The TRX suspension trainer has become a very popular tool for personal training as well as group fitness classes in recent years. It’s also a great tool for travel or in-home training because it packs down to nothing and can be used anywhere there’s a sturdy door, outdoors with a sturdy tree, or indoors in a gym with any strong overhead anchor point. Like any tool, it’s only as good as the person using it. Here is a video with some helpful tips to help you avoid making some of the more common TRX mistakes so that you can reduce your chance of injury and get more out of your workouts!
Tip 1: Make sure that you find the correct body position and foot stance for every exercise that you do. Figure it out at the start of each exercise to make your workout more efficient and effective.
Tip 2: For most TRX exercises, you should be able to adjust your body angle during the exercise to increase or reduce intensity rather than stopping completely and restarting. It’s usually as simple as moving your feet for standing exercises, or hands on the ground for suspended exercises such as planks.
Tip 3: Avoid getting slack in the straps of the TRX. Instead, keep steady constant tension throughout the movement to maintain consistent resistance through the entire range of motion.
Tip 4: A common problem for people doing chest presses with their hands in the cradles is that the straps scrape against their arms. This can be corrected by slightly raising the position of your hands.
Tip 5: Keep even pressure on your right and left sides to prevent the TRX from slipping back and forth at the anchor point. This will make more sense when you see it on the video.
Tip 6: Keep muscles of the core engaged to stabilize and maintain posture so that you don’t sag in the mid-section during planking exercises. This is a common problem during planks whether you are using a TRX or not! If you aren’t able to avoid sagging, it’s time to regress the exercise until you get stronger.
These are just some of the most common TRX mistakes that I see people make, especially newbies who are just starting to experiment with suspension training. You can get a great total body workout with this simple implement, and exercises can be modified for all abilities. If you’d like your own personal lesson to learn more and try the TRX yourself, feel free to give me a call and we’ll get you started!