Q: What is your take on these TRX trainer things that keep getting all the press lately? I notice many fitness professionals in the industry pushing them hard, and I’ve also seen them in the MMA scene, etc. I was wondering what your take was?
A: First off, is it me or does it seem like anything developed by the Navy SEALS turns into straight up cash-money? First there was The Perfect Push-Up, and now there’s the TRX Trainer. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if next year they try figure out some way to market, I don’t know, water boarding as the next big fitness craze. Hahahahaha. Just kidding. No, but seriously, what about live grenades?
Like anything “new” or unique in the fitness industry (kettlebells, anyone?), I think we have a tendency to over-blow things to the point where we oftentimes fail to realize that, you know, barbells and dumbbells do still exist. Now before I get the hate mail, please understand that I am in no way suggesting that the TRX Trainer doesn’t have it’s place in the proverbial “fitness toolbox.” On the contrary, as I type this blog, we have two pair at Cressey Performance no more than 50 feet from my desk, and we actually have a TRX representative traveling to Hudson this Friday to take us through a staff in-service.
Furthermore, I think they’re absolutely awesome for those people who travel a lot for work and otherwise have limited access to a gym. Too, outside of the athletic realm, I’ve found them to be very useful when training overweight clients, in addition to the elderly clients that I work with on a weekly basis.
That said, what really gets my goat is when people in the industry try to pass them off as the panacea of fitness- much like what happens whenever you hear someone talk about yoga or pilates. I’m not a TRX guy. I’m not a kettlebell guy. I’m not a powerlifting guy, nor am I an Olympic lifting guy. I’m a results guy- albeit I do incorporate components of all the above into my programming.
Personally, I think it’s a bit shortsighted whenever someone latches onto ONE concept and that’s all they preach to their clients.
In short, the TRX Trainer definitely has several legitimate uses. I mean, it wasn’t named Best New Fitness Gear by Men’s Health for nothing. It offers a unique twist to training that not only offers variety, but versatility as well. They’re just not the end all-be all of training that some professionals in the industry make them out to be.
