Good judging is what turns a hard group workout into a race people trust. Athletes forgive a cold gym and a queue for the toilet. They do not forgive a judge who counted one standard for them and another for the athlete next to them, or a split time that is obviously wrong on the big screen.
This guide covers who judges what, how to brief judges, how to call no-reps consistently, when to use re-dos versus penalties, and the practical side of recording splits on phones.
SimDay is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by HYROX or DEKA (Spartan). Where this guide refers to the official race’s rules, it is describing them for comparison, not reproducing them; check the current rulebook if you want to mirror a specific race.
Judge roles
There are two ways to deploy judges, and most sims use a mix.
| Lane judge | Station judge | |
|---|---|---|
| Follows | One athlete (or pair) for the whole race | Whoever arrives at their station |
| Counts | Every rep and distance for their athlete | Reps at one station only |
| Taps splits | Yes, at the end of every station | Usually not; the lane judge does |
| Strengths | One person owns one athlete’s result; clean split data | Deep familiarity with one standard; consistent calls across athletes |
| Weaknesses | Must know every standard; walks the whole course | Splits need someone else; hard to track who is who in busy heats |
| Best for | Small to medium sims, one judge per lane | Wall balls, burpee broad jumps and sleds in larger events |
The official race uses judging teams at each station, coordinated by a head judge for that station, with race directors making the final call on judging matters. In a gym you rarely have that many people, so the usual set-up is one lane judge per working lane, plus a head judge who floats between stations and handles disputes. If you have extra volunteers, put them on wall balls and burpee broad jumps as station judges, because those are the stations with the most reps to count and the most standards to watch.
Two other roles keep judges free to judge: a starter or timing lead who starts each heat from the organiser’s device, and a reset crew who returns sleds, sandbags and kettlebells to their start positions and clears erg monitors between athletes.
The briefing
Hold one briefing for all judges, on the floor, at least 30 minutes before the first heat. A 30-minute margin is a planning choice, not a rule; use whatever gives you time for a test heat.
- Explain the format, the heat schedule and where each judge starts.
- Walk to each station and demonstrate a good rep and the two or three no-reps you expect most, so judges see the standard rather than hear it.
- Agree the exact words: “no rep”, a one-word reason, then the valid count.
- Explain when to tap a split, and what to do if a tap is missed.
- Check that every phone has automatic date and time on and has judge mode open.
- Run a test heat with two volunteers, including one deliberate no-rep and one missed tap.
- Name the head judge and explain that their decision is final.
Give each judge a printed judge or rep sheet as well as their phone. It is the backup if a phone dies, and the place to note anything unusual, like a penalty or an equipment failure.
Standards and common no-reps
Judges need one clear standard per station and the faults they will see most. Keep it short. The full list with loads guidance is in the station standards guide; here is the judging summary.
| Station | Watch for | Typical no-rep |
|---|---|---|
| Wall balls | Squat depth, ball hits target | Hip crease not below the knee; ball low or misses |
| Burpee broad jumps | Chest to floor, two-foot jump | Chest not touching; staggered or stepping take-off |
| Sandbag lunges | Knee to floor, full stand | Back knee misses the floor; no hip and knee extension |
| Box jump overs | Feet on the box, clear the box | Hands or knees on the box; going round, not over |
| Sled push and pull | Whole sled past the line | Turning before the sled fully crosses; leaving the lane |
| Rowing and ski erg | Monitor distance, stays on the machine | Getting off before the distance shows on the monitor |
| Farmers carry | Both weights moving together | Dropping and rolling a weight forward |
These are generic standards. They line up with how published standards describe the same movements: CrossFit’s 2026 Open, for example, counts a wall ball only when the hip crease is clearly below the knee and the centre of the ball hits above the target height.
Calling no-reps
Consistency matters more than strictness. A judge who is strict all day is fine; a judge who gets tired and stops calling depth at rep 60 is not.
- Say “no rep” and the reason in one word, every time.
- Keep counting out loud with the valid count, so the athlete always knows their number.
- Call it the first time. A judge who lets three shallow reps go then calls the fourth creates an argument.
- Do not coach. A one-word reason is information; “get lower, you’ve got this” is coaching, and it is unfair on the athlete next door whose judge is silent.
Penalties versus re-dos
There are two ways to deal with a fault, and they fit different situations.
Re-dos fix the fault on the spot. The athlete repeats the rep or the section. CrossFit’s published standards use this approach: in the 2025 Open, a no-rep on a burpee meant the whole burpee had to be repeated, and a no-rep on a walking lunge meant repeating the whole section from behind the line. Re-dos are fair and need no maths afterwards.
Time penalties are for faults that cannot be undone in the moment. The official race’s current singles rulebook uses a formal warning followed by 15-second time penalties for repeated infringements at many stations, while wall balls have no warnings at all: each rep is either a rep or a no-rep. It also uses larger fixed penalties for things like exiting a station the wrong way.
For a gym sim, a simple policy works:
- Use re-dos for movement faults at every station where the athlete can repeat the rep or section.
- Use a fixed time penalty, decided before the day, for missed run laps, wrong equipment or leaving a lane.
- Have lane judges write penalties on their sheet and tell the head judge, who applies them before results are published.
Recording splits
A split is only as good as the moment it is tapped. Agree one rule and brief it: tap when the station is complete by the standard. That means the moment the sled has fully crossed the line, the erg monitor shows the distance, or the last valid wall ball hits the target, not when the athlete walks off.
If a judge misses a tap, they should tap as soon as they notice and write the approximate correct time on their sheet for the head judge. Do not try to “make up” time by tapping early at the next station.
Splits feed the live TV board, so obvious errors show up quickly. A head judge watching the board can spot a split that is a minute out and check it with the lane judge while the athlete is still on the floor.
Device clocks
Split times are stamped on each judge’s phone, and the heat start is stamped on the organiser’s device. SimDay works out each athlete’s time from the difference. If a judge’s phone clock is ahead of or behind the organiser’s, every split that judge taps shifts by the same amount.
The fix is to switch on automatic date and time on every device before the first heat:
- iPhone: Settings, then General, then Date & Time, and turn on Set Time Automatically.
- Android: in the Clock app, open More, then Settings, then Change date and time, and turn on Automatic date and time. Menus vary between phone makers, so check the system settings if the Clock app path is different.
At the briefing, ask judges to show their phone’s time when the minute changes and compare it with the organiser’s device. Any phone that is visibly out should be fixed or swapped before heat 1.
When the Wi-Fi drops
Gym Wi-Fi often struggles when every athlete and spectator is on it. Judges should not stop judging to troubleshoot. SimDay queues taps on the phone when there is no connection and sends them when the connection returns, with each split keeping the time it was tapped. The TV board catches up once the queued taps arrive.
Tell judges to keep tapping, keep the judge page open and avoid closing the browser tab until the phone has reconnected. The printed judge sheet is the backup if a phone dies outright.
Disputes
Set the process at the briefing so it is not invented under pressure:
- Athletes raise a dispute with the head judge, not the lane judge, and do it before results are published.
- The head judge talks to the lane judge, checks the sheet and the splits, and decides.
- The head judge’s decision is final. Say so out loud at the athlete briefing.
Most disputes vanish when judges have called no-reps clearly in the moment. The rest are usually about splits, which is why clocks and tap rules matter.
Plan judges alongside your heats in the heat planning guide, then print your judge sheets from SimDay, free during the beta.