Speedplay, the revolutionary high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that took Los Angeles, California’s competitive boutique gym landscape by storm, is coming to Manila.

Touted as one of the most efficient workouts to drop that unwanted body fat, Speedplay is “part HIIT, part strength and resistance training, and part mobility training, all wrapped up in a race-against-the-clock sense of urgency,” says its co-founder, personal trainer and nutritionist Xavier Quimbo.

Quimbo was in Manila to teach trainers for their Speedplay Bodyweight certification. He has 15 years of personal training experience, plus four years working directly under physical therapists and doctors. From weight loss to muscle-building to recovery from acute sports injuries, Quimbo has covered it all.

Co-created with chiropractor Dr. Ryan Pendon, Speedplay was formulated to address the need for a more challenging, effective, and exclusive training class. Designed for everyone, from beginners to seasoned athletes, it aims to give students a 60-minute creative workout atmosphere that is fast-paced and playlist-curated.

No-motor treadmills

“What makes Speedplay unique is our Woodway Curve Treadmills. These aren’t your ordinary treadmills. They have no motor and are completely self-powered. It stays truer to your natural running mechanics while being safer on your joints,” Quimbo told Inquirer Lifestyle.

Speedplay creates a true HIIT with its Woodway Curve Treadmills.

“The nature of the run on a Curve is a glide instead of a pounding feeling like you may experience on a conventional treadmill. My most favorite thing about the Curve is that you create the speed. You don’t catch up to it,” Quimbo said.

The result is that students can achieve that HIIT effect quickly without the extra wear and tear. Mash that up with a rowing set on a C2 rowing machine, and cap it off with multijointed and multidirectional total body exercises on the floor.

“You’ll get all the pieces needed to be effective,” he said. “In Downtown Los Angeles, I was constantly around busy professionals. They needed to get lean or stay lean, and so the blend of high-intensity interval runs on the treadmill, distance rows on a C2 Row machine, and functional strength training exercises on the floor was created.”

Medical supervision

Pendon came into the picture since it was always helpful, he said, to have a medical professional take a look at the program design: “The perspective is smart when it comes to exercises that may result in overuse injuries.”

But can one go from couch to Speedplay? Its “magic timing breakdown” is four sections of nine minutes each. Quimbo said someone who can at least walk/run for nine minutes, do some distance internal rows for nine minutes, and perform a nine-minute floor set should be good to do Speedplay.

“Speedplay is ultimately ‘your’ workout. It can be modified to fit your current ability. Everyone’s heart rocks to a different beat,” he said. “The beauty of a system like ours is that you can have a newbie next to a seasoned athlete. There’s always an intimidation factor for what we call ‘new players.’ That intimidation is a good thing.”

For trainers, the workshop will focus on skills needed to take a group training to the next level. Trainers, Quimbo said, need to find a way to add their personality to break through all the noise and create a brand that people can follow. Through the workshop, trainers will learn techniques and practices to up their presence, techniques and practices that have taken him and Speedplay to partnering up with some of the biggest brands in LA.

Play on speed

“There’s a play on speed in everything you do. Think about how the world moves for a moment. Some things require endurance while other things require short, quick bursts. At Speedplay, one exercise can look and feel different by the speed of the tempo, and we love playing around with that speed,” said Quimbo.

Floor movements are mostly total body and multidirectional, hitting different angles and recruiting more muscle groups. Students get stronger faster than the average workout.

Quimbo remembers he once had an overweight student in his 60s who walked with a cane who had only one goal: To have the strength to get off the ground and stand on his own without any assistance or aid. He visits his wife’s grave each year on her birthday.

One day, he kneeled down to place flowers and toppled over to his side and then to his back. He tried to get up but just didn’t have the strength to do it. He didn’t have the abdominal strength to either do a sit up to position himself or roll to his side. He laid on his back for over 30 minutes until someone came along to help him.

“Our goal was clear and simple: To build the strength to get on his feet from a completely lying position,” Quimbo said. It took him just over three months to help him regain his strength.

The Speedplay certification was brought by Power House Academe. E-mail [email protected].