by Elizabeth Kovar, ACE Master Trainer

If you’re searching for a new way to incorporate high-intensity interval training (HIIT) into your workouts, the Queenax™ functional trainer by Precor® is a great option. The Queenax is a versatile functional training system featuring various workout and equipment stations that utilise the ceiling, floor and wall configurations. Users can easily attach, remove and reconfigure accessories, making Queenax the ultimate functional fitness playground for individuals and groups alike.

Where Fun and Function Unite

Functional movements, which are integrative and train motion as opposed to isolated muscles, offer a wide range of benefits. In fact, functional training has been proven to reduce one’s risk of injury, make it easier to perform activities of daily living and improve strength, power and coordination for athletic pursuits. Queenax’s diverse equipment stations make it possible to create programming that features multiplanar and dimensional movement.

Queenax exercises are broken down into seven movement types:

• Push – Upper-body pushing and pressing
• Pull – Upper-body pulls, hangs and rows
• Squat – Bilateral, single, offset
• Lunge – Lateral, multidirectional, step and return
• Core/Hips – Bend, extend, isometric
• Twist – Rotational movements
• Sport/Skill/Play (SSP) – Sport-specific, plyometrics, play-based activities, gaiting movements

The following programme includes the seven movement patterns, uniting intensity, function and fun into a single workout.

Workout Protocol (approximately 25 minutes)

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of dynamic/mobility exercises or lower-intensity cardio exercise such as the elliptical
• Workout: 14 minutes including both work and rest periods
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of static stretching

This workout uses a 3:1 work-to-rest ratio. Each exercise is performed for 45 seconds followed by 15 seconds of rest. Complete two sets of the exercises in sequential order as listed below and seen in the video. Use the rest period to move the Superfunctional bar, if needed. Rest for one minute after each set.  

Step Up to Lunge Combination

• Equipment: Plyometric Platform
• Set-up: Position the platform on two or three bars at knee height.
• Performance: Stand approximately 2 feet away from the platform. Place your left foot on the platform. Drive the right knee to 90-degrees and then move laterally, placing the right foot on the floor. Drive the left leg behind the body into a backward lunge. Step the right foot backward and return to the starting position. Because you will end the repetition near the right side of the platform, perform the next step up while leading with your right leg, at a slight diagonal angle. Alternate leading with the right and left leg.

Row to Chest Press Combination

• Equipment: Superfunctional™
• Set-up: Place the bar at hip height in the Superfunctional straps at number 5.
• Performance: Stand tall and place both hands on the bar. Engage the core and begin to lean backward, slightly “scooping” the bar. Once inverted, perform a row and begin to roll the bar and the body forward into a plank. From here, perform a chest press, extending the arms and using core strength to shift backward into a row. Press your hands down into the bar as it scoops. When moving, the body will transition between the heels in a row and toward the ball of the foot in the chest press.  Maintain a neutral spine while moving.

Lateral Jump With Burpee Combination

• Equipment: Superfunctional
• Set-up: Place the bar at ankle height in the Superfunctional straps at level 9.
• Performance: Stand to the left side of the Superfunctional. Load the hips and jump laterally over the bar. Once the feet land, perform a burpee by lowering into a squat and jumping the feet behind the body into a plank position. Jump the feet back to centre and rise to a standing position. Load the hips and jump over the bar and repeat the burpee on the other side. Continue this rhythm.

Squat With Pull-up

• Equipment: Superfunctional
• Set-up: Place the bar overhead in the Superfunctional straps.
• Performance: Stand behind the bar and place your hands slightly farther than shoulder-width apart. Lower the hips into a squat and explode the body upward, using the upper body to perform a pull-up. When the feet touch the floor, load the hips and then lift. Execute this exercise at a rapid, but controlled pace.

Up Strength Lateral Lunges

• Equipment: Up Strength (2 ladders)
• Set-up: Place one foot in the cradle and the opposing hand on a bar near hip height.
• Performance: Move your weight toward the foot touching the floor and load the hip into a sagittal plane lunge. The foot in the cradle will move away from the body in the frontal plane. As you lunge, simultaneously reach the Up Strength forward, placing resistance on the handle. To come out of the lunge, straighten the standing leg and draw the cradled foot inward and flex the hip and knee at close to 90 degrees. Perform at a one-to-one tempo.  

Quarter Turn Jump Squat With Medicine Ball Slam

• Equipment: Medicine Ball
• Set-up: Find an area with ample floor space.
• Performance: Begin in an athletic stance and hold a medicine ball in front of the chest. Lift the ball overhead and rapidly slam the ball onto the ground. Catch the ball and immediately perform a squat jump with a quarter turn. Slam the ball again, catch it and squat jump back to the starting position. Complete one set of quarter turns while turning toward the right and then a second set while turning toward the left.