Last week I wrote about not wasting your money on shake weights and toning shoes….now I’m going to make a suggestion for what to do with your money instead…it is one piece of equipment that can be used almost anywhere, takes up almost no room, and can provide a full body workout.  Impossible you say?  I give you the TRX.  The TRX was developed by a former Navy SEAL named Randy Hetrick as a way for military personnel to stay fit wherever they might find themselves…which isn’t always near the local gym.  If it’s good enough to train Navy SEALs, it’s good enough for you.  And the real beauty of the TRX system is that it is even appropriate for someone who is just venturing into fitness.  The nature of the TRX allows for an exercise to be made harder or easier, to suit different abilities.  For example, here is a beginner version of the TRX chest press:

To make this progressively more difficult, continue to move your feet closer to the anchor point.  Here is a much more difficult version:

The TRX provides several different anchoring options~ at the gym I wrap it around the top bar of one of the large pieces of equipment…at home I use the door anchor.  Because of its flexibility it can be used indoors or out, in a hotel room or on the playground.  You can get a total body workout from this thing.  In fact, the Fitness Anywhere website provides a video library of upper body, lower body and core exercise you can do.  Every TRX also comes with an intro DVD to get you started. 

There is a continuous stream of new fitness products…and this one is really legit.  You will see it cropping up at local gyms (some are even offering TRX classes) and in the strength and conditioning facilities of professional sports teams.  It can be a great tool to take on the road, use at home on a day you don’t have time to get to the gym, or just for a change of pace.  It can also be combined with other tools, such as a jump rope or a kettlebell for more variety and a heart rate boost.   Workouts can be very simple, such as this one used by Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove when on vacation:

TRX Inverted Row, TRX suspended lunge, TRX Chest press (see above video), TRX single leg squat ~ 10 reps of each (or 10 reps per leg in the case of the suspended lunge and single leg squat)~ repeat continuously for 20 minutes

For those new to fitness or new to the TRX, I would substitute a TRX assisted lunge for the suspended lunge and a TRX squat for the single leg squat.   The suspended lunge and single leg squat are much more advanced exercises. 

An additional resource for ways to use the TRX (some of them very advanced) is to look at Dewey Nielsen’s youtube videos for TRX. This guy is really smart & very creative with the TRX.  One of his “inventions” is the TRX bus driver, which I am currently doing as part of this month’s strength program (courtesy of my awesome coach, Tony Gentilcore).  There was some discussion about whether “bus driver” was an appropriate name…you can just call it challenging.  🙂

This great little product is available directly from the manufacturer, Fitness Anywhere. or from Perform Better, a supplier of fitness products that I use all the time.  Just make sure that if you think you will be using it in a door frame that you buy a door anchor ~ available in the Pro Pack + door anchor or available as the door anchor only.  Give it a try and tell me what you think! 

Have an awesome weekend…more good stuff next week.