Iker Casillas it’s fashionable. The game that has given its supposed “crisis of the 40s” as a result of his taste for making more or less funny videos on Instagram and TikTok, his work as a commentator in the last World Cup and his participation in the King’s League, the latest “craze ” Viral by Gerard Piqué, have returned him to the forefront of today. Now, the former soccer player, who he will be 42 years old in mayhas also fallen into the networks of functional training to stay physically fit.
In his time as a professional athlete, Iker was not exactly famous for stepping on the gym a lot. Numerous former teammates of his at Real Madrid and the national team have joked about it on different occasions, to the point that it has become a kind of universal truth, but the truth is that nobody knows at this point in the film if it was a story true or a hoax fueled by the legend of the historic goalkeeper, captain of the Spanish team, world champion in 2010.
In any case, there is no doubt that now Iker does go to the gym. We know this thanks to the videos he shares on Instagram in his account (@mltrainer) Miguel Lordán Jiménez, the person who has gotten Iker Casillas hooked on functional training. He has already done it before with a long list of celebrities who also get in shape with him at the facilities of his sports center on Calle Columela in Madrid, very close to the Puerta de Alcalá.
The dancer Joaquín Cortés; the vocalist of Taburete, Guillermo Bárcenas; the model Malena Costa, the influencer and designer Gala González; the actress Esther Acebo (‘The paper house’); or DJ Wally López have are some of the many popular faces who, like Iker Casillas, trust Miguel Lombán, who has confessed to Summum what Iker Casillas’ training is like.
Iker Casillas’ functional training
The personal trainer explains that it was he, the result of his admiration for the former soccer player — “for me he is an idol,” he admits — who personally invited Iker Casillas to try training with him. “I wrote to him to come try and that’s how he started in Mltrainer, which can’t make me happier”, says Miguel Lordán.
Since then, both have been working together for a few months. Lordán prepares sessions of 45 minutes of work, a duration that anyone who usually practices functional training knows is the usual average for this type of training. “Someday I am sure that during those 45 minutes he hates me, but he is a professional”, says Lordán in a relaxed tone.
Casillas’s starting point is not the same as that of a person who wants to get back in shape but has not been a professional athlete before. This is how Miguel Lordán himself admits it: “I don’t know if he was training regularly before starting with us, but with people he has trained for so many years it is a matter of picking up the pace”, he indicates. “The body has memory and the body’s response in these cases is incredible; From the first day the training we have done has been of a high level and every day we continue to increase the level and intensity“, Add. “He has been training all his life and it shows. […] In addition, his technique is perfect ”, he adds.
Three 45 minute sessions
Not only is Iker Casillas’ training session standard in terms of session length, it is also standard in the number of weekly sessions: three of 45 minutes. Another recognizable detail for those who practice this type of physical activity. For Miguel Lordán, this is the workload that he recommends to all of his clients: “The workouts are high-intensity, with little rest. People are convinced that the more weight you lift, the stronger you get, but that is a mistake, it can only lead to injuries.“, Explain.
For this reason, in the videos of Iker Casillas’ training sessions, he is seen working with little weight but with very intense exercises. “In Mltrainer we work the muscles leading them to fatigue; that is to say, we do several high-intensity exercises in a row and we get the muscle to fatigue and with little weight do the same work for us that we would be doing with many kilos, thus eliminating the option of having an injury”, argues the personal trainer , which stresses the importance of rest: “The body always needs rest, if you do 3 workouts at a high level it is enough”, he assures.
This is the method that Miguel Lordán also follows with Iker Casillas, three high intensity weekly sessions, always in personalized sessionss —in their centers they work in group sessions of 4 people maximum. “It also allows us to monitor objectives or needs and, above all, to correct postures to avoid injuries. We are not in favor of group classes, we like a more personalized training ”, she points out.
For Lordán, mental health is just as important as physical health, and he is convinced that his way of working also helps the athlete in this regard. “The main objective in my training and for which I encourage everyone to play sports is health, not just physical, mental health, almost more important. My workouts are 45 minutes in which you disconnect and don’t think about worries, there are 45 minutes that you dedicate to yourself, then the physical results come by themselves”, explains Iker Casillas’ personal trainer, who seeks workouts that are not only demanding, but also attractive. “I always try to make the training sessions dynamic and above all fun within everything that I make them suffer“, recognize.
This suffering is a little less palpable in Iker Casillas than in most of his clients, among whom there are numerous singers and actors. Not because the former soccer player from Móstoles doesn’t make an effort in training, but quite the contrary: he has the mental strength of someone who has worked professionally for many years in contexts of maximum pressure and demand. “Something specific in the case of Iker, I would highlight above all his mental strength, his physical background and his competitiveness with himself. But above all his mental strength, since (athletes) are used to suffering and that helps a lot not to give up, ”says Miguel Lordán. “When you are more tired, for example, he has an enormous power of sacrifice, when I see that he is more forced I press a little more and he always holds”, acknowledges the personal trainer from admiration.
