Here's the best part about teaching a TRX Course:  Having a group of attendess that are from vastly different parts of the fitness universe come together to train on the TRX.  There are professionals who train everyday people, mixed martial artists and boxers, athletes, runners and triathletes, and who use a variety of methods from yoga to Pilates to good old fashioned free weights and everthing in between.

There aren't many fitness products out there that pull us all under the same roof, and that's a shame, but it's why I love the TRX.

Invariably during a course I'm teaching, while demonstrating a TRX exercise, one of the attendees might comment with something like:  "That's a yoga move."  "That's a move in our boot camp."  "That's like Pilates."  "We do a move like that in my stability ball class."  And I offer a knowing smile.  These comments are correct on one level but reflect the unfortunate history of our industry.  But the TRX finding success with such a diverse group of people is a great sign because it shows that our industry is moving in the direction of understanding that it's all movement.

No exercise is exclusively a Pilates exercise, a yoga exercise, or even a TRX exercise.  Underneath it all, it's just the human form moving on the earth.  Movement has been around longer than the TRX, longer than Pilates, and even longer than yoga. 

Our developement in this direction needs to continue.  When we understand that we are all teaching the same thing, we need no longer to jump into one exercise philosophy or follow one guru, and eschew other disciplines - all of which have value on some level for understanding human movement.

Jonathan Ross
TRX Master Trainer
www.AionFitness.com

JR TRX Master Trainer:

Our developement in this direction needs to continue.  When we understand that we are all teaching the same thing, we need no longer to jump into one exercise philosophy or follow one guru, and eschewing other disciplines - all of which have value on some level for understanding human movement.

Exactly. There a loads of movements that are common to most disciplines. But we also have to know how to combine movements from different disciplines to get the best results and counter their weaknesses.

Great post, I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  Since abondoning isolation exercises and focusing on functional movement and strength, I've seen improvements that I never thought possible.  Like JR points out, it is all about moving our bodies through space, nothing more.  Every discipline has something different to offer but really at the end of the day, they all have the same goal in mind!   

I used to look at exercising as "overcoming resistance" to take the mental part into account as well. That way it totally doesn't matter what kind of label you put on it. This broad approach that JR also uses can be seen as the ultimate perception of cross-training I guess :). In my view, isolation only makes sense if the sport of your choice (or your weak point in that sport) has some very specific demands, but even than...

I encountered the idea of functional training on university, but I'm still eagerly awaiting the arrival of my TRX to try it out myself.

Ohw and Fraser/FA.com... hope you don't mind, I applied the principle of the TRX in one of my PE classes hehe. I lowered our rings (6 sets) to about 2 inches off the ground and included suspended push-ups (hands on the rings... even tried both hands ánd feet suspended just for fun :) ) in a fitness-circuit... I made no friends among my students today :D.

Hey Jan,

Nice to see you have a photo up.

I think isolation exercises are also good if you you have a weakness in a particular muscle. If you do an exercise that works a large number of muscles and muscles in the group have very different strengths then the strongest muscles will do all the work and the weak ones will not develop. Once the strengths are similar then they share the work better and develop at the same pace, and then becomes more functional. Because of this I think they are more important when first exercising to fix problems. You cannot make something better until you fix it's faults.

Your class sounds like fun.

Lol, that's actually exactly what I meant with a weak spot in your sport... blegh, I'm getting tired haha... thanks for putting my lingual-nose in the right direction again ^^. (BTW: I have the impression that on the TRX "isolation" doesn't really exist when utilizing the instability-factor... even when you're concentrating on, say, the erector spinae, a whole bunch of other muscles still work along. But I still have to experience that first-hand, this is just my general insight in movement talking :). )

 Upon ordering the TRX I decided to make some more work of my activity here on the forum... a small pic doesn't hurt. Note: I will never be a threat to your posting-frenzy I fear haha.

Ah, so we agree.

That is true, even the bicep curl, a classic of isolation exercises, is not an isolation exercise on the TRX, you also have an isometric exercise keeping your body straight.

You may catch up with my posting, it depends how bored you get.

Lol, yes we do!

With a near-fulltime job, some hobbies and a girlfriend, there's no time for boredom :D. It's usually just a chance to catch up on sleep (I actually need more sleep now than I did at your age... so annoying!).

I am sure when i start to college I will be on less, but since i want to study Physical Education I can say coming on here is school work.

I understand about sleep, I wish I never had to, I have had so many problems with it. I am trying to get it sorted out so it will be good when i go to college. But it's also very important to get good sleep when training, so my body recovers and develops fast enough, so I want my sleep good for when i receive my prize from the October Challenge.

j.kroeze:

  I used to look at exercising as "overcoming resistance" to take the mental part into account as well. That way it totally doesn't matter what kind of label you put on it.

I love this approach.  I found myself thinking about this post again today.  I was explaining my workout schedule to someone and told them that I alternate TRX and KB days.  As I explained my workouts for each day they seemed confused and said "I don't get it.  Which one is your cardio day and which is your strength day?"  At first I tried to answer that but then I simply shrugged and said "I don't really worry about that."  I mix my workouts up and try to get a good cardio/strength/endurance/flexibility/etc/etc workout in each session.  I'm not training for a specific sport or task and I'm pretty happy with my body composition; as long as I work up a wicked sweat, conquer my particular demon for the day (TRX or KB), and keep my body and mind fit, I'd consider that a success no matter how I got there or what you'd categorize my workout as.  After all, like JR says, it's all just movement!