Hello all, I read about the TRX at my dentist waiting office and was interested enough to order it.  My first impression on opening the box was I got gypped!  But I tried it and was not impressed for the first 5 minutes but something kept me coming back and trying it out.  Now it's been two weeks and I am so sore.  I tried out some new tweaks on my legs today and they hurt, in a good way.  I love this thing!  It has forced me to turn my workouts into a how do I say it?  A three-dimensional kind of workout.  I got back into working out hard with an old guy's fight club here.  I've been training with them for 7 months and had great improvements but felt the need for something to get me to the next level.  This is my secret weapon and after I've trained for a month with it I will share it with the group.

I will try and stay active on the forums to share ideas and learn from you old hands.  Glad I stuck with it and gave the TRX a solid try.

3D  is right.

Life doesn't happen sitting down

In real life, our bodies move to the side, backwards, forwards and diagonally. Shouldn't we train the same way? Unlike traditional weight training that tends to be linear and follow one plane of movement (sagittal), Suspension Training encourages multiplanar training (frontal, sagittal, transverse) which integrates all your motions and mimics real life movement. This will bring a muscular balance to your body, increasing performance and preventing injuries.

I agree; appearances can be deceiving!  When I first started using the TRX I had all kinds of skeptics (mostly muscle heads) telling me that it was a waste of money....until they tried it themselves that is!  Most of those guys found that while they had developed significant size and weight lifting strength in the gym they had, in effect, created a huge strength deficit and were unable to manipulate their own bodyweight or complete even the easiest of exercises!  The TRX will definitely help you develop FUNCTIONAL strength, which is much more beneficial in everyday life.  Good luck, keep us posted!

Hi Mike, good luck there in Afghanistan but back to the TRX, you are right.  The functional strength is the key and that is what our group trains for.  This thing will develop the strength to do all the strength training and develop some pliometric strength too.  I like the comment about the way our bodies move so why shouldn't we train in those movement ranges, what I am calling three dimensional training.  I'm giving a set to a friend of mine who trains with a woman's club.  I'm curious to see what she thinks of it. 

Yeah, that's what's great about the TRX, you got to train your body how you want to use it. Very few sports will use just one muscle group, and on the battlefield and outside of the sports arena you need to use your whole body, so why not train your whole body?

At the gym there were loads of guys with great upperbodies, but terrible legs and cores. The beauty of the TRX is that even the bicep curl isn't an isolation exercise, you still have to have core and leg stability.

Max

So right Max, now I'm experimenting with the suspension exercises aimed at the core.  Wow was that an eye opener.  Anyway it's good to talk with you guys about this.