ATHX Miami Beach Offers a Lite Division for Newcomers and Crowns Chandler and Jessi Smith

• ATHX raced in Miami Beach, Florida, last weekend, and Chandler and Jessi Smith won Pro Pairs to move to second in the worldwide ranking in that division.
• Every ATHX stop runs the same 2.5-hour test across six zones, and the Lite level gives first-timers lighter loads and shorter run and row intervals.
• Houston is next on October 17, Long Beach follows in November, and the season finals run November 27 to 29 in Lisbon.

A World Champion Raced Miami Beach on Light Preparation and Still Won

Chandler Smith walked onto the floor in Miami Beach with a confession. He and Jessi Smith had trained separately for this one, and their ATHX-specific preparation was lighter than usual. “I think we had less specific prep for this one,” Chandler said in a Morning Chalk Up interview. Then the pair won the Pro Pairs division, a result that moved them to second in the worldwide rankings in that division.

The win came at an ATHX stop in Miami Beach, Florida, last weekend, and it gives American racers a close look at a format that arrived in the United States only this year. ATHX started in the United Kingdom in 2023, and Morning Chalk Up reported that nearly 6,000 athletes took part in the 2025 season, all of it in Europe. Miami hosted the first US Invitational in March, and the October date marks the tour’s return.

A Pro Pairs Win Built on a Year of Easy Miles

Chandler pointed to a long stretch of general aerobic work, some of it running, as the base that carried the pair when specific preparation ran short. He said he lifted well at an earlier event and wanted to improve on conditioning in Miami, telling the interviewer he would like to “go faster on the conditioning.” Jessi saw an upside in the unfamiliar workout: the two had never done it together, she said, so any result that day would be a personal record.

Chandler, who was crowned an ATHX Games world champion in December 2025, also said he was looking forward to “actually having fun for once.” That line should reassure newcomers. A world champion who treats a race weekend as a chance to enjoy himself gives a first-timer permission to do the same.

CELSIUS, the energy drink brand, backed the weekend as the event’s global partner and handed out samples and giveaways on the floor. Its chief brand officer, Kyle Watson, described the ATHX floor as a place where people chasing goals gather. The brand will appear at the next two US stops.

What Six Zones in 2.5 Hours Looks Like

ATHX runs one continuous 2.5-hour session split into six zones, and the structure repeats at every stop on the calendar. That sameness lets a racer compare a Miami result with a Houston result without wondering whether the course changed.

The zones run in this order:

• Warm-up for 30 minutes with guided mobility work.
• Strength for about 20 minutes: a one-rep-max strict press, a three-rep-max back squat and a five-rep-max deadlift. The score is the total load lifted.
• Refuel for 10 minutes, a break to eat, drink and plan.
• Endurance for 22 minutes of alternating run and row intervals. The score is total distance covered.
• Recovery for 30 minutes of light movement.
• Metcon-X for 25 minutes: ski-erg, ground-to-overhead lifts, sandbag carries, box jump-overs, dumbbell walking lunges and burpee broad jumps. A faster finish scores better.

Once a zone closes, the score is locked. A racer who fades in the endurance block cannot win the points back in the metcon, so the event rewards even pacing. Guidance published for the Miami Beach edition put race-day temperatures between 75 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit and told athletes to arrive early to adjust to the heat and humidity.

Where a First-Timer Fits

ATHX sorts racers into three levels: Lite, ATHX and Pro. Each level offers Individual and Pairs entries, split into male, female and mixed, with age groups running up to 65 and older for Individual and 110 and older for Pairs, where the number reflects the partners’ combined ages.

Lite is the entry point. Loads drop, run and row intervals shrink to 500 meters for pairs, and some movements are replaced with easier versions, such as a step-over in place of the box jump-over. The Miami Beach guide suggested six months or more of regular training and recommended Lite for anyone new to compound barbell lifts. That describes a lot of gym members who have taken group classes for a year and never tested a one-rep max.

A newcomer can rehearse the pieces separately before race day. Practice the strict press, back squat and deadlift with a coach, spend a few weeks alternating 500-meter runs with 500-meter rows, and run through the metcon movements at a light load. The goal is to arrive knowing what each zone feels like, so the 2.5 hours becomes a sequence of familiar tasks.

The trade-off is competitive. Lite athletes can race Pairs for a place at the finals, but Lite has no individual qualification path. A newcomer who wants a solo shot at Lisbon will need to move up a level.

Pacing advice from the event guide fits any level. Treat the refuel and recovery windows as part of the plan, warm up fully as heavy lifting starts straight away in the second zone, and hold an even rhythm in the run and row block, as quick early intervals can cost time later.

What Comes Next for US Racers

The tour heads to Houston on October 17 at NRG Park, a stop covered in an earlier Hybrid Chronicle report on the Houston race. Long Beach, California follows next month, according to Morning Chalk Up, and Los Angeles is listed on the season calendar for November 7. The finals take place in Lisbon from November 27 to 29.

Qualification works by event. At the ATHX and Pro levels, the top four in each Pairs and Individual category at every stop earn a Lisbon invitation, and invited athletes have seven days to confirm and pay before the spot passes to the next name on the leaderboard. At Lite, the top four Pairs teams qualify.

For gym owners and coaches in Florida, Texas and California, the growth points to a fresh type of event to train for. ATHX asks athletes to lift heavy, then run and row through conditioning in a single sitting, which differs from the running-heavy structure of Hyrox and the station-and-run rhythm of DEKA. Members who like barbells as much as treadmills now have a race that suits them, and Miami showed that the sport can pair a world champion with a first-timer on the same floor.