JM Press: How to Do It, Muscles Worked and Variations
How to do the JM press with a barbell, EZ bar or Smith machine. Setup, bar path, cues, muscles worked, elbow-friendly loading, common mistakes and a simple programme.
By Paul Kendrick, Cardio & Endurance Editor · Updated 8 October 2026
The official HYROX weights for the 26/27 season are: Women push a 102kg sled, pull 78kg, carry 2 x 16kg kettlebells, lunge with a 10kg sandbag and throw a 4kg wall ball; Men and Women Pro push 152kg, pull 103kg, carry 2 x 24kg, lunge with 20kg and throw 6kg; Men Pro push 202kg, pull 153kg, carry 2 x 32kg, lunge with 30kg and throw 9kg. Sled weights include the sled. Wall ball targets sit at 2.70m for women and 3.00m for men, whatever the division. Every number below comes straight from the HYROX Singles rulebook, Doubles rulebook and Relay rulebook for Season 26/27, all linked from the official HYROX rulebook page.
The non-weighted stations are identical for everyone: 1000m SkiErg, 80m of burpee broad jumps and a 1000m row, with 1km of running before each of the eight stations for 8km in total.
| Station | Women (Open) | Men (Open) | Women Pro | Men Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sled push, 4 x 12.5m | 102kg incl. sled | 152kg incl. sled | 152kg incl. sled | 202kg incl. sled |
| Sled pull, 4 x 12.5m | 78kg incl. sled | 103kg incl. sled | 103kg incl. sled | 153kg incl. sled |
| Farmers carry, 200m | 2 x 16kg | 2 x 24kg | 2 x 24kg | 2 x 32kg |
| Sandbag lunges, 100m | 10kg | 20kg | 20kg | 30kg |
| Wall balls, 100 reps | 4kg | 6kg | 6kg | 9kg |
| Wall ball target | 2.70m | 3.00m | 2.70m | 3.00m |
Notice that Women Pro is not a separate set of loads. It borrows the Men Open weights for every station but keeps the women's 2.70m wall ball target, which makes it a brutal division for anyone used to Open.
Doubles doesn't make anything lighter. The Doubles rulebook lists five divisions and maps them onto the singles loads:
| Station | Doubles Women | Doubles Men, Women Pro, Mixed | Doubles Men Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sled push | 102kg incl. sled | 152kg incl. sled | 202kg incl. sled |
| Sled pull | 78kg incl. sled | 103kg incl. sled | 153kg incl. sled |
| Farmers carry | 2 x 16kg | 2 x 24kg | 2 x 32kg |
| Sandbag lunges | 10kg | 20kg | 30kg |
| Wall balls | 4kg | 6kg | 9kg |
The wall ball targets are listed as 2.70m for women and 3.00m for men. What changes is the workload: partners must run every 1km together, then split each station however they like in a "you go, I go" format, and the resting partner has to stay on their feet. Mixed teams carry the Men Open weights, which is worth knowing before a female partner commits to 24kg kettlebells.
Relay teams have four members, and each one runs 2 x 1km and completes two stations; the team decides who does what. The Relay rulebook only gives two weight columns:
| Station | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Sled push | 102kg incl. sled | 152kg incl. sled |
| Sled pull | 78kg incl. sled | 103kg incl. sled |
| Farmers carry | 2 x 16kg | 2 x 24kg |
| Sandbag lunges | 10kg | 20kg |
| Wall balls | 4kg / 2.70m | 6kg / 3.00m |
There's also a Mixed relay division, but the rulebook doesn't print a separate column for it, so we're not going to guess which loads apply. Ask the event organiser.
Sled weights include the sled
A 152kg sled push means sled plus plates totals 152kg. Gym sleds vary a lot in empty weight, so weigh yours (or check the maker's spec) and load the remainder. Also bear in mind that carpet, turf and rubber all feel different; a 152kg push on sticky gym turf can feel heavier than the race version, or lighter, depending on the floor.
Weights are only half of it. A few standards from the 26/27 rulebook decide whether your reps count:
On most of these stations a first infringement earns a warning and each one after that costs 15 seconds.
You won't replicate a full race in a garage, and you don't need to. Research on HYROX itself is thin, but the first lab study of a simulated race found that runs took up far more of the total time than the stations, and that faster finishers had a higher VO2max and did more endurance training (Frontiers in Physiology, 2025). The heaviest stations, sled push and pull, were actually the quickest to finish. So build your engine first and treat the weighted stations as skills to keep sharp.
Sled push and pull. These are the hardest to copy without a sled. If you have access to a gym sled, our sled push guide covers technique and loading. At home, heavy walking lunges, hill sprints and pushing a plate on a towel across a smooth floor get you part of the way, and a rope pull off a loaded sled or heavy bag drills the hand-over-hand pattern. Don't expect a perfect substitute.
Farmers carry. Easy to train at home with two kettlebells at race weight or heavier. Walk 50m sets, drop, repeat. The farmers carry guide has the programming, and if you're buying bells for race prep, our best kettlebells roundup lists cast-iron and competition options at 16kg, 24kg and 32kg. A grip strengthener helps if your hands go before your legs.
Sandbag lunges. A sandbag is ideal, but a weighted vest or a kettlebell held in a front rack trains the same legs; the vest is closer to the race feel because the load stays on your torso. Practise touching the back knee every rep (see our lunge guide for form) and do longer sets than you think you need, because 100m is a lot of lunges.
Wall balls. You need a soft-shelled wall ball and a wall or ceiling that won't mind 9kg hitting it. Our wall ball guide breaks down pacing for 100 reps, and the best medicine ball guide explains which balls are built to be caught. Burpee broad jumps need no kit at all; our burpee guide is a sensible start.
SkiErg and rowing. These are the two machines worth owning if you're serious. Our Concept2 SkiErg review covers the best-known ski machine, and the Concept2 Model D review covers the air rower most gyms own. If the Model D is out of budget, see our best rowing machine picks, but a magnetic rower won't feel quite like an air rower under hard efforts. For general conditioning, an air bike workout or a rowing machine HIIT session builds the engine without pounding your legs.
Two runs (one easy, one with intervals), two strength sessions built around lunges, carries and wall balls, and one "compromised" session where you run 1km between station blocks is enough for most people training for their first Open race. Use heart rate zones to keep the easy runs genuinely easy. If you're going Pro, train at or slightly above race weight on carries and lunges, since that's where Pro loads hurt most.
In the 26/27 rulebook, Men (Open) push a 152kg sled, pull a 103kg sled, carry 2 x 24kg kettlebells, lunge with a 20kg sandbag and throw a 6kg wall ball to a 3.00m target. Men Pro push 202kg, pull 153kg, carry 2 x 32kg, lunge with 30kg and throw a 9kg ball to 3.00m. Both sled figures include the sled itself.
Women (Open) push a 102kg sled, pull a 78kg sled, carry 2 x 16kg kettlebells, lunge with a 10kg sandbag and throw a 4kg wall ball to a 2.70m target. Women Pro use the same loads as Men Open (152kg push, 103kg pull, 2 x 24kg, 20kg sandbag, 6kg ball) but keep the 2.70m target.
Yes. The rulebook lists every sled weight as including the sled, so 152kg means sled plus plates comes to 152kg. If you train on a gym sled that weighs, say, 40kg empty, you load the plates to make up the difference rather than adding 152kg on top.
No. Doubles uses the same weights as singles: Doubles Women match Women Open, Doubles Men, Women Pro and Mixed match Men Open, and Doubles Men Pro match Men Pro. The difference is that partners split the work at each station, taking turns, while both run every 1km together.
They can. HYROX publishes a new rulebook each season and the figures on this page come from the 26/27 Singles, Doubles and Relay rulebooks. Check the current rulebook on hyrox.com before you race, because judges hold you to the version in force on race day.
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