Click above pic for video 
They say necessity is the mother of invention and for one U.S Navy SEAL who was fighting in Afghanistan it was a necessity for him to workout so he could keep up his strength and muscle mass.  As if battling the war against terror and the taliban wasn't enough!  
Brent and Lisa 
There was no equipment so he used some parachute handles to come up with a basic suspension system he used to workout with.  This parachute has since been fined tuned into this durable and lightweight TRX suspension training system.  And its pretty cool.  Maybe the only thing good that came out of the war?!!

The TRX is distributed in NZ by www.speedpowerstability.com Check out their site!
 
I have seen the TRX system on various websites and I thought it would be fun but hard at the same time. So when Brent Taylor, a fellow PT based in New Plymouth, contacted me as he thought it might be of interest to fellow Go Figure viewers and Personal Trainers. I thought 'yes please! give me a go'. Brent has been using it for a while on himself and his clients and he sure knows his way around all the exercises. And tell you what, training on it was hard work!

It looks easy, afterall its just a couple of cables tied on to a bar right? But it was pretty tough as you really have to use your own core to move your whole bodyweight through the various exercises.  We only went through a few basic exercises but by the end of it my heart was pounding and I could feel  my muscles fatigueing already...or was it because I was still sore from my chest workout the previous day. 
Some of the exercises we did were pushups, pull ups, front delts, rear delts, triceps, obliques, one legged front lunges, one legged squats and I'm sure there's heaps more. You can make the exercise easier or harder by moving away from the bar or closer.  And also shortening the cable makes things harder too.  I didn't choose that option! so it can be used by all strength levels.
 
               
Brent seemed to easily breeze through going from one exercise to the other changing his foot or hand placing on the handles so I think if you're using it often, you can get quite a good cardio workout from it too.  He said he uses the TRX during supersets with normal weight trainng exercises to add intensity. I only did about 4 or 5 reps of these exercises and I was tired.  I don't think I'm the weakest girl in the world but these suspension exercises really wore me out.  But I must admit my core is weak.

I think a suspension system would be great if you don't have much room as you can just hang it up as you need it.  All you need is a solid bar across a doorway and you're away doing a workout.  You can take it outdoors and suspend it from one of the playground playthings. Just make sure no kids around otherwise they'll pester you to play on it too! The system fits into a very small bag so you can even take it away on holiday with you so no more excuses for not training!
The TRX probably more suited for people who are into more fitness, sport specific and conditioning and not for the hardcore bodybuilder types. But I think the bodybuilders would struggle to do some of these exercises though.

Check out the Video Here! Don't just read about my experience, see just how I struggled with some of these exercises in the video. Excuse my red face, it was hard work!
 
Click above pic for video
 
  Well ofcourse we had to get Brent to take his shirt off so we could see his tatts!
       
     
 

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