Functional training

Strength, cardiorespiratory stamina, muscle stamina, flexibility, speed, power, coordination, agility, balance, precision…

• Olympic bars, disks
• Dumbbells
• Rings, parallel or fixed bars to work on body strength in suspension
• Plyo boxes
• Kettlebells
• Medicine balls
• Resistance bands
• Mats
• Ropes

Because we use global exercises that involve all of the muscle groups used in the context of our day to day movements: walking, running, jumping, going up stairs, pushing, dragging, climbing…

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is a series of training methods that share common characteristics:

• Work at short, high-intensity intervals (ranging from 80% to 100%) with short rests.
• The training sessions do not last long due to the high intensity of the exercises.

• Because it allows more development at cardiovascular, metabolic, anaerobic and aerobic levels than other continuous training methods.
• High-intensity interval training notably increases the amount of fat your body burns. This is due to the fact that high-intensity exercise is anaerobic, that is to say, it produces oxygen debt (the more intense the exercise the higher the debt). Your organism needs to refuel the muscle and hepatic glycogen that has been consumed; synthesize ATP; eliminate accumulated lactic acid and defective cells. To do this, it obtains energy using the aerobic system through burning fats. And the more intense the exercise, the more intense and lasting the effect.
• In an aerobic training, your body reduces the production of anabolic hormones like testosterone and growth hormones and increases production of the catabolic hormone, cortisol, to consume muscle mass. However, with high-intensity intervals, muscle mass is not lost, as the production of anabolic hormones (which spark off the metabolic processes of building larger molecules from smaller ones) increases, and catabolic hormones diminishes.
• Acording to Dr Mercola , high intensity interval training – HIIT – is one of the most significant ways, as it the most efficient and effective, and it can also be practiced to achieve weight loss.

In order to maintain an appreciable burning of fat, HIIT must be performed:

• At a minimum, with a work-rest ratio of 2:1 (for example: 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest)
• At a maximum, with a work-rest ratio of 1:4 (for example: 15 seconds of work and 60 seconds of rest)

HIIT can be practiced 2 to 3 times a week, and must be supplemented with other types of training.

Interval training and traditional circuit training following the most recognized HIIT method: the Tabata method.

Work time: Functional (all-round work, whether sprinting, pedalling, rowing, pushing, pulling…).

Total time: 4 minutes.

Series: 8

Intensity: maximum.

Work time: 20 secs.

Rest: 10 secs.

According to Dr Tabata, the improvement is not only anaerobic, but also aerobic and is higher than what could be achieved with exercise that take 10 times longer than the 4 minutes used in the Tabata method. Fat consumption with this method is 3 times higher than training that consists of continuous running, thanks to the hormonal response and payment of oxygen debt.

Other methods are Little-Gibala for running and cycling, and Timmons for cycling.

By definition, it consists of doing as many rounds and repetitions as possible. It is another form of HIIT exercise.

También es un ejercicio HIIT. Es muy usado por nuestros entrenadores en el entrenamiento funcional ALIEN BOX.

This acronym stands for “Every Minute on the Minute”. Depending on how it is applied, it can be a HIIT or a HIT exercise.

A certain number of exercise repetitions within a certain time. If you finish before the time is over, the remainder is taken as a rest.

This is also practiced in our BOX.

This stands for “For Time”. A certain number of repetitions of an exercise in the shortest time possible.

Of course, in ALIEN BOX.

The cross training method is considered HIT rather than HIIT because the speed of performance is not high, and it includes a wide variety of exercises in the same session. We employ it because it also produces excellent development for sportspeople in cardiovascular, metabolic, anaerobic and aerobic terms. The features are similar to those of a 30 minute circuit training (there is no set time, it can be more or less) with functional exercises performed at a normal pace that last 60 seconds, with a 30 second rest. We use this because we can rest between repetitions, which is why it does not have the potential side effects of a high-intensity exercise.

Power 90 Extreme (shortened to P90X) and Insanity are 6-day-a-week training methods (with the subsequent risk of overburden and overtraining) and carry the risk of injury that is common to all systems where cardiac rhythm is high or sustained.

We do not use cross fit either, although we do use similar methods. We try to avoid muscle adaptation at the same time as adding an element of surprise to the exercises.