What is Spartan’s DEKA fitness challenge?

(Image credit: Spartan)

published 13 November 2024

Everyone you know may be talking and training for a HYROX right now, but have you heard of Spartan’s DEKA?

Known as the ‘Decathlon of functional fitness’ DEKA is a functional fitness race designed to test one’s strength and cardio capacity in a beginner-friendly environment. You could even do DEKA with no training, if you dared, but, be warned, you will be seriously challenged (it was founded by Spartan after all).

You may think this sounds pretty similar to HYROX, however, with DEKA, there are more workout stations (10) and far less running, depending on what DEKA race you choose—DEKA Fit, Mile, or Strong.

Intrigued? Here’s everything you need to know…

What is a DEKA?

A man performing ram lunges doing a DEKA

Each DEKA race consists of 10 functional fitness stations known as the ‘DEKA zones’ (the word ‘DEKA’ is Greek for ‘ten’, hence the name). The stations are low-skill in the sense that they require little training and expertise to master, making the challenge accessible to people from all walks of life.

The DEKA zones include…

30 RAM reverse lunges
500 metre row
20 box step/jump overs
25 medicine ball sit-ups (Mile/Strong) or 25 medicine ball sit-up throws (Fit)
500 metre ski-erg
100 metre farmer carry
25 calorie air bike
20 dead ball wall-overs (Fit)/ 20 dead ball shoulder-overs (Strong/Mile)
100 metre sled push/pull
20 RAM burpees

The zones remain the same in every DEKA race and are always completed in the same order. However, depending on which DEKA event you choose determines how much running you complete in between each station.

You can choose from three DEKA races:

DEKA Strong — where you complete the 10 DEKA zones with no running
DEKA Mile — where each DEKA zone is followed by a 160 metre run (1 mile in total)
DEKA Fit — where each DEKA zone is followed by a 500 metre run (5K in total)

This means you can choose a race that's more suited to your strengths, e.g. those who can't stand running would probably opt for a DEKA Strong.

There's a pretty cool medal up for grabs for taking part, plus, if you'd rather share the load, you can complete any of the races above in pairs.

What's a good DEKA time?

A woman performing sit-up medicine ball throws at DEKA

This varies from race to race but, typically speaking, the average finish time for DEKA Strong is 20 minutes, for DEKA Fit it's 25 minutes and DEKA Mile, 30 minutes.

Personally, we wouldn't get too caught up on race times, especially if you're looking to do your first race (the main thing is to just enjoy it), but we know it can be nice to have a benchmark to work towards.

How do I find a race?

Currently, DEKA is most popular in the US, as that's where it started. However, more and more races are popping up in the UK and in Spain too, particularly DEKA Fit and Mile. However, the brand confirmed that 2025 is to be a big year and, with the rise of HYROX, we can only expect to see more DEKAs on the horizon.

If you're interested in taking part, head to the Spartan website where you can find your nearest DEKA race.

Bryony’s T3’s official ‘gym-bunny’ and Active Staff Writer, covering all things fitness. In her spare time, you will find her in her natural habitat - the gym - where her style of training is a hybrid of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Bryony loves writing about accessible workouts, nutrition and testing innovative fitness products that help you reach your fitness goals and take your training to the next level.