What I love about this piece of equipment is that absolutely
anyone at any fitness level can use it. The only thing you have to change is
the type of exercise you do and the angle of your body. For example, you can
loop your feet in the handles, hands on the floor, and do a TRX pushup. A beginning exerciser would to this activity
on their knees. A more intermediate person would do it with legs extended, as a
full pushup, and a very advanced athlete would do it with power (either pushing
themselves off the floor or adding a clap at the peak of the upward phase of
the pushup).
Of course, you can do these same exercises without the TRX,
but putting your feet in the straps makes you instantly unstable. In order hold
form, your core, arms and even your legs have to work much harder to do the
same movement. You activate more muscles with every exercise you perform. That
makes your workout more efficient, so that you can get better results and burn
more calories in less time.
The TRX is also fun—when you change up a simple movement
like pushups, it becomes a new exercise, and you engage your brain. You get to
learn a new skill, which means you’re building new neural pathways.
I knew about all these benefits when I first bought the TRX,
but what I did not know was the way it would clearly display my muscular
imbalances—in other words, before I had the TRX, I did not know how much weaker
my right hip was than my left. I do lunges all the time. Lunges with weights,
side lunges, walking lunges, but I had never performed a one-legged lunge with
the free foot in a TRX handle.
On my left foot, I could easily do eight reps the first time
I tried it, with no balance issues. On the right foot, I was so wobbly that I
had to grab on to the wall or furniture nearby each time. I could manage to do
eight reps, but I had to gut it out. And I definitely felt it the next day.
This experience solved a big question I’ve been having. For
the past year or so, my right knee has been bothering me from time to time.
It’s not horrible or disruptive pain, but it is uncomfortable.
From working with the TRX, I have also noticed that my right
leg always wants to rotate outward when I do a squat—which all indicates a
muscle imbalance: my right glute is overly tight, sapping its strength and
rotating my right leg outward, which in turn, is misaligning my foot and knee
so that I don’t roll through the knee joint properly, causing the hip and knee
discomfort.
Long story short: because of my work with the TRX, I am
beginning to correct the weakness in my right glute. My hips and knees feel so
much better, and every day, I am decreasing my risk of long-term joint
damage—all stuff I never would have known if I hadn’t bought the TRX!
For more information:
The Official TRX Training YouTube Channel:
ACE Fit
TRX Suspension Training Workout
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