Who is Celia Duff aka Badass Gran? HYROX World Champion who started functional fitness training at 68

CELIA Duff is a fitness influencer who is widely known online as Badass Gran. 

She started training at the age of 68 and has even taken part in the HYROX World Championships.

Starting Hyrox

Before becoming a HYROX athlete, Celia was a retired doctor with two children and two grandchildren. 

She had retired to a quiet life in Cambridge in 2017 before her daughter Alice showed her HYROX. 

Alice suggested that Celia should try out the fitness competition and, before she knew it, the mother-of-two had bought a ticket. 

With just three months to prepare, Celia started training. 

She had always been interested in fitness, particularly after the COVID lockdowns, but she knew that HYROX was something special. 

The thought of showing her daughter that “I could do this” kept her going. 

Training hard

Two years after her first HYROX competition, Celia said that taking part in the competition was making her walk “taller, both physically and mentally”.

She added that she wanted to show that “ordinary people can do extraordinary things”, while still having the virtues of “graciousness and gratitude”.

Speaking to , Celia shared her training tips which included:

• Turn to others when you need motivation
• Ensure that your training practices have a set goal
• Increase training intensity slowly to reduce injury
• Give yourself months to reach your goal
• Make your weaknesses the focus of your training

Global competition

HYROX is a global fitness competition, which began in Hamburg, Germany, in 2017. 

In the competition, athletes must run a total of 8km while completing a gruelling workout station at each 1km milestone. 

According to Celia, HYROX is “for every body” and there is no age limit or entry-skill level.