TRX: The Final Frontier

TRX—I know, it sounds like that film George Lucas directed long before Star Wars, but it isn’t as Sci Fi as all that. In fact, when you get right down to it, TRX might have been invented by the earliest iteration of man because it’s so simple: some rope-like straps + your body= a workout. How’s that hard, you ask? Oh how little you know…
Former Navy SEAL, Randy Hetrick created the system as a versatile way to get in a workout anytime, anywhere. If a SEAL invented it, you bet your bottom dollar there’s going to be a challenge involved. Using a pair of straps suspended on something stable like a door jam or a chin-up bar, the idea was to use your own body weight, angled at different vectors to do a range of over 200 hundred different exercises. At its essence the TRX is comparable to a universal weight machine, and it’s now being used by everyone from professional athletes, to those hot firefighters down the street, to your grandpa. And if grandpa can do it, my motto is Sign Me Up!

My first experience with TRX was when my own trainer, Alex Shazad of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park YMCA, brought in a pair of straps and asked “Are you ready for this?” My inner athlete screamed “Hell Yeah, BRING IT!” But the not-so-athletic me whimpered, “Is this gonna hurt tomorrow?” “Depends on you,” Alex said, “you’re the one who controls how hard you’re going to work out.” He ran me through the basics, which included push-ups that had my feet held above the floor by suspension straps, a bevy of squats, chest flys and pull-ups. Though the whole thing looked simple when he demonstrated, it wasn’t. TRX requires you to pay close attention to your core muscles in order to stabilize your body and keep it from swaying on the straps. It takes concentration. When you feel yourself shaking as your muscles engage and work, you know you’re doing it right. When you change and shift the angle of your body—you are literally lifting and pulling your own weight. It was tough, but when I walked out of my workout with Alex I thought, Eh that wasn’t anything crazy.

I didn’t hurt much on the day after my initial session. But on day three, I woke up, stared at the ceiling for a good 5 minutes and then asked my boyfriend to roll me off the bed. My shoulders hurt, my back was sore, the flabby part of my arms hurt, and the ridge above my butt hurt—hell, my butt was so sore I could barely sit. I texted Alex to say: Holy Sh@#, I can’t move! Alex texted back: Ha Ha told you you’d get a great workout! Even if I’d wanted to laugh, which I didn’t, my stomach muscles were so sore that I knew it would hurt to try.

Working with a trainer is one way to reap the benefits of Suspension Training, but what then? When things get stale, try a group class. All around the country gyms are hosting classes and certifying trainers in various TRX methods. How does a solo session compare to a session in a group setting?  Let’s put it this way, depending on the instructor and class you find, you’ll either feel like dropping dead after your session before ascertaining your gym high, or you’ll feel like a kid on a playground, giddy and high the whole way through. Neither sentiment is bad. But one thing you can count on: in a group session you’re really going to get worked.

I didn’t know the butt kicking I was in for when I went to see Ryan Robeson at Physical Mind Studio on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The studio is small, private, beautifully lit by the sun, and specializes in Pilates and Cardio Slide-board as well as TRX Suspension Training. Sessions for any class will run you $35, but if you find yourself hooked on a class, they’ve got package deals and even discounts for Pilates instructors, dancers and performing artists. I wasn’t sure what I was in for, but in a small group setting of about eight people, I will tell you this, I was the thickest girl in the room. Even the lady that’d just delivered a baby had me beat. Maybe that’s a testament to the kinds of bodies Physical Mind produces or maybe that’s how anyone is going to look when surrounded by devoted Pilates practitioners. But that’s part of the fitness battle right? Getting past how everyone else looks in order to focus on you. The feeling loomed but had to be squashed when Ryan walked in and set up shop. He greeted everyone, adjusted his headset, got the music going and led us through a warm-up that had me sweating before anyone else was even out of breath. Ryan is the co-founder of Physical Mind and also one of it’s certified Pilates and TRX Suspension instructors. He has a background in dance/movement therapy and is also specialized in Post-Rehab Cancer Exercise.

There is no other way to say this: Ryan Robeson is intense. The man’s a Terminator in the body of a dancer. His class is intense and the pace at which he has you moving and working the suspension straps is exhilarating and intense. Despite the fact that Physical Mind offers a separate Cardio TRX class, Ryan’s class is a cardio class. The warm-up had my thighs shaking. The work out had me focused on my muscles and had me whispering prayers. Ryan sets the pace while working his own strap beside you, keeps a quick tempo and watches everyone’s form. Without missing a beat he instructed me to straighten my back, instructed my more advanced neighbor to squat deeper and still managed to keep count as we all stood on our toes, pulsing and squatting using our straps for balance. Less than halfway through my face went red and I found myself laughing like a madwoman. It was all I could do to get through what felt like the frenzy of a Britney Spears dance routine—you know, Badass Britney, before the baldness, babies and breakdown. I was surrounded by the ferociously focused. No one dared crack a smile. We were all just trying to keep it together. There was arm work, leg work, stomach work, and back work. We were all at work and with the music pumping loud we were in our heads, staring at ourselves in mirrors, watching our muscles pop and stretch as the words You Can F*cking Get Through This echoed over and over in our minds. And I’ll admit it, once or maybe twice (okay three little times) I had to stop and catch my breath. My legs cramped. My head felt like exploding. It looked as if I’d been thrown in a lake.

Then it was over. We’d gotten through. I’d gotten through. We stretched the glorious stretch of acrobats. We loosened up, brought our heart rates down. We’d survived: The middle aged gay guy with the spectacles and short shorts, the woman who’d given birth to her first child, the elderly woman who had stronger abs and sexier legs than me, the beautiful instructor who was getting certified, we’d all survived. We looked around at each other. We’d each had our ass kicked by Ryan Robeson and lived to tell. I walked out of there feeling like I’d won the Super Bowl—or the female equivalent of that—like I’d dropped 10 lbs in a day.

But maybe that doesn’t sound like fun to you. Maybe intensity isn’t your thing. Or maybe it is, but you want it without feeling like your body and mind are under siege. For you the world has another kind of trainer in mind.

Michelle Hobgood,M.S.

Michelle Hobgood helms her class over at Brooklyn’s Body Elite Gym. Though Michelle teaches TRX out of the private gym, you don’t have to be a member to take her class. Sessions will run you about $25 and classes in the airy studio are small and personalized. Michelle is a certified fitness trainer, who in addition to TRX Suspension, also specializes in Mommy & Me fitness (which includes Mommy TRX). She is the founder of Fusion Fitness & Wellness where she coaches her clients to think synergistically about fitness, nutrition and overall wellbeing. In her care, you’ll find a kinder, gentler approach to TRX in a group setting. Make no mistake, Michelle will have you feeling the burn that comes with a Suspension workout, but she’ll also have you feeling like you’re a fearless kid on the playground, flying high and having fun. Her demeanor is disarming and if you walk in with any sort of self-doubt, she’s got the ability to melt it right off you.

When I arrived there was only one other gal in class, let’s call her “Wendy.” Wendy had been training with the TRX system for a while and was far more advanced than yours truly. She’d been taking classes regularly and was excited about taking it up a notch. Watching Wendy swing and stretch excitedly on her straps, I wondered how long it would take before I dropped dead of muscle failure and made a fool of myself again. If I’ve learned anything during my TRX fitness adventure, it’s that sustained TRX movements have a way of making your legs turn to Jell-O and your arms go limp-O. 

Michelle began her class with a tutorial on anchor points and adjusting suspension straps. She spoke about modifying exercises for injuries, and then proceeded to work us out. Despite our levels of experience, she made the workout challenging for both of us, coaching Wendy in advanced moves, while modifying those same moves for me.  Her strength is in her ability to coach you through the rough patches in your workout, all the while explaining to you and showing you what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, how it should feel, and what muscles are at work. No matter how intense the workout, participants have the ability to stop and ask questions, which if you’re a beginner at TRX is important.  In Michelle’s class, a beginner won’t feel overwhelmed.

If you’re the kind of person that likes the science of the body, or if you need to understand what’s happening to your body in order to work it correctly, this is your kind of class. If you like personalized attention, this is your kind of class. If you like old school jams, and miss the way summer sounded when Will Smith sang the hook to Summer Time or you still look good doing the Electric Slide or the Cabbage Patch decades after it was cool, this is your kind of class. But mostly if you like having fun and appreciate a little handholding and a smile while your ass is being worked…well, you get the idea. Michelle will push you. Just when you think your heart’s going to explode, she’ll let you take a moment to grab some water, and then she’ll push you again by giving you a sequence of moves that look like play, but burn like a workout. One moment she had us practicing the graceful moves of a ballet dancer using the suspension straps, the next she had me feeling like a Cirque du Soleil flyer as I ran forward, pushed my feet off the ground and let my body swing like a pendulum before landing and pushing off again. Child’s play sure, but I felt it in my butt, calves and chest for days. Walking out Michelle’s class I felt like I learned something new about my body. And I couldn’t wait to challenge it again.

Ultimately TRX won’t be for everybody. But if you’re bored with your stiff routine, or if your shins need a break from the treadmill, TRX is a pretty solid solution to the monotony of everyday gym life.

Keep Pumpin’
-The Accidental Gym Bunny

To set up a TRX training session with Alex Shazad call: (347) 658-8374. For more information on the Prospect Park YMCA (718) 768-7100. www.ymcanyc.org

For Physical Mind Studio visit: www.physicalmindstudio.com.

For Body Elite Gym visit: www.bodyelitegym.com.

TRX Suspension Training with Michelle Hobgood takes place at Body Elite Gym on Saturdays at 11am, 348 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY. Mommy TRX a suspension training class specifically for postnatal mothers is also offered at the same location on Wednesdays at 12pm. For more info on Michelle and these classes please visit www.fusionfitnesswellness.com.