Thoughts on first XENOM in Dallas
Originally published on Substack on July 1, 2026.
I just wrapped up competing at a CrossFit event in Dallas — XENOM, the first of its kind. I've never competed in a big CF event like this, largely because most of them require you to be… well, pretty advanced. CrossFit Games, Wodapalooza, Rogue Invitational: all targeting top 0.01% of the CrossFitters.
The world needed something a lot more accessible. Like HYROX, but for CrossFit and XENOM feels like it's filling that gap. Announced right after Open this year—where I did pretty well—it caught me at the time when I wished for another challenge. And so I signed up. I also thought it would be a nice way to promote PRzilla.1
Overall, I had a blast. The event felt smooth and all athletes I spoke to (in my heat) enjoyed it.
The good parts
XENOM must have borrowed comp logistics from HYROX which was great since HYROX has done it hundreds of times now: spectator ring was interweaved with comp areas which made for fun vibes as folks would cheer us up while we were dying on the floor.
It was incredibly cool to compete with pros in the exact same arena! Emily Rolfe, Abi Domit, Jack Farlow, Colten Mertens and Chris Ibarra, Dan Bailey would warm up next to you on a bike or throw a barbell around in a warmup section. And you could spectate all of them from few feet away standing at the same stations where you just competed 20min ago.
That was my favorite part and it was very motivating for my own training.
Overall events felt like they covered fitness pretty well. Most movements made an appearance except dubs. I heard WODPrep folks explain that gymnastic movements like RMUs in one of the workouts rewarded points equal to a squat clean at 130kg. So you can get ahead by being better at those types of events; something to be aware of.
The not-too-bad parts
Some small hiccups: long check-in line on 1st day and no athlete briefing before competition, instead they were briefing us before every event and the music and announcers were so loud that it was hard to hear the rules. You could talk to your judge at the station, though, and ask any questions so this ended up being a non-issue.
EPI score is a bit... confusing, but I now have a specific number (4481) that I can work on improving. And I can see which workouts I did well on (rhino dl, snatch) and which need improvement (BB cycling and air bike). The issue is that with something like Rhino DL, I have no way of testing it in training or even knowing why my "1581" power output resulted in certain EPI points.
5 workouts per day for 2 days is a lot. It's Wednesday now and I'm still feeling it so a weekend like this is a challenge on its own. Expect to do slightly worse than in training, although competition vibes are a special kind of magic and I PB'd both my snatch and clean, so... you never know :)
Below are some lessons for myself from all the events:
Day 1
1RM snatch
Hit 85kg which is 187.5lb. Previous best was 185lb so a tiny PR. Failed 90kg. I should really clean up my snatch and get that 90kg or more I've been eyeing for years.Wall walks and Rope Climbs
I consider myself good at wall walks but overall fatigue built up and I only got 1 out of 5 rope climbs. A bit better than in training but not much. Would have loved to get all 5. Thick rope tripped me up as I couldn't slide down as well. The issue wasn't rope though but just accumulating fatigue at the end of those 10 wall walks. Protip: wear underpants next time so as not to scrape the skin.Air Bike
Got only 25 cals. Need to work on this as it ended up being one of my weakest performances. Apparently max power output is a trained skill so TBD on how much I can improve here.Barbell Cycling
Essentially a DT + 3 thrusters each round. Pure anaerobic power test and a carnage unless you've built this skill and capacity.2k ski erg + 3k run
I finished ski in 8:15 so a bit slower than my desired 8min mark, but the run felt good and I finished in 23:38 which is faster than 25:00 I got in training.
Lessons learned:
Get better at air bike (under fatigue), incorporate max effort sprints into training.
Not all rope climbs are created equal. Do more rope climbs in general. I only started practicing them a month ago so there's a lot of room for growth.
Get better at BB cycling (this is consistent with my poor DT and Fran scores).
Day 2
T2B + DB snatches → BMU → RMU
This one surprised me as I only got 3 RMUs after 10 BMUs. I would have expected to get 10. Granted, I haven't practiced this specific sequence AND i was coming off of a shoulder injury (AC joint strain) so I'm happy I got any RMU's under fatigue at all.Rhino Deadlift
My back was beat up from previous day and I was worried that I'd pull it. Did the best I could. Not my fave.Burpees → Air Bike → Ski Erg → Burpees
All of my least favorite movements in one beautiful nauseating package. Went in trying not to think too much about it. Did better than in training! And still finished 2nd to last in my heat :DClean ladder
It's not a good sign when workout calls for AMRAP at 130kg and your max clean is at 95kg :) I knew this was going to be my worst event so I went into it calm and composed, got 10x80kg, 8x90kg, and then even managed to power clean 100kg for a PR. Still, most guys in my heat were doing 110 for reps.HSPU + C2B + DB lunges
Probably the easiest event for me as I love HSPU's and am good at them. I thought my 9.5 rounds were a good result — and I was top 3 in my heat — but then I saw some folks getting well into 15 rounds… again, you can never be too good at gymnastics.
Lessons learned:
Need to work on my aerobic base: it would also help with burpee workout
Cleans are my kryptonite.
If you think you're good at gymnastics, there's always room for more/better gymnastics.
Final thoughts
I loved how XENOM made it very clear what I'm good and what I'm bad at. This is something Open can never do: testing overall fitness in just 3 workouts.
I placed 9th in my (40-44) age category.
The scarcity narrative is that I'm only "average", 9th out of 16th men. And this field is only going to get more competitive. The gratitude mindset is that I was able to compete at "Rx" and finished all the workouts. Just 3 months ago I wouldn't be able to do even 3 rope climbs. Just a year ago I wouldn't be able to do even 3 RMU's. 2 years ago I wouldn't be able to get through 10 BMUs. 3 years ago I'm not sure I would have gotten that 100kg clean.
I'm certain that with a dedicated 3-6 months of hard work, I can get to 5000 EPI which would put me on a podium (top 3).
LFG.
Although it ended up being difficult to talk to people about an app during competition. The upside is that I ended up fixing a bunch of XENOM-related issues in the app.
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