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I have another confession to make: I thought the TRX was a silly gimmick. A one trick pony that was oversold. You know what? Now I think it might be the best $189 piece of equipment on the market. You must all be wondering what caused my epiphany. As usual, it was a little prodding from a smart friend. Alwyn Cosgrove scheduled a TRX training session with Fitness Anywhere resident smart guy Chris Frankel for his Results Fitness staff in California. I was curious as to what happened. I trust Alwyn’s opinion so I emailed him. Our email exchange was as follows:
MB- Was the TRX training worth it?
AC- AMAZING. Chris Frankel killed it. Knocked it out of the park. I was using it for single leg squats, rows and push ups. They have a ton more stuff. Definitely worth bringing them out.
Oops. Thank god for good friends. On Alwyn’s recommendation, I scheduled two hours with Chris Frankel for my Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning staff members. Now to be honest, I love the TRX Rows and thought the equipment was worth the price for the “seated row machine” use alone. Actually, it’s sort of a standing row but, the TRX eliminates the need for any sort of weight stack cable row apparatus, and, it eliminates a $3000 piece for $199. That should be enough for me and for you. I just saved you about $2000 if you own your own facility, or I just pissed you off because you spent a couple grand on a piece of junk you don’t need. Either way, don’t stop reading.
Frankel is a very smart guy. I hope they pay him well. He is also selling the perfect product - inexpensive with multiple uses. Almost all the exercises I thought were “gimmicky” are actually excellent variations or progressions. Single Leg Squats, Hamstring Curls and Roll Outs are all great exercises on the TRX.
To be honest, I need to spend some more time playing to figure out more cool progressions, but believe me when I say get a TRX and get Chris or another TRX staffer into your facility.
Mike Boyle is co-owner and content editor for strengthcoach.com, one of the world’s leading resources for performance enhancement information. He is Strength and Conditioning Coach with the US Gold Medal Olympic Teams in Women’s Soccer and Women’s Hockey and also for the Ice Hockey team at Boston University. The author of Functional Training for Sports and Designing Strength Training Programs and Facilities, Mike has appeared in well as over 20 instructional DVDs. He currently owns and operates Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, one of the nation’s first and most successful private strength and conditioning companies.
