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  In this installment of TRX Moves of the Week, Louis Lopez hits a sequence of moves that will challenge your core, chest, shoulders, and legs! These three exercises will include a modified TRX forearm plank, a modified TRX Fly, and a Lunge with Slam Ball variations.  The first exercise will focus on your core (all those muscles from mid-thigh to collarbone). Here's how to get started with a modified TRX forearm plank. Start with your straps fully lengthened and stand facing away from your anchor point. With your forearms in the foot cradles, slowly step back so that you are at a slight angle and allow your forearms to rest on the foot cradles with your elbows set at a 90-degree angle. Begin the exercise by holding the position for 30 seconds and maintain active glutes, quads, and core.  You can make this more challenging by beginning to straighten out your arms into what we call a modified rollout. If you are performing the modified rollout, return to the start position by bringing your arms back to a 90-degree position, then reset your active plank before straightening your arms out again. It is recommended to perform this exercise for 30 seconds, 2-3 sets total. The second exercise is the modified TRX Fly, which focuses specifically on your chest and shoulders.  Start with your straps fully lengthened and stand facing away from your anchor point. With your forearms in the foot cradles, slowly step your feet back so that you are at a slight angle, allowing your forearms to rest on the foot cradles with your elbows set at a 90-degree angle. Begin the exercise by starting with your palms facing each other, then slowly begin to abduct, or open up, your arms (while maintaining your elbows at 90 degrees) until your arms are in line with your shoulders and your palms are front-facing. Make sure to maintain your active plank during the movement.  Return to the start position by abducting, or closing, your arms back while continuing to maintain the 90-degree angle in the elbows. It is recommended to perform this exercise for 30 seconds, 2-3 sets total. The final exercise is the Lunge with Slam Ball variations, which will specifically focus on balance and stability. Grab your slam ball and begin by holding it in your right arm. Split your legs into a lunge position, while keeping your front foot flat and your back heel off the ground, and make sure the slam ball is rested between your right chest and right shoulder. Begin the exercise by slowly bending your back knee to 90 degrees, which will naturally allow the front knee to bend to 90 degrees as well. Make sure to brace your core during the movement to help increase stability.  Return to the start position by straightening out both legs and maintaining the slam ball rested between the chest and shoulder. As a progression, you can also keep the slam ball in your hand, but keep it just above your shoulder, or make it even more challenging by lifting the ball up completely over your head as you bend your knees. It is recommended to perform this exercise between 10 - 12 repetitions each side, 2-3 sets total.  We hope you enjoyed these simple TRX moves for anybody! If you want to see more exercises like these and full workouts, check our trxtraining.com/live for TRX Live + On Demand workouts, and as always be sure to tune in next week for another episode of TRX Moves of the Week.   Louis Lopez is known to have a strong voice and motivating wordplay, with his specialties ranging from HIIT style workouts to Boot Camp classes. He believes that proper program design, a motivating personality, and a great playlist can help anyone push themselves to be their best.  

  The TRX Muscle-Up Prep is a fun, yet challenging, exercise that mimics a similar bodyweight pull/push combo of a true muscle-up on a bar. Want to master this advanced move? Take our quick assessment quiz to get a personalized progression plan that builds the strength you need. For this series, we break down the TRX Muscle-Up Prep into three parts: the TRX-Muscle Up Prep Pull, TRX Tricep Kickback, and the full TRX Muscle-Up Prep. TAKE OUR TRAINING QUIZ For all three movements, your TRX Suspension Trainer straps will be at mid-length and you will face your anchor point, starting while seated on the ground. Begin with one knee bent, that same foot grounded, and significantly far back from your anchor point.   TRX Muscle-Up Prep Pull Press into the floor with your foot while simultaneously pulling on the handles, all while engaging your shoulder blades. Bring your chest to your hands, then return. TRX Triceps Kick Back From the end range of the Muscle-Up Prep Pull, flip your palms down, then extend your elbows. Ensure your shoulders stay down and back (no dumping forward!) TRX Muscle-Up Prep Now, combine the two moves! Begin on the ground, then press through your grounded foot. Pull your chest towards your hands, then flip your hands over and extend your elbows to “stick the landing” when you stand up. Slowly lower down and repeat. For an added challenge, straighten out your bent leg. Keep your core braced...and have fun! Thanks for checking out this week’s TRX Move of the Week! Tune in to next week's episode for Part 2 of the series. Shana is a TRX and American Council of Exercise master instructor, a content contributor for Under Armour, and a six-time world champion lumberjack athlete. She holds a degree in Kinesiology- Exercise Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is a certified personal trainer through ACE, NASM, and NFPT. An energetic and personable speaker, she is also the National Spokesperson for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America.  

    No one—and we mean no one—has been doing Suspension Training longer than TRX Founder Randy Hetrick. The former Navy SEAL invented the original Suspension Trainer prototype while deployed at a safehouse in Asia in the 90s, and has been championing the concept ever since. With decades of experience in training on-the-go, Hetrick knows all the tips and tricks for home fitness. The moves he’s digging right now? Exercises focused on combating work-from-home hunching and slouching.  Randy is taking over Moves of the Week with three exercises that will help you stand taller, prouder, and stronger. All you need is your Suspension Trainer and your TRX Strength Bands. First up is the TRX Overhead Squat to Overhead Back Extension. Stand facing the anchor, with your straps adjusted to mid-length. Start with the overhead squat, and keep tension on the straps! As you come back up to standing, gently fall back while hinging at the waist to squat and hinge, all while squeezing your glutes at the top. Hetrick says this move will activate your body from the glutes and hamstrings all the way to your fingertips.  “I do this either as a dynamic warmup before my workout, or I'll do it during the workout and just slow it down, really activate and grind through it,” he said. “Do a set of 15 of these things and you'll be hating life and loving it at all at once.” For the second move, a Loaded Squat, trade your Suspension Trainer for two TRX Strength Bands. Loop one end of each band around the arch of your foot, then cross the bands behind you. Loop the other end of the band around each hand between the thumb and forefinger. With your palms facing up toward the sky, squat then extend your arms up into an overhead press. “I'm feeling a pretty good load there, and as these run up my back, they actually help my squat,“ Hetrick explained.  Hetrick calls the third and final move a “Bandput” because it simulates a shotput throw a TRX Strength Band, integrating both extension and rotation.  Start with one end of the band wrapped twice around midfoot, then shoulder the other end of the band on the same side of your body. For example: if the band is anchored to your left foot, you’ll load the other end of the band on your left shoulder. Like the press you just completed, the “shouldered” end of the band will still be looped across your palm between your thumb and forefinger. (Think of it like a server carrying a tray at a restaurant.) Squat down to “load,” then use your hand to push the band diagonally up and away from your shoulder—throwing away the tray—to “explode.”   For variations on this move, Hetrick suggests playing with the speed or even leveling up to a heavier band.  All three of these moves use an extension to open up your posture and strengthen your back muscles. Whether you’re at home or hitting the road, pack your Suspension Trainer and your TRX Strength Bands in your TRX pouch to keep up with your fitness goals anytime, anywhere. 

  We all love a cool, new move to try out (and show off a little), but when it comes to getting strong, fit, and fierce, it’s all about getting back to basics—a few foundational moves with a twist that focus on compound strength (translation: multiple muscles at a time) to get reliably fitter, faster all on the TRX Suspension Trainer.  THE MOVES MOVE 1: TRX Squat Row Strap setup: Mid-Length  Your setup: Stand facing the anchor point. Hands are chest height, arms extended. What it does: Burns your glutes, quads,  and hamstrings while working your entire upper back How it works:  Lower your hips down and back to a deep comfortable squat Drive through your feet and return to stand with a TRX High Row Repeat for 4 more reps, completing 5 total Pro tip: You can adjust your speed or angle to make it easier or more challenging. Avoid rounding your shoulders at the bottom and arching your back at the top.  MOVE 2: TRX Lunge with Chest Fly Strap setup: Mid-Length  Your setup: Stand facing away from the anchor point. Hands are chest height, arms extended. What it does: Works your balance and stability, combining upper and lower push movements. How it works:  Take a big step forward with one leg and lunge down, opening your arms into a T Press into the handles and ground at the same time to return to start Repeat with the opposite foot and complete 10 lunges total Pro tip: Be mindful of the front knee on every rep (don't let it bend past your toes) and maintain core tension throughout the movement!  Move 3: TRX Hamstring Curl Strap setup: Mid-calf Your setup: On your back on the ground. Feet face anchor point. Heels in the foot cradles. What it does: Great for working your backside and overall core strength. How it works:  Raise your hips off the ground (or not). Keep your feet evenly pressed into the foot cradles.  Bring your feet toward your glutes, pulling knees toward your waist. Keep your hips level.  Reverse the motion to return to the start position.  Try to hold the start and middle positions for a couple of seconds.  Pro tip: Keep your head on the ground, always. To up the challenge, raise your hips off the ground and move further away! Move 4: TRX Reverse Crunch Strap setup: Mid-calf Your setup: Hands and knees on the ground. Feet face anchor point. Feet in foot cradles.  What it does: Great for your core and stability in your shoulders. How it works:  Rise up into a strong plank, lifting your legs and hips while driving your heels into the handles.  Pull your knees toward your waist for a crunch. Too challenging? Stay in a plank position and hold for a couple of breaths.  Pro tip: Be careful not to round your shoulders on the crunch. And be mindful of your low back when your feet are extended. A strong and stable plank takes practice! The best part about basics is 1) they work, 2) you can always make them harder or easier, 3) they’re the ultimate complementary moves, meaning you can add them to any workout without overdoing it on any one muscle. Or, of course, you can simply tie all these moves together into a HIIT workout by setting your reps (8 for beginners, 15 for a challenge), picking a time (15 minutes is solid), and then going as fast as you can.  Stay on the lookout for more ideas next week. ‘Til, then, keep making moves. 💪   For ten years Miguel has been a key factor at TRX. Whether it’s teaching TRX classes at the flagship studio in San Francisco or presenting in front of hundreds of athletes at various trade shows around the world, Miguel delivers the ultimate TRX physical and education experience. When Miguel is not in front of a class he is either behind a camera shooting the latest and greatest TRX digital content, or working with the rest of the TRX education team to continue to meet the demands of this continually evolving fitness community.

  In this week’s installment of Moves of the Week, Master Instructor Austin Way takes you through a combo that will help with shoulder health and improve your posture, especially if you spend a lot of time sitting down. This combo kicks off with the TRX “W” Deltoid Fly. Start facing your anchor point and take the straps of your TRX Suspension Trainer to mid-length. Start at the end, or finish, position with your arms to a 90-degree angle, with your hands over shoulders and your palms facing the anchor point. Next, step your feet into an offset position. While keeping your elbows bent at 90 degrees, allow your hands to rotate down towards the ground from your shoulder girdle. Then, drive your knuckles back above your shoulders to return to the starting position.   Once you have mastered the TRX “W” Deltoid Fly, you can then mix in the TRX High Row to make a killer shoulder combo. Start the same way as you did when doing the TRX “W” Deltoid Fly. After you allow the downward rotation of the shoulder girdle, let the arms lower your body towards the ground by lengthening out of your arms all while maintaining an active plank.  At bottom, create masses and spaces by pulling shoulder blades down and back before initiating the pull by bending elbows to 90 degrees, then driving knuckles back above the shoulders creating the letter “W” in the arms.  Very important to always maintain tension in the straps the entire time!  Remember to always maintain tension in the straps the entire time, and enjoy!  Thanks for checking out this week’s TRX Move of the Week! Austin Way is a Master Course Instructor for TRX® and the fitness director at Cal-a-Vie Health Spa in Vista, CA.  Health and fitness have been a part of his life for as long as he can remember, for the fact that his mother has been a fitness professional for over 30 years now.  He has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Exercise Science and a background in physical therapy, which allows him to design a proper exercise prescription for any fitness level.  His passion in life is to inspire and motivate people to be their best possible self…to be BETTER every day. Stay Connected and follow him @austinwayfit    

The TRX Suspension Trainer is an amazing tool for unilaterally training your body! Kristine will show you her favorite strength moves that target the upper and lower body. The first move is the TRX Single Leg Squat to Cross Balance Lunge.  Adjust your TRX Suspension Trainer to mid-length. Stand facing your anchor and start by stacking your elbows under your shoulders, center one leg to the anchor point and lift the opposite leg to 90 degrees at the hip. Begin the movement by lowering your hips down and back. Make sure to keep the weight in the center of your foot and knee over the ankle.  Move into the cross balance lunge by slightly opening your hips as you cross your free knee behind your working heel. Return by driving through the heel of your working leg, squeezing your glutes and extending your hips. To dial this move back a notch, kickstand your free heel in the single leg squat and touch your toes to the ground in the cross balance lunge. The second move is the TRX Power Pull with Rotation.  Keep your TRX Suspension Trainer adjusted at mid-length. Stand facing your anchor and start with your working hand beside your chest and your free hand reaching up the TRX main strap towards the anchor point.  Make sure to keep your shoulders down. Begin the movement by rotating your free arm towards the ground while extending your working arm. Make sure to keep your hips square. Return by driving your working elbow straight back while rotating your free arm up and over the main strap as you bend your elbow. Thanks for checking out this week’s TRX Moves of the Week and as always be sure to tune in next week for more moves!  Kristine is a fitness instructor at the TRX Training Center in San Francisco. Kristine has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology and has NASM, FMS and TRX Advanced Group Trainer certifications. Kristine taught Physical Education and was a fitness instructor in Napa before moving to San Francisco to pursue her dream to work full time in the fitness industry. Her goal as a fitness professional is to share her passion for fitness through positive group training experiences for all fitness levels. Kristine is passionate about living a healthy lifestyle and loves working out, yoga and being active everyday! Stay connected and follow her @kristine_fit  

In the final installment of this three-part TRX Moves of the Week series, TRX Master Instructor Chris Nentarz will guide you through an anti-sitting flow that will create mobility and add stability to give our bodies the balance they need. If you want a refresher, you can view Part 1 of the series here and Part 2 here.   In this sequence, place your TRX Suspension Trainer at mid-length and begin facing away from the anchor point in an offset stance for our TRX Chest Stretch. Stay tall, have a proud chest, and establish your plank. From there, lean your sternum forward to open your chest. While maintaining the height of your head, settle into your back heel to create further length in the entire anterior chain, including your hip flexors.  Keep your chin tucked and add some mini neck circles to further enhance your mobility.    Next, face the anchor point for a Shoulder T stretch. Activating and strengthening the posterior scapular muscles will help you take advantage of the new mobility gained in your chest stretch. Keep an offset stance to allow your upper body to drive the movement. Again, think tall and proud as you squeeze your shoulder blades together.  Next is an offset hinge stretch, which is great for lengthening the posterior chain. Leverage the TRX Straps to keep your core active and rotate your extended leg to add more hip mobility and sciatic nerve flossing. Keep your spine tall and work towards a nice deep hip hinge.   After your offset hinge stretch, work into a TRX I Fly. This movement will build on the mobility you've gained and will reinforce strong and stable posture. Tips for this one include pulling your shoulders down and back while maintaining a straight back.   Thanks for following along for this TRX Moves of the Week, three-part series, and be sure to tune in next week for more TRX moves!   Chris Nentarz currently lives in Buffalo, NY, and has over 20 years' experience as a Physical Therapist and movement coach.  Chris has been a part of the TRX Movement for 10 years and running and is proud to be a TRX Master Instructor.  His passion for helping people and his interest in all things movement shine through in his informative and effective sessions. Stay connected with Chris @cnentarz.   

        Welcome back to TRX Moves of the Week! This is Part 2 of a Three-Part Series: GET UP, STAND UP. If you missed Part 1, check it out here! Today we are going to use the Pendulum Principle to decompress our joints and lengthen our tissues! In TRX, the Pendulum Principle allows us to increase the intensity of many of our favorite TRX exercises by moving closer to, or further away from our anchor point, which is where we mount our TRX Suspension Trainer.   Begin with the TRX Suspension Trainer lengthened to mid-calf.  With your heels in, move your body away from your anchor point, lay back and relax.   Allow your body to be heavy and enjoy the traction effect brought to you by the pendulum principle.  To further decompress your body, extend both arms overhead and bend your body right and left.  As you bend sideways, maintain length on both sides of your body.  From there, you can add even more intensity by grasping your left wrist with your right hand, then pull gently on the left hand while bending to the right.   Use this routine to get out of your chair, away from your computer, kids, dogs, or whatever is occupying the majority of your time. Self-care is so important, so taking as little as five minutes to yourself each day could be a mental and physical game changer. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of TRX Moves of the Week and be sure to check in next week as we round out this three-part series with an anti-sitting flow.  Chris Nentarz currently lives in Buffalo, NY and has over 20 years' experience as a Physical Therapist and movement coach.  Chris has been a part of the TRX movement for 10 years and running and is proud to be a TRX Master Instructor.  His passion for helping people and his interest in all things movement shine through in his informative and effective sessions. Stay connected with Chris @cnentarz.   

If you're like me, you’ve recently experienced a spike in the volume of sitting you do each day. While sitting is necessary, it comes with a range of risks. This three-part series is designed to give you clinical and practical information you need to move and perform well while sitting is a big part of your life. The first part of the series will discuss the science of sitting and offer 'movement snacks' as a solution to break the sitting cycle. The second installment will focus on posture and alignment and will include a TRX Suspension Trainer anti-sitting routine. We will conclude this series discussing the secrets of decompression—not only for our tissues, but for our nervous system as well—including some key ways to enhance your health in small spaces. Snacks? My favorite word in the English language is “snacks”, and I am here to recommend snacking as a great way to avoid the negative effects of sitting. That is, 'movement snacks', of course!  Before I start to get hungry, let's discuss the science behind sitting and its toll on our system.    Is Sitting the New Smoking?  For many of us, our typical pre-quarantine days consisted of 10,000 steps—or 5 miles—with plenty of exercise demonstrations sprinkled in.  Recently, we have experienced a spike in the amount of sitting we do and, unfortunately, there are risks associated with that. (1) It is easy to see and feel how sitting steals valuable mobility from our joints and tissues.  Prolonged sitting can also be detrimental to our skeletal systems, inhibiting our ability to obtain proper skeletal alignment. A quick snapshot of this would be to think of how it might take a minute or two to stand correctly after a long car ride. This is because sitting can overload certain parts of our spine. (Spoiler alert: there will be more about that topic in this installment of the series.) The negative effects of sitting go beyond our musculoskeletal system. Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns (2). Too much sitting overall, in addition to prolonged periods of sitting, increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.  Other direct effects include obesity, increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, and excess body fat around the waist. Is sitting the new smoking? Not quite. While sitting has negative health benefits, smoking is still far worse. Researchers report smoking increases the risk of death 180 percent, while sitting points to a decrease in our longevity by 9 to 10 percent.  Research suggests that the traditional approach of exercising for three to four 30-minute sessions per week is not enough to counterbalance the negative effects of sitting (3).  In other words, our bodies need more movement for nourishment. 'Movement Snacks' We certainly recognize the value of nutrient timing, especially more frequent and smaller meals. Why not adopt a similar strategy for our movement regimen in the form of 'movement snacks'? Whether its standing and reaching your arms to the ceiling, performing ten squats every hour, or doing 4- or 20-minute movement sessions, the goal is to move more frequently.  'Movement snacks' do not have to be long. Spending three to five minutes can go a long way. And, just like with our nutrition, we want to eat a rainbow of movements. This will help keep our minds active and bodies balanced. In this week's installment of Moves of the Week, we use a traditional tool to give you a nourishing flow. A stability ball (physioball) can help make sitting more tolerable, and it is a great tool for mobility and stability.  While performing these movements, make sure to have fun, and remember you do not have to be at your tissues’ end range to receive the benefit of the movement.  In other words, do not feel the need to overstretch.   This sequence begins with a stability ball bridge—a great way to awaken the posterior chain of our bodies—and moves into segmental spine mobility. (Think Cat/Cow but on a stability ball.)    Use your arms to lengthen your full body by reaching in different directions, then transition to one side to lengthen the lateral line of the body in our long torso stretch.  This movement highlights the benefits of what the physioball brings to the table! Use the shape of the physioball and create a distraction in your joints by “relaxing over the ball.”  This sequence finishes with “Stirring the Pot.” This movement creates 3-D spine stability and incorporates an important part of your body, your scapula.  Think long and strong as you move your arms over a stable torso.   When performed together, these three movements work in synergy to lengthen the spine, mobilize the hips/T-spine and reset your posture.  Don’t forget to use your breath to drive mobility and stability where you need it. Frequent movement nourishes the whole body, not just the musculoskeletal system. Corrective exercise snacks can feed your skeletal alignment. Mobility shots can be helpful for your joints. A Met-Con medley can be great for your cardiovascular system. Supplement your mood and boost your energy with smaller, more frequent 'movement snacks'.  Join us next week for the next installment of this series as we build on the concept of 'movement snacks' and discuss posture and ergonomics and introduce an Anti-Sitting Sandwich on the TRX Suspension Trainer.   Baddeley, B. Sornalingam, S., Cooper, M. Sitting is the new smoking: where do we stand? Gen Pract. 2016 May; 66(646): 258.  doi: 10.3399/bjgp16X685009 Vallance, J., Gardiner, P., Lynch, B., D’Silva, A., Boyle, T., Taylor, L., Johnson, K., Buman, M., Owen, N. Evaluating the Evidence on Sitting, Smoking, and Health: Is Sitting Really the New Smoking? American Journal of Public Health, 2018; 108 (11): 1478 DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304649 Patel, A., Bernstein, L., Deka, A., Spencer-Feigelson, H., Campbell, P., Gapstur, S., Colditz, G., and Thun, M., Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Total Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of US Adults, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 172, Issue 4, 15 August 2010, Pages 419–429, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwq155 Chris Nentarz currently lives in Buffalo, NY and has over 20 years' experience as a Physical Therapist and movement coach.  Chris has been a part of the TRX movement for 10 years and running and is proud to be a TRX Master Instructor.  His passion for helping people and his interest in all things movement shine through in his informative and effective sessions. Stay connected with Chris @cnentarz.