Featured Trainer
Liisa Walsh
In preparation for the release of the new TRX FORCE Kit: Tactical, we had a chance to sit down with TRX Head of Military Education Dr. Joe Martin (in video above) and get his impressions on the new 12 week progressive Tactical Conditioning Program and the direction TRX is headed in as a training company. He spends most of his time on the road training military how to incorporate TRX Training into their PT. In fact, when we sat down with him he had just returned from teaching an educational course on base in Japan.
“TRX is becoming more of an education and programming company,” says Joe. “We are becoming a functional fitness type of company that can teach you the proper biomechanics as well as provide you with the equipment to workout with.”
Joe feels that TRX is not just a company that makes and sells best in class workout equipment anymore, but we are establishing ourselves first and foremost as a training company who is also able to provide you with whatever kind of equipment your conditioning may call for. To him, the perfect example of this evolution is the development of the new Tactical Conditioning Program (TCP), created for the new TRX FORCE Kit: Tactical. He feels that one of the unique benefits of the program is its educated progressive design, “We are making sure that when they are pushing it, they are doing it appropriately, and not just doing whatever someone jots down on a whiteboard, which may not necessarily translate to the functional movement patterns that people really use on a daily basis.”
If you consider the breadth of what TRX has done since the company started, it might at times be easy to forget where we started and what we were built for; a piece of equipment that guys in the military could use to workout anywhere. Simple. As the company has grown, so has the fitness industry, and it now seems like every company in the market is trying to tap into the “functional” training market. Boot camps and Navy SEAL workouts are offered at every big box corporate gym.
Joe feels like this kind of marketing often misses the mark, targeting the most extreme end of the market when the reality is that the military often has the same spread of fitness levels seen in the civilian world.
“The difference with TRX, and especially TRX FORCE is that we are an actual education driven company that can provide tools to prehabilitate, to make sure that when we do train people, one, we are not getting them injured, and two, we are preparing them for the fight, which could be onboard a ship, but it just as well could be in a cushy office chair.”
In response to the growing trend of “fusion” workouts and our own community’s interest in them, Doc Joe said, “Look at all the fusion we have already. Because we are a training company, the specific tools are sort of interchangeable.” However, the important difference is our emphasis on the importance of proper biomechanics, “We say, 'As soon as form breaks down, set the bar down.' Bad form just equals bad neuromuscular education of the body.” He feels that this is one of the best parts of the new Tactical Conditioning Program: it's progressive and totally scalable. It doesn’t matter where your fitness is when you start; the program meets you thereand gives you realistic goals and benchmarks to make sure you earn your progression.
Doc Joe is an example of how our company keeps its boots on the ground. After spending six years in the Navy, Doc Joe received a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science, with a minor in Nutrition, at Temple University, followed by a Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine. He has been practicing medicine for over 20 years and working with us for the last five as the Head of Military Education, leading a team of trainers teaching the TRX FORCE Program to all branches of the US Military, various government agencies, law enforcement teams and other first responders.
