A McAllen native is putting his skills to the test at the Hyrox World Championship.

Luis Garza is representing South Texas on the world stage.

Hyrox is a timed competition that combines different work-outs and running. At the same time, it promotes a healthy lifestyle.

"I'm very proud to represent South Texas," Garza said.

Garza has been actively competing in Hyrox competitions for the last several years. He's been involved in Hyrox since 2021.

"It is a sport that is catered for everybody, no matter if you're a beginner, you're barely starting to get into running, much like CrossFit," Garza said.

But what exactly goes into competing in a sport like Hyrox?

"It starts with an eight-kilometer race," Garza said. "After every one kilometer, you're running circles in an indoor track pretty much, you come on in and complete a station."

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Garza is a physical therapist assistant at XO Physical Therapy in McAllen. He uses the gym at the facility to help train for competitions.

"For me, individually, I do train typically twice a day," Garza said. "Whether it's before, after work, or during lunch, I'm able to squeeze in some training sessions."

He competed back in March with a partner and qualified for the world championship in Chicago. This is the second time he's earned a qualification.

"We got very fortunate, and we went out there and gave it our best, and we were able to qualify, second place at that time by a few seconds," Garza said.

Garza credits his family and hard work for helping get him to the world stage in the Windy City.

"I'm a dad of four, and as a parent, as a dad, it's so vital for me to demonstrate and show that anything is possible with hard work and discipline and try to set an example there for my kiddos," Garza said.

Garza will compete again on Father's Day in just a couple of weeks. He is excited to see a sport like Hyrox growing in the Rio Grande Valley and across the country.

"The growth, even locally, you have a lot of gyms here, MOB fitness, bear fitness, CrossFit gyms that are now promoting Hyrox simulation events down here, there's already been two in the last two months," Garza said.

He is glad the Valley is embracing this sport and promoting fitness in the community.

Luis Garza is Made in the 956. 

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