TRX

Good Afternoon Loves,

  Today is Tone It Tuesday, and today I'm sharing one of my favorites TRX.  TRX to me has been a great supplement to my workout over the years. You don't need a ton of room nor do you need much else besides the TRX and maybe a mat. I fell in love with TRX about 9 years ago and new I was going to be adding it to one of my many certs as soon as I saw it.  I purchased one and used it here and there but wasn't 100% comfortable on it until I went through my certification.  Now I'm not saying you have to get certified to understand how to use it that's what I'm here for and hopefully I can shed some light on the basics and then how to get fancy on the equipment. 

   TRX slogan is all core all the time. And I have to agree if your not feeling your core or your not engaging your core then more than likely something is off. Today I'm going to go over some simple foot positioning and some of the tips I give my clients when exercising with it. Now the exercises I have listed below are just some of my favorite foundation exercises that you can do with rep sets or with timed sets, you can also perform these nice and slow or you can do they quick to get your cardio in. 

  Ok your basic foot positioning I always say feet hip width or wider to begin. In time as you get stronger and more comfortable then you bring your feet closer. In the beginning of this video you will see I find a slight lean back to a standing plank position this helps to really turn on your core. Now again when do these the closer you walk to where your trx is hanging from (aka anchor point) then the more challenging it will be. The same goes for the second half of the video where I am facing away from my anchor point. One tip I give all my clients when your using the trx always think pubic bone to your nose. This is to help make sure your abdominals are engaged. It's not like your tucking your pelvis and messing with your back it's more of a internal check I would say.

  I start out with squats, they are the best on the trx, straight arm squats. Then I go into pulses to really get a little extra with loading of the muscles. Now, lunges there are like 101 different ways to do lunges on the trx but these that I did today were great for engaging both front and back of the leg and getting into that booty. Again I did add pulses with these to load the muscles. 

   Still facing the TRX I head into the rowing series. For me these are pure torture lol. My back is getting stronger but I still need some help. So I did close rows and wide rows. Find your plank like you did in the beginning and then row from there. Relax, relax, relax those shoulders. That's the biggest culprit right there everyone takes there shoulders passed there ears and to the sky. Open your chest and press your shoulders down all while pulling belly in and up. 

  Back of the legs was my last torutre for forward facing here. I hinged over from hips now if there is anything I can't help but stress is the fact that you need to pull your ribs to the sky. Pull your belly to the sky all while pressing those hands into your straps as much as you can. You are hinged over from the hips but your weight is in the heel of the foot your standing on so you don't put to much stress onto your shins and toes. I did leg lift and lowers targeting the back of my legs and then some pulses but the twist here is pulsing with the standing leg it feels glorious.lol

   Now facing away from my trx for my last bit of standing series I did my all time favorite tricep extensions. If there is anything to stress here it is to keep those elbows in. Imagine you have a ball between your elbows helping you keep them in so you can really target the  back of the arms. Here's the twist on this one keep that bent elbow and then slide your arms up and down. Talk about a doozey your arms will hate and love me later. Last but not least I finished with chest press. Make sure when bending those elbows don't let your hands go farther then shoulders. You don't want an expiration date on those pretty shoulders of yours. 

   To top it all off I finished with Planks. Make sure you straps are lengthened to what we call mid calf meaning your handles are around your knees and the straps are in the middle of your shin. Planks on the TRX are the hardest planks of your life I always say. This isn't to scare you its the honest truth it's true isolation of the core and trying to figure out how to press through hands engage legs while your suspended. Getting your feet in can be tricky and there are a couple of ways to do it. As you can see in the video I do a leg cross to get my feet in and roll over that way your not stressing your knees trying to find the straps and wiggling around.

Biggest tip I can give here is your hands. All 10 fingers have to be facing forward and you have to press through the fingertips and the heel of the hand. The pic I have here is to show where your pressing. Think of the center of your hand is like suction cup and its pulling away from the floor. You also want to make sure shoulders are hugging down towards your hips to your neck long and your chest pulling through your arms. Make sure you think pubic bone to your nose engage your legs and glutes. 

For my plank series I held a plank, I did pikes(make sure your legs are straight), double knee pull in's. You can always add in way more but these are just some of my go to's I do with clients and myself. Like I said in the beginning this can be done with set reps and set rounds or can be done with timed sets but in all this is a great full body workout. Hope you all enjoy this and give TRX a try. It's a pretty inexpensive piece of equipment that you can take anywhere with you epically if you travel. 

Love and Butterflies,

Vanessa