can say it was thirty.
Dexter Buchanan (40:55)
Impressive. And was that chest to floor, or were they half push-ups, Adam?
Dan Plews (40:55)
But that's nearly half your body weight.
Adam Storey (40:58)
Mate, they were clean. I actually bruised my nose because they were so clean — pretty much every rep solid. I've got video evidence as well, we can share that later.
Dan Plews (41:10)
What we'll do for the fans is put it on the Endurox Instagram page. People can comment and challenge Adam for the title. And if anyone beats him, Adam will send them his vest.
Adam Storey (41:20)
Yeah, please. I'll send you the vest, you can have it.
Dexter Buchanan (41:27)
What a beast.
Adam Storey (41:29)
I'm keen to hear, Dex — you've pumped out some really epic results. Even Sydney, your last race, a couple of weeks ago was phenomenal, mate. What are you gunning for? What do you reckon Big Dex is capable of, time-wise?
Dexter Buchanan (41:50)
Time-wise — I spoke to Plewsy a little bit about it. Sydney was a lot cooler, the temperature was about eighteen degrees; I spoke to a couple of the head judges afterwards. Whereas Stockholm was mid-twenties, about twenty-five, and Brisbane was early twenties, whereas Warsaw was twelve degrees. So temperature plays a huge factor. On a perfect course like Warsaw — temperature-wise, but also the layout of the course — with Warsaw the athletes had a big run to start with and then a shorter run off the lunge, whereas with Sydney it was a longer run off the lunge. So I think on a perfect course I'd be somewhere in the fifty-fours at the moment. As I keep improving, that could become a fifty-three. But the grid format is a bit slower again, so it's hard to say. On a perfect course it would be fifty-three, fifty-four.
Dan Plews (43:13)
Where are you at the moment in terms of the standings, and how close are you to getting into the Elite 15 with your points? Are you now going around looking to do some races to get back into the Elite 15?
Dexter Buchanan (43:28)
At the moment I'm thirteenth. But one of my races — Hong Kong last year in July — drops off at the end of this month. So that'll put me back to about sixteenth when it drops off. I've got China booked in — I think it's five weeks — and then Perth in six weeks. If I can land a couple of wins in those races, I'll be locked into the Elite 15 until about March or April next year, on five hundred and twenty-six points. So the goal is to get a couple of races in soon-ish, then take a bit of an offseason and work on some of the areas I need to get to that top, top level.
Dan Plews (44:30)
What areas are you working on? Before, you were talking a bit about lunges and the back half of the race, but I feel like your back half has got a lot better lately — at Stockholm and Sydney it was improved, for one reason or another. What are your big work-ons?
Dexter Buchanan (44:58)
I think it comes back to my overall lifestyle and making sure I'm able to get a bit more training in — more training hours, more aerobic volume. What I noticed at Worlds is the top athletes are so consistent across the race, and I'd guarantee they're able to operate close to their VO2 max, or high-end threshold, for that entire race. Someone like Charlie Botterill — I doubt his 5k and 10k pace, minutes per kilometer, would be that much different. He's so fit, he's able to hold such a high percentage of his lactate threshold, whereas I'm still probably a bit below that. So I just need to keep building my aerobic efficiency, muscular endurance — I'm improving, but it's continuing to build up. Especially my aerobic efficiency and lactate threshold, I think, are the main areas I need to work on.
Dan Plews (46:18)
Charlie Botterill trains like a total beast, doesn't he? He's a twenty-five, thirty-hour training week.
Dexter Buchanan (46:25)
Yeah, and you notice that in the race. They don't take their foot off the throttle at all — it's relentless consistency for the entire time. Whereas I still have little ebbs and flows in the race. It's one-percenters. My running is the big one, but overall, aerobic efficiency is still where I can improve the most.
Adam Storey (46:58)
You mentioned Ronkovich earlier about the sled pull, but do you have a — "favourite" is probably not the right word — is there a particular athlete you like the way they operate, how they strategize the race, or something about their physicality? Is there someone that comes to mind out of the Elite 15?
Dexter Buchanan (47:29)
Yeah, Ronkovich is the guy I look up to the most. That's because he's probably not the best out-and-out runner in the field, but he's really efficient at the stations and really consistent across all areas. He's all about consistency in his training and lifestyle. He doesn't do crazy hours — he sits at about sixteen a week, from when I was talking to him. But he's tough, he's relentless. A lot of his attributes I definitely look up to. If I could race like him in a couple of years, mate, I'd be stoked.
Dan Plews (48:16)
That wouldn't be bad. You mentioned Chris Willie earlier — he was your doubles partner last year at the APAC champs. Have you got any aspirations to hit some doubles as well, like Elite 15 doubles? Are you going to try and hit the APAC doubles again? What are you thinking there?
Dexter Buchanan (48:38)
Yeah, definitely. I've been talking a bit with Bo Wills. We're looking at teaming up and getting some good races together, and hopefully qualifying for some of the majors next year. He's got a bit of an injury he's recovering from at the moment, but I think he'll be flying by the end of the year.
Dan Plews (48:52)
He had knee surgery, didn't he? A major knee surgery.
Dexter Buchanan (49:00)
So I think his recovery's going really well, but he probably won't be back racing until around October or November. So we'll look to get some races together and hopefully appear in a couple of the majors next year.
Adam Storey (49:15)
You and Gabby did a phenomenal mixed doubles, yeah. That was wicked.
Dexter Buchanan (49:22)
Gabby's a weapon, she's incredible. I think eventually that'll head into the elites as well — the mixed doubles. I think that'll be really entertaining to watch.
Dan Plews (49:38)
It'll be interesting if it does go into the elites. I was thinking about this — would they have more restrictions around how things run? Like the women having to do a minimum of twenty percent of every station? Because otherwise you'd just get some really quick runners who do no stations, and then what's the point?
Dexter Buchanan (50:04)
I feel like the females are so strong now that I don't think the best team will just be the one where the guy does all the work and the woman just runs. They're so amazing and strong that they can help with some of the stations, which means the guy can operate at a much faster output with a little bit of rest, and it's going to lead to a better time. I reckon, yeah.
Dan Plews (50:27)
Well, let's watch this space. Me and Adam might be teaming up again this weekend for the grid. We're doing it after a long time out of action, so that'll be good.
Adam Storey (50:50)
Yeah, that'll be fun. And on that topic, Dex — have you got eyes on anything outside of HYROX, whether it's a 10k, a Deadly Dozen, or anything else on your radar?
Dexter Buchanan (51:06)
Good question, mate. At this stage I've just got HYROX China and HYROX Perth coming up in the next five to six weeks. Then I'm going to wait until tomorrow to see — I think they're announcing all the races for 2027 up until July. So I'll see when they are and then make some plans. But I always like to put in a 5k or a 10k here or there, just to look at my running and how it's improving. So I'll definitely slip a couple of those onto the calendar, and maybe the odd little event like a Deadly Dozen again — that was pretty fun. I know Dan's the king. You've got the record for your age group, mate, at a Deadly Dozen. Are you going to do another one of those soon?
Dan Plews (51:50)
The old person record. You'll be a way off that, you're not that old. Hopefully we'll see. They're quite tough, though — quite hard on the lower back. But there's one in Auckland in September, so I'll probably have a crack at that, because I'm finally starting to run again.
But Dex, I'm conscious of time, and I know you've got to shoot off to a physio appointment, being the model athlete that you are. Before we finish, I know you've got your own coaching company, The Movement Method. Maybe give yourself a bit of a shout and tell us what you're doing. We're all after the same thing — we're just after fitter, healthier people. So tell us a little bit about The Movement Method.
Dexter Buchanan (52:38)
Yeah, exactly. So I run Movement Method, which is online training. We have twelve-week programs for beginner athletes, open athletes and pro athletes. I also have a subscription option, the Performance Club, which is more for people wanting to take their training a bit more seriously and increase their volume. That's essentially what I do for my training, but with scaled options. I also do some one-on-one coaching at the moment, though that's at capacity. Feel free to reach out on my Instagram — which is just @dexbuchanan — with any questions.
Dan Plews (53:27)
At Endurox we have different levels — we call them the Challenger, the Contender, the Pioneer, and the Endurox. You could have that, but call it the Challenger, the Contender, the Pioneer, and the Big Dex. You could be the Big Dex.
Adam Storey (53:43)
Well, it'd have to be Big D.
Dexter Buchanan (53:51)
Not flaccid.
Adam Storey (53:53)
Right. Stiff and strong.
Dan Plews (53:59)
It's been an absolute pleasure, Dex, and thanks for joining. Maybe in the future we'd love to have you on again when you break that elusive fifty-minute mark or something like that.
Dexter Buchanan (54:05)
Sounds great, lads. I appreciate it. Keep up the awesome work.
Adam Storey (54:14)
Yes, bring it on.
Dan Plews (54:15)
All right. Stay on the line.
Adam Storey (54:17)
You too, mate. Thanks for coming on board.
