Seven TRX Movement Elements to Master Any Exercise
Nothing ever changes by standing still. You won’t get stronger by sitting in a chair. You won’t run faster by lounging on your sofa. Movement, in its variety of forms, is the not-so-secret ingredient to fitness success.
There are seven movements that form the basis of every type of strength exercise: push, pull, plank, hinge, lunge, squat and rotate. Whether you increase the intensity of those movements with extra resistance (like weights or bands) or you keep them simple, every form of movement can be reduced to those functional elements. With the exception of the pull, those movements can be executed using just your bodyweight. But with your TRX Suspension Trainer, you can regress or progress those seven movements to work for novices and elite athletes alike.
Below, we’re outlining seven simple ways you can incorporate your TRX Suspension Trainer into the seven basic movements.
- Make sure your straps are adjusted to fully lengthened.
- Holding the Suspension Trainer handles in front of you, brace your core and lean your weight into the handles, bending your elbows and making sure your hips, shoulders, knees and ankles are aligned.
- Straighten your arms to push back to the start position.
- With your straps fully shortened, lean back holding your Suspension Trainer handles and make sure you are underneath your anchor point.
- Brace your core, forming a strong plank with your shoulders pulled down and back.
- Maintaining your plank, pull your chest up to your hands for an inverted row.
- Lower yourself down in one slow, controlled movement.
- With your straps adjusted to a midcalf position, plank up into a push-up position, keeping your hands directly under your shoulders and your feet flexed and positioned underneath your anchor point.
- Brace your core and make sure your head, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles are aligned.
- Lower your knees to the ground to release.
- With your straps adjusted to midlength, extend your arms and stand with your legs wider than hip-width apart.
- Pressing down on the handles, hinge forward from your waist, knees slightly bent. Maintain a lengthened spine while you extend your knees.
- Press on the handles and extend at your hips to an upright position.
- Adjust your straps to midcalf.
- Take one foot and place it into both foot cradles on the Suspension Trainer; ground yourself through your working leg and flex the foot that is in the foot cradles.
- Push your hips down and back, and lunge down until your front knee is bent to 90 degrees. Keep your core braced and your chest up the entire time.
- Drive through your front foot using your glutes and hamstrings to bring you back up to standing.
- With your straps at midlength, stack your elbows under your shoulders, with your feet hip-width apart.
- Lower your hips down and back, weight in your heels. Keep your chest lifted.
- Drive through your heels, squeeze your glutes and lift your chest to stand.
- Adjust your Suspension Trainer to single handle mode.
- Stand facing the anchor point, and ground your feet solidly in the direction you plan to rotate.
- Grasp the grip with your palms facing each other, and keep your arms and legs straight.
- As you pull through the rotation with straight arms, your body will turn to face sideways to the anchor.
- Resist with your core and straight arms as you return to your starting position, facing the anchor point.
The TRX Suspension Trainer makes movement accessible for every fitness level. Now that you’ve seen how to incorporate the seven basic movements into your workouts, check out more movement options with your Suspension Trainer on the TRX app.
This post originally appeared on TRXTraining.com.
Photo credit: Valeriy_G, Thinkstock; Courtesy of TRX