Jonathan Ross, a TRX Master Instructor, is the Personal Trainer of the Year for ACE (American Council on Exercise), Exercise TV’s 2008 Best Personal Trainer, and host of Discovery Health Channel's Everyday Fitness, a web series designed to help you decipher the flood of fitness news and apply it to your daily life.
Here's what he has to say:
How did you first hear about the TRX?
Funny story. I had never heard about it, but I saw it. I bought one without even trying it out myself. I was walking through the trade show at the NSCA Conference in July 2006. At this point in my career, I had been in the industry long enough to not be caught up in the hype of every single new piece of equipment that comes out. I saw the small booth that was set up with a few TRXs on a power rack. There were a few people queued up to try it out and I didn’t have time to wait. I watched a few people using it for a few minutes and bought one without touching it or speaking to anyone from the company before purchasing. I quite literally saw its potential immediately.
What excited you most about the TRX?
The ability to use it extends to any regular people and deconditioned exercisers who need a viable fitness solution. They either don’t like and/or can’t afford traditional gyms and gym equipment, or travel too much to have consistent access to equipment. Also, the notion of taking it outdoors was a big draw for me.
How have you incorporated the TRX into your workout routine/lifestyle?
1-2 TRX-exclusive workouts per week and 1-2 addition workouts where it is integrated with other traditional free-weight or cable exercises. This is one of my “big hooks” in my intro during courses. I’ve been using the TRX for three years now and it’s still plays a large role in my workouts. I can’t say that about any other piece of equipment that has come out in the last decade.
Where do you typically workout using your TRX?
Either at the gym, at home, in hotel rooms, and or outside. I know that sounds like just about anywhere, but that’s kind of the idea, right?
What are your fitness goals?
I want to be able to play a sport, go hiking, or try something new and have a reasonable expectation that if I lose or fail at an effort it will be due to a lack of skill; not a lack of conditioning. And I want to have just enough muscle and low enough body fat to look like I’d be halfway decent at any sport or activity.
How do you stay motivated?
Easy. My parents weighed 800 pounds combined. When my father died in 1995, when he weighed 424 pounds. Shortly before he died, he had to go to the airport to get weighed because he was heavier than the scale at the doctor’s office could accommodate. This is a great example of a life poorly lived. You hear a lot of people talk about mortality with obesity, but the real tragedy is the loss of ability to fully participate in your own life. Your world gets smaller. You avoid certain situations and every movement like tying your shoes becomes an “engineering problem.” And in my dad’s case, he stopped truly living long before he died. I have all these memories in my head of the way my father spent the last 10 years or so of his life. It’s the antithesis of fitness and it is a big motivator. But this story has a happy ending. My mother has lost about 170 pounds and is a fairly active 68-year old (she was featured in my TRX Mother’s Day workout). So for me, the ability to stay vital and do the things I enjoy without limitation is a big part of what keeps me seeking fitness.
What does it mean to you to be fit and why do you think it is important?
To be able to do whatever activities I want to do without having to worry about my body. Fitness is about ability, not about appearance. Appearance has to be the minority factor for long termlong-term success both personally and professionally. I always chuckle whenever I get a business card from another trainer that features photo of them with their shirt off. I’m thinking, “You just don’t get it, mate!” People out there “think” they want to lose weight or fit into that wedding dress or that bathing suit. They might want that, but, in reality, they also want something deeper. They want a positive experience. They want to feel good in their own skin. When you know to dig deep enough to find the real motivation, helping people get fit becomes much easier and you are more successful as a professional.
What is it that you are trying to accomplish as an instructor?
I want every attendee to leave my courses not only proficient in setting up and using their TRX – a given – also to become better fitness professionals. Out of respect for the people who spend their time and resources to attend the courses, it’s essential for me as an instructor to convey something of lasting value beyond the TRX instruction that will make them better ambassadors of both the TRX and the fitness industry.
Anything else you would like to add?
I’d love to be the face of the TRX to regular people everywhere. This is the group that I’m most passionate about helping, and because of my background I can easily connect with this population. I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do so with through some media work for Discovery Health. Regular people trying to fit exercise into their lives is also, in my opinion, the biggest future growth area in the fitness industry. The industry has grown significantly in the last couple of decades, but to continue growth, we need realistic solutions for the vast, untapped markets out there which include people who aren’t currently participating in a fitness program. I’d encourage new, young trainers to get over the fascination with training athletes. I meet a lot of younger trainers with stars in their eyes. The athletic population is such a small percentage of the total population. It is highly competitive since a lot of fitness pros want to train them, and it is one of the easier types of training to do. All the training parameters are given to us by the sport. I’ve trained athletes – and still do – in many sports, but interestingly, the least fit, non-athlete clients are the ones who have the greatest appreciation for getting even the slightest bit more fit. When their lives get a little bit easier, they become fiercely loyal and provide tremendous word-of-mouth referrals.
Also, I’m excited about my book on abdominal training that will be coming out in 2010 through Human Kinetics publishers and will feature many TRX exercises!
Jonathan can be found online at:
Blog: http://blogs.discovery.com/Jonathan_Ross/
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Everyday-Fitness-with-Jonathan-Ross/58299828177
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JonathanRossFit
Thank you Jonathan, and let us know when your book hits the shelves!