Make it functional – choosing the right kit for you! Part 4 – TRX

Nov 28th, 2016

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Category: Fitness

Make it functional – choosing the right kit for you! Part 4 – TRX

If it’s calorie crunching, fat burning, total body toning you want, look no further than incorporating these functional training gems into your locker!

Over the next five blogs, I’ll be selecting one of the top five functional training tools in the industry which are transforming the way we train our clients as trainers, achieving results in half the time!

Each review will rate the kit in terms of affordability, versatility and usability giving marks out of 10, 1 being least and 10 being most.

This week we examine the pioneer of suspension training, TRX…

Nowadays it’s not uncommon to walk through a public park and catch sight of an exerciser hanging from a tree from what can only be described as human webbing.

It is in fact a new wave of functional training equipment called suspension training epitomised by TRX.

TRX is a cleverly designed total body workout tool with an adjustable pulley device that can be anchored to a tree or door frame.

This enables you to use the handgrips and feet anchors to test your bodyweight against gravity in a vast repertoire of exercises to develop core body strength, as well as joint and muscular stability.

TRX was invented by a former U.S. Navy Seal in the 1990’s but only marketed in 2005 to the public worldwide.

I latched onto the product when it was introduced to the fitness industry in the UK at, you guessed it, the Fitpro Convention back in 2009.

It’s taken a while to catch on in the UK due to the competition out there but now the big chains like Virgin Active have come on board, TRX looks like it’s here to stay.

Stability is a major part of training with this training tool especially when your feet are anchored into the harness targeting your core musculature and testing balance.

Take the traditional press-up.

Anchoring the feet in the harness places huge emphasis on the midsection aswell as your upper body, even more so with the atomic press-up.

TRX-01b

Pulling exercises are a dream and the most effective back exerciser out of all the functional tools with exercises ranging from double arm rows to assisted chin ups.

As far as portability goes, the TRX is a sure-fire winner.

You can use it anywhere but I would suggest having instruction before trying it alone as beginners find it difficult to control their core on certain exercises and adjusting the pulley and anchoring the feet can get frustrating.

If you’re looking for a device to take away on holiday, this would win hands down but in my experience it lacks the ‘user friendly’ element.

So how does TRX rank amongst the other functional training kit?

Affordability – 10/10

When TRX was unleashed onto the market it cost £160 for the full package. You can now get suspension trainers that do exactly the same for just over £30 so great value for money.

Versatility – 7/10

You can work the whole body in a very different way to other equipment, heavily dependent on stability and balance rather than absolute strength so if you’re goal is building muscle this might not be for you.

Usability – 6/10

Anchoring the feet and changing the pulley length can be annoying and exercisers with a weak core and back problems may experience difficulty but on the whole pushing and pulling exercises are the best out there.

Next week – the last in the series – Kettlebells!

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