Georgia Stanway’s five rules for surviving your first hybrid fitness competition

The England midfielder says everyday athletes can borrow more from elite sport than they might think when preparing to take on their first major fitness challenge.

Signing up for a fitness competition is the easy part. The rather more difficult bit comes when you find yourself on the start line, surrounded by competitors, with adrenaline encouraging you to abandon every sensible decision you made during training.

For anyone preparing to discover that feeling for the first time, England midfielder Georgia Stanway has some advice: preparation matters, but so does knowing when to ignore everybody around you.

The European champion and CELSIUS ambassador has shared five principles she believes can help people preparing for hybrid fitness competitions, ahead of ATHX Liverpool on October 3 and 4.

And while professional football and a weekend fitness event occupy rather different sporting worlds, Stanway argues that some of the fundamentals remain surprisingly similar.

1. Don’t try to cram your training

There is little to be gained from suddenly doubling your workload as competition day approaches.

“You can't cram weeks of training into a few days,” Stanway says.

Instead, she recommends building fitness gradually and trusting the preparation already completed by the time the event arrives.

The principle will be familiar to anyone who has attempted to compensate for weeks of inconsistent training with a heroic final few days. Competition day is supposed to reveal the work you have done, not become the deadline for doing it.

2. Train what you’re bad at

Most of us would rather practise the things that make us feel competent.

Competitions are less accommodating.

“It's easy to stick to what you're good at – competition finds what you haven't practised very quickly,” Stanway says.

That is particularly relevant to hybrid events, where competitors move between different exercises while already fatigued. Stanway recommends becoming familiar with the movements and demands of the competition beforehand rather than relying upon general fitness to carry you through.

The uncomfortable parts of training may ultimately prove the most useful.

3. Run your own race

Then comes perhaps the easiest mistake to make: starting too quickly.

The combination of spectators, competitors and adrenaline can make a sensible training pace suddenly feel painfully conservative.

Stanway's advice is to resist it.

“Know your pace and ignore everyone else's – flying past early doesn't win you anything,” she says.

Starting aggressively may feel impressive for the opening stages, but hybrid competitions reward athletes capable of managing effort across the entire event. Stanway recommends sticking to the plan and preserving enough energy to finish strongly.

4. Train your head as well as your body

Physical preparation only gets competitors so far.

When fatigue arrives, Stanway recommends reducing the challenge mentally rather than becoming overwhelmed by what remains.

“Stay in the moment, break it down, and focus on what's next,” she says.

It is a technique familiar from elite sport: concentrate on the immediate task rather than the scale of the entire challenge.

When things become uncomfortable, remembering why you entered in the first place can also provide the motivation to continue.

5. Competition day is not the time to experiment

New trainers? Leave them at home.

An unfamiliar breakfast recommended on social media? Probably not.

A supplement you've never tried before? Definitely not.

Stanway's final rule is straightforward: “Nothing new on the day.”

Training should be used to establish which kit, food and routines work. Competition day is then about repeating them rather than introducing unnecessary variables at precisely the moment reliability matters most.

You don’t have to be an elite athlete

Stanway's advice comes through CELSIUS, the official energy drink partner of the ATHX Games, but the broader message is less about elite performance than setting an achievable personal challenge.

“You don’t have to be a professional athlete to set yourself a goal,” Stanway says.

“Everyone taking part has their own reason for being there and their own version of success.”

She acknowledges the obvious differences between preparing for professional football and entering a fitness competition, but points to preparation, consistency and the ability to continue when things become difficult as principles that cross the divide.

ATHX was founded in Britain in 2023 and says competitor numbers have tripled over the past three years. It expects more than 40,000 people to participate across its events during 2026.

The next competition takes place at Exhibition Centre Liverpool on October 3 and 4, before ATHX returns with events planned in London, Glasgow, Dublin, Birmingham and Liverpool in 2027.

For those about to attempt their first one, Stanway's message can ultimately be reduced to something reassuringly uncomplicated: do the work beforehand, don't get carried away at the start, and don't suddenly decide competition morning is the perfect opportunity to try something new.