The Remarkable Rise of the Everyday Athlete

From marathons to Hyrox, workout regulars are training like elites to find purpose, community, and proof of what their bodies can do. This movement may be the ultimate antidote to life in 2025.

- Addison Aloian

WHEN SAM BRAUNSTEIN first signed up for a triathlon in 2009, it was simply an escape from the monotony of her treadmill workouts. Then life happened—three small children, a demanding job—and her race medals collected dust. Fourteen years later, at a point when she felt as if she could come up for air and was craving adventurous self-investment again, she entered her first Ironman. Today, at 55 years old, Braunstein has completed 15 triathlons, including two half-Ironmans and one full Ironman. She drank the Kool-Aid and is, well, hooked. And she's far from the only one.

All across the country, casual exercisers are transforming into competition-driven athletes. The world of marathon fanatics and Ironman diehards that was once niche has rapidly become mainstream. This past year, the iconic Boston Marathon drew its largest field of applicants ever. The New York City Marathon became the world's largest ever in 2024 and saw a 22 percent jump in applications in 2025, accepting just 2 to 3 percent of them. Hyrox—a hybrid strength and cardio endurance competition born in 2017 in Germany and launched in the U.S. in 2019—exploded from 260,000 athletes last year to more than 550,000 in 2025.

These motivated movers aren't just, say, former collegiate athletes finding new outlets for their skills. They are teachers, accountants, parents—in other words, ordinary people training like pros, tracking protein, logging double workouts, and flying across the country to compete with their newfound communities. Their reasons vary: to prove something to themselves, to find a sense of control, or simply to shake up their lives and blow their own minds.

The Data Driving the Trend