TRAINER: Juliet Kaska, Emerson Hall Zen Fitness Training
TRAINS: Madonna, Jessica Alba, Stacy Keebler—and clients ranging from 14 to 70
How did you discover the TRX?
I was at the Idea World fitness conference in Las Vegas four years ago. One of my staff trainers had found the TRX and gotten a little demo and their abs were on fire. I’m always skeptical, but the very next day, all four of us, myself and my three trainers, were all aching through the obliques. . .and two of us are Pilates instructors, so that’s saying a lot! I came back the next day and we bought a couple of pieces for the gym and came back here and got everyone interested in it. It’s a simple product, it’s not complicated but it’s almost scarier that way sometimes. It took a little while to get the other trainers interested but now we have five TRX’s here and people use them all the time. Every time someone sends me a product, I always check it out. The TRX is one that actually wowed me!
Who are your clients?
Our clients have a high financial bracket and high profile, otherwise it varies. We have clients ranging from 14-year-old girls to several gentlemen in their 70’s. Our biggest demographic is mid 30’s to mid 40’s—needs to look good for their career or just because we live in Los Angeles so they’re always taking off that same five pounds. They always want their butts kicked and want to try new things and want challenges. Clients like to come here and see something new and different that they’re not seeing everywhere and that’s another positive aspect of the TRX.
How does the TRX fit in with your mixed clientele?
One area where the TRX really works is travel. Many of our clients are career-driven and they realize because of health or body image issues that they have to add fitness in, but they travel all the time, maybe three days out of seven every week. The TRX is a key component to giving them access to fitness when they’re on the road. In-house here at the studio, it’s one more way to challenge the body. Everybody learns differently and it’s one more way to get somebody to learn to move their body like a system. One thing I don’t like to do in training is just basic weight training where you isolate certain muscles unless it’s goal oriented. With TRX you really are training the body.
What’s the learning curve for new clients on the TRX?
I’ve barely had a single soul that wasn’t scared of it at first—it’s just new. There’s that idea that you’re not safe because you don’t have a machine or apparatus helping you and I think psychologically people are afraid of trusting themselves. It definitely takes a little bit. I tell the trainers not to show off with it. I think it’s intimidating when trainers show off on it. I recommend they start with something really basic like a bicep curl at less than a 45-degree angle or side lunges with one foot in to get comfortable with it. The only people who request it are Pilates people. I think it’s because they’re already used to using their body for movement rather than a machine. Once they try it, they want to use it again. Some of the big guys that we have here steer clear of it at first because it looks too wimpy, then they get on it and they start asking for it!
By Andrew Vontz