Fit n Healthy

TRX is shredding it in the fitness world. I come across people every day who still haven't ever heard of it, much less attempted to dangle from those terrifying yellow straps. As a Certified TRX Instructor, this pains me deep down, because TRX can be such a powerful tool for people to change their bodies. I use TRX on a regular basis with my clients who range in age from 20-85, and there is always an effective exercise that challenges each one of them. 

TRX is a very versatile tool that can be used in a wide variety of different training styles. 

During my TRX classes, I vary the training styles to keep my students interested, however, they're also able to enjoy the different benefits, such as improved strength and stability, better range of motion in their joints, and the high amounts of calories burned. In the rest of this article, I'll talk about what makes TRX challenging and why this is such a powerful benefit of this unique training style.

What Makes TRX Training Different?

TRX training utilizes a common concept - bodyweight exercise - with a very uncommon stability challenge to create a unique, full body workout with every exercise. The TRX straps are suspended from an A-frame structure, door, post, etc to allow the trainee to make each exercise harder or easier just by stepping towards or away from the anchor point. This makes it very easy to increase or decrease the intensity of each exercise. By changing the angle at which you stand relative to the floor and the anchor point, you can make a bodybuilder's veins pop out or teach a newbie the basics of resistance training. Some of you might be thinking that bodyweight exercises just aren't going to be challenging enough if you really want to put on some muscle. This may be true in a normal scenario, but with TRX training, the added stability challenge turns something as simple as a push up into a much more challenging exercise. 

By allowing your arms or legs to move freely in the straps, you make it much harder on your body. These stabilizer muscles often get forgotten and weak due to help from machines, the added stability of a barbell, or a closed chain exercise like a body weight push up. I have also found, through my own training with TRX, that my 1RM (One repetition max) for just about every exercise increases after using it for a few weeks. This is because TRX training strengthens those stabilizer muscles which makes the more structured exercises seem easier.

Another very unique aspect of TRX training is the focus on full body. If you love doing planks, then you'll love doing TRX. Because TRX is all body weight, gravity and angles, you're basically doing planks during every exercise you complete. TRX forces you to tilt your pelvis appropriately while engaging your core to safely align your spine during each exercise. With the right supervision, this can be a very powerful tool for people with back problems or who hate doing crunches or sit ups. A lot of back pain stems from the inability to use your core, which in turn makes the core very weak. After a few TRX sessions with a good trainer, the trainee can learn the basic concepts behind keeping the spine in a safe position. Once those basic principles are understood, the trainee can really start focusing on adding resistance to build muscle mass safely, which may have been impossible otherwise.

Lastly, if you're looking for exercises that will burn calories fast, then TRX is for you! So how do you burn calories fast? One of the best ways to burn calories is to use multiple muscle groups at once during your exercises. With the TRX, even a simple exercise like a Biceps Curl utilizes not only the biceps, but the shoulders, abs, glutes, forearms, and low back. TRX turns an isolation exercise into a calorie burning, muscle building machine!

If you've never tried TRX before, search the gyms in your area for TRX classes. 

SOURCE : Ryan M York | EZine