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TRX 5x5 Workout Sequence
TRX Education Manager Steve Katai is back with another awesome TRX fitness challenge. This is a great workout if you're short on time and want a strength focus blast (upper body) in under 10 minutes. Want to make sure this challenge matches your fitness level? Take our quick assessment quiz to get personalized modifications and progressions that will help you get the most out of this workout. BONUS: By keeping the TRX Suspension Trainer in single handle mode at mid length, you can roll from exercise to exercise without rest to get a nice cardio benefit. Perform five reps of each of the following five exercises (alternating between right and left sides). Rest as needed. Repeat as desired.
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1. TRX Single Arm PressStand facing away, find your challenging angle, wide base, right arm eccentrically bends as left touches the ground, pause and press returning to starting position.
2. TRX Pull/PressStand facing away, find angle, right hand extended out with left hand resting/overlapping right, slowly twist down to face anchor, then drive body back to starting position by pulling, twisting, and then pressing out.
3. TRX Triceps Press/PullStand facing away, find angle, right hand on handle, left resting on top, lower by bending elbows, press up and finish with pull/chest squeeze to right side (dominate hand takes majority of load, then switch sides).
4. TRX Single Arm Speed Skater w/Biceps CurlStand facing sideways, find angle, right leg planted, left leg lifted, drop down into crossing single leg squat, drive back up and then perform single-arm bicep curl.
5. TRX Single Arm Deltoid RaiseStand facing, find your angle, wide base, right arm extending in water ski position, pull body up using right arm into half “Y” deltoid raise.
Steve Katai was introduced to the world of triathlon when he won the Degree "Everyman Ironman" contest in 2003. Five months later, he successfully finished the 2003 Ironman Florida race in less than 13 hours. Now a four-time Ironman triathlete and co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Triathlon Training, Steve continues to share his passion for training in his position as TRX Education Manager.

TRX 40/40 Challenge Revisited
The TRX 40/40 Challenge combines two signature TRX exercises we use to measure upper body and core strength: the TRX Atomic Push-up and the TRX Low Row. At our events, we have competitions to see who can get the most of each of these exercises. If someone can get more than 40 good reps, there's a good chance they are going to win! Also, we've been known to break out the 40/40 Challenge during our lunchtime workouts here at TRX HQ (see below).
Getting to the TRX 40/40 Level
Once you have accepted the TRX 40/40 Challenge and done your first max effort test to see where you stand. Want to find the perfect training progression for your current fitness level? Take our quick assessment quiz to get a personalized plan to increase your max reps.
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It is time to work toward getting to that next level, whether it is 10/10 or 40/40. You can test your max effort about once every 10 to 14 days. Doing max efforts too often can lead to burn out. Here are a few proven ways to increase your max reps quickly.
“Grease the Groove”
Pavel Tsatsouline, the Kettlebell master, coined the phrase as it is used for exercise and training today. Greasing the Groove is achieved by “practicing” lower repetition sets, about half the number of reps capable of, with longer recovery periods. As you train for a specific exercise test, keep in mind that performing these moves requires “practice,” not just training. Training means working to fatigue and sometimes to failure. Practice means perfecting the skill of the movement, using strict form without going to fatigue. As you fatigue, your form breaks down. Stop your “practice” reps before you fatigue. One strategy is to drop in several “practice” sets over the course of the day as you walk by your TRX.
Descending Sets
Another “practice” strategy to use is descending sets with longer rest periods. Your first set should be between 50% and 70% of your 40/40 score; reduce reps by two or more on successive sets. If you are able to complete 20 TRX Atomic Push-ups and 20 TRX Low Rows, a descending set workout may look like this:
TRX AtomicPush-ups
TRX Low Rows
Set 1
12
10
Set 2
8
8
Set 3
5
3
Set 4
3
3
Set 5
2
3
Rest for one to two minutes between sets as needed.
There is not a magic rep number. The goal is to accumulate as many high quality reps as you can with strict form and avoiding fatigue with lower reps and enough rest. Use the “Grease the Groove” or “Descending Set” approach two to three times per week.Supplemental Exercises
One problem with only using TRX Atomic Push-ups and TRX Low Rows is you tend to train your strengths and overlook your weaknesses and compensations. Here are some supplemental exercises to enhance movement and strength for the TRX 40/40 Challenge.
Increase Your Core Strength
TRX Plank and TRX Side PlankYour ability to hold a solid, stable TRX Plank and TRX Side Plank is crucial for success in the 40/40 Challenge. Make sure your alignment is spot on; ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles should all be in a line. For training, try this approach: instead of holding your planks for 30, 45 or 60 seconds or more, perform reps of shorter duration. There is good research supporting the idea of holding a strong, tight plank for seven to 10 seconds at a time. Drop down for a two to three second rest and then back up to the plank. As your fitness improves, add more reps, not more seconds.TRX Body SawThe TRX Body Saw will strengthen your core and shoulders for better rowing and push-ups. You can try the same strategy you used for the TRX Plank. Perform 10 seconds of the TRX Body Saw, rest briefly and repeat another 10 seconds. As your fitness improves, add more reps.
Rock Your Rowing AbilityTRX Swimmer PullThis is a great exercise to strengthen lats specifically and the pulling movement in general. Using the TRX Swimmer Pull as part of a compound set with the TRX Low Row will get at those back muscles! Do a set of TRX Swimmer Pull followed by a set of TRX Low Rows.
TRX Y Deltoid Fly and TRX I Deltoid FlyUse the TRX Y and I Deltoid Flys to improve mobility and strengthen your upper back and shoulders. This will lead to a more powerful pulling movement. Alternate the TRX Y Deltoid Fly with the TRX I Deltoid Fly.
TRX Hip PressWhat? How can the TRX Hip Press help with rows? When you are performing TRX Low Rows, you rely on your hips to keep your body aligned and extended. Use the TRX Hip Press as an assistant exercise to strengthen your hips and core.
Make Your Push-ups More "Atomic"TRX Standing Roll Out and TRX Chest PressAlternate repetitions of TRX Standing Roll Outs with TRX Chest Presses and integrate core activation into your pressing patterns. As your strength and stability improves, progress to single leg versions of the TRX Standing Roll Out and TRX Chest Press and deeper angles.
TRX Atomic Push-ups (Single Leg)Just like it sounds, place one foot in both foot cradles and perform your TRX Atomic Push-ups. Pressing as you resist the rotational forces of having one leg suspended is a great challenge to your core.
Here is an example training routine using the exercise outlined above to supplement your training one or two days a week. Training here means working to fatigue and even to failure. Perform this workout on different days than your "practice" days. Be sure to modify exercise intensity and reps to your fitness level and goals. For variety, you can the order of exercises, starting from the bottom and working your way up every third workout.
Exercise
Reps
Sets
TRX Swimmer Pull
8-12
2-3
TRX Low Row
8-12
2-3
TRX Hip Press
8-12
2-3
TRX Y and I Deltoid Flys
8-12
2-3
TRX Standing Roll Out and TRX Chest Press
8-12 (alternate, 16-24 reps total)
1-2
TRX Atomic Push-up (Single Leg)
8-12 (each leg)
1-2
TRX Plank or TRX Side Plank
5-10 (hold 10 sec, rest 2-3 = 1 rep)
2-3
TRX Body Saw
5-10 (hold 10 sec, rest 2-3 = 1 rep)
2-3
Rest for 30 seconds between exercises.

TRX 101: Twisted Strap?
So you've eagerly been anticipating the arrival of your new TRX Suspension Trainer, and when it arrives and you remove it from the box, you find the straps are twisted (like the images here). Want to make sure you're setting up your TRX correctly from day one? Take our quick assessment quiz for personalized setup guidance. Don't fret, dear TRXer. We've got a solution for this problem.
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Our Customer Service Team receives this question from members of the TRX Community from time to time, and therefore, they have put together this helpful step-by-step visual guide on how to untwist your TRX (special shout out to Erik!).
If you've performed the steps recommended in the above PDF and your TRX strap is still twisted, then contact our Customer Service Team via phone at 888-878-5348 or email. No problem is too big or too small (or too twisted!) for them to help solve.

TRX 101: No Scraping
Do the straps of your TRX Suspension Trainer ever rub against your arms and shoulders when you’re doing a TRX Chest Press? Isn’t that annoying?
Here to help you correct the problem is TRX Head of Human Performance Chris Frankel and one of the personal trainers at Park Road Fitness in Burlingame, California.
You may recall the term "scraping" from an earlier blog post on the Six TRX Sins. Want to perfect your TRX form? Take our quick assessment quiz to get personalized technique tips and corrections.
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Scraping tends to happen when doing a TRX Chest Press with your hands too low, causing the straps of the Suspension Trainer to rub across your arms and shoulders. This is problematic for two reasons:
When the straps are rubbing across your arms and shoulders, it's uncomfortable and annoying, distracting you from focusing on the movement and getting in a good set.
The more your arms and shoulders rub, the less this move is accomplishing its intended purpose (improving core stability). As you may remember from the stability principle, the more points of contact you have, the easier an exercise is going to be, and the less you will be relying on your core to maintain a plank position.
So, how do you fix it? First, simply move your hands up in relation to your shoulders. Come to the top of the press and move your hands up until the straps are no longer touching your arms and shoulders. Shoot for two to three inches off of your arms. That way, you can get through a full rep without touching.
If after making this adjustment, the straps are still rubbing your arms, try externally rotating your hands, aligning the straps more with the inside of your forearms, instead of rubbing across the top of them. If you try that and find the straps are still rubbing, move your feet farther from the anchor point until you can get more comfortable stabilizing from your core.
Are you experiencing any issues you think might be compromising the effectiveness of your TRX workout? Let us know below.

TRX 10/10/10 Workout Challenge
Designed by TRX Master Trainer Jonathan Ross, this new challenge is advanced and requires many characteristics of fitness to be present all at once. It requires strength, stability, balance, power, coordination and endurance.
Success in fitness is found in developing the various parts of fitness without allowing anyone to dominate to the exclusion of others. This challenge does just that by asking for challenging exercises to be performed with rapid transitions and all exercises requiring full body stability with localized strength and power.
Set up for the TRX 10/10/10 Challenge:
Perform 10 reps of three exercises as a circuit with 10 second transitions between exercises.
Rest for 60 seconds and switch the TRX foot during the rest.
Perform 10 reps of same three exercises with the other leg in TRX.
TRX Suspension Trainer Exercises (all in single handle mode):
TRX Inverted Shoulder Press
TRX Leg Extension
TRX Elevated Lunge
"Intense" TRX Inverted Shoulder PressThis is a challenging frontal plane upper body exercise requiring a combination of shoulder stability, mobility and strength. It is critical to differentiate this movement from a chest press by performing a “vertical push” motion like an overhead dumbbell press.
Criteria:
Torso must be parallel to arms, which are close to vertical.
Range of motion on lowering must bring top of head close to ground.
Training Tips:
Hold the inverted position statically to develop the strength and endurance of the stability in the shoulder. Maintaining the position takes strength initially but holding helps provide “stability endurance” that will be necessary to perform the exercise.
Next, work on strength and mobility by dropping the free foot to the floor and perform the shoulder press movement, keeping the torso parallel to the arms.
"Extreme" TRX Leg ExtensionRoss created this variation of a TRX Leg Extension to bring even more challenge to the quadriceps muscle for mobility and to the upper body and torso for stability. By having the feet significantly higher than the head, the leg extension must be performed “uphill” and thus the term “extreme”.
Criteria:
Head must be directly under anchor.
Thigh of free leg stays parallel to torso.
Range of motion on knee of TRX leg must be from just above ground to full extension
Training Tips:
From the standard leg extension position (feet under anchor), perform a leg extension from an elbow plank position. This lowers the upper body and provides more stability from the ground while creating more of an “uphill” push on the TRX leg.
Move head closer to anchor and perform the exercise from an elbow plank position, then progress to a hand plank position. Repeat as necessary to bring head under anchor.
"Explosive" TRX Elevated LungeThis is a classic TRX exercise performed with power, balance and coordination.
Criteria:
TRX foot must be directly under or in front of anchor.
Ground foot must completely leave the ground on each rep.
Training Tips:
Perform an elevated lunge slow and controlled with the foot, knees and hips aligned. At first, use little to no arm movement.
Gradually introduce arm movement in a gait-like pattern with the arms and legs moving in opposition. (i.e., when your ground leg is bent at the bottom position, your opposite arm is in front.)
Next, perform the exercise more rapidly progressing to where your heel gets light and lifts slightly, but the toes stay down. The next step is lift off!
What are you waiting for? Grab your TRX and get started. You’ve got all weekend to practice this one. And of course, if you feel you’ve earned bragging rights, share your score below. And be sure to challenge your friends to the TRX 10/10/10 Challenge.
Jonathan Ross, ACE Personal Trainer of the Year, Discovery Health Fitness Expert, TRX Master Trainer and creator of the TRX Super Hero workout, brings a fresh perspective on fitness to the industry (www.AionFitness.com). His personal experiences help him to create exercise strategies that deliver big results for clients.

Train Like the Pros: Try This NFL Workout at Home
Everyone is working out at home these days, including professional football players. For the average fitness enthusiast, exercise may involve a video, like the free TRX LIVE workouts that launch each day on TRXTraining.com. For pro athletes, the routine may involve customized Zoom workouts. Curious about what those custom training sessions look like? We have some answers, thanks to TRX Master Trainer Trevor “TA” Anderson.
From the little leagues to the professional leagues, Anderson is a performance-boosting ninja. He’s a personal trainer, a multi-sport performance expert, and—lately—he’s been doing covert TRX ops, leading virtual workouts for professional athletes during stay-at-home orders.
What makes Anderson so good?
First, he’s played all sports. All of them. Football, soccer, baseball, basketball, slam ball—which he described as is “a weird extreme basketball sport played with trampolines on the ground.” Yes, Anderson is a gifted athlete, but his athletic background makes Anderson an even better trainer. The man is a legend among legends, training top-ranked professional athletes and Hall of Famers.
“Because I have a professional athletic background, I work with a lot of athletes, plus everyday folks: the seventh-grade kid who wants to make his lacrosse team, moms of three, and every kind of client in between,” he said. “TRX has helped me connect with every single one of those people in those populations. It's something common that I can share with every single one of them no matter what their level is.”
Traditionally, Anderson’s clients show up to work with him at Better Every Day, his gym and coaching business in Orlando. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, professional athletes have turned to TRX for guidance in their stay-at-home training programs. Anderson stepped in to help.
Given Anderson’s reputation for guiding top players to reach their potential, it’s natural to be curious about which exercises he programs in a Suspension Trainer session. Get the full workout posted below.
In this generation-defining moment, no one knows when we’ll be back to gyms, back to sports, back to sharing our lives within six feet of one another. While a workout may not seem like a big deal in the scope of what’s going on in the world, it’s a chance to do something for yourself, to prioritize your wellness and work toward a goal. Whether you do that with Anderson’s workout below or any of the free TRX LIVE workouts online, take this moment to prove just how strong you are.

Total-Body TRX Circuit from Fitnessista
TRX Training
TRX Training
Whether you’re a seasoned TRXpert or a novice to Suspension Training, this total-body TRX circuit from our friend at Fitnessista delivers an efficient and fun workout you can do anywhere.
The workout is intended to be done as a circuit, moving from exercise to exercise, with minimal rest. After you have finished all of the exercises, rest for a few minutes and repeat the whole circuit two to three times.
View the full workout on Fitnessista, here.

Train Anywhere With TRX and Fitbit
The leaves may be starting to turn but the great outdoors is still calling for you to explore. Good news—TRX has everything you need to power your fitness the whole way, no matter the destination, no matter how far you travel. In honor of our belief that fitness should fit your life, we’re excited to announce our partnership with Fitbit! Together, we’ll show you how easy it is to move, sweat, train (and track it all) on the go with your TRX Suspension Trainer.
Train and track on the go with the FitBit Versa 3™
We’ve teamed up with Fitbit to give you a full-body workout right from your wrist, no phone required. Use the TRX® Training Fitbit App on the Fitbit Versa 3™ to watch videos, haptics, get strap length direction, and more. The Versa 3 has all the usual bells and whistles, plus cool new features like built-in GPS to track pace and distance (hello, outdoor runs), Sleep Scores, Active Zone Minutes, and swim-proof materials for aquatic adventures.
Get routine
Always know exactly where you stand with your heart rate, daily steps, workouts, and more, all reported in real-time to help you build awareness of your fitness habits.
Get social
Share your stats or workouts on Instagram, Facebook, and anywhere else to give yourself a pat on the back (and encourage your friends to cheer you on).
Get motivated
Get the nudge you need to stay on track with personalized reminders that help you move more, stick to a sleep schedule, and more.
Work out anywhere, from parks to national forests
We all know how easy it is to get an effective, head-to-workout on our TRX Suspension Trainer. What you might not know is how easy it is to roll up and hang from anywhere. Here are some ideas on where you can anchor your Suspension Trainer:
Volleyball posts at your community hub
That beautiful birch tree on your hike
A kid’s jungle gym in the park
Chain-link fences that border a high school
Lifeguard stands at the beach
Set up in 4 steps
Because we want you to focus on your workout and nothing else, we designed the TRX Suspension Trainer to set up smoothly. Want to make sure you're setting up your TRX correctly? Take our quick assessment quiz to get personalized setup recommendations.
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Find an anchor point (tree, post, etc) that your Suspension Anchor strap can fit around
Attach your Suspension Anchor strap 7-9 ft above the ground
Clip the carabiner to secure and attach your TRX Suspension Trainer
Make sure the black loops of the TRX Suspension Trainer hang 6 ft above the ground
Start working out!
Prefer a video? Here you go.
Sweat it out with the TRX App
Need a workout? No problem. The Official TRX App® gives you hundreds of workouts right at your fingertips, from HIIT to yoga to functional training, all guided by world-class coaches. It tracks and analyzes your data, plus reacts in real-time with customized training tips, motivation, and workout plans, all to help you achieve your goals faster.
Even when the road trips end and gyms eventually open back up, there’s one thing we know for sure: virtual training is here to stay. Stay tuned for more #TRXAnywhere tips & tricks (and stay on the lookout for an amazing virtual launch, coming soon).

Top 3 Ways to Use A Suspension Trainer
There are many reasons the TRX Suspension Trainer is all you'll need for your complete home gym, but in this video, TRX Head of Human Performance Chris Frankel narrows it down to just three. Watch the video to see what Chris considers the top three reasons you need to be training your clients and athletes on the TRX.
The TRX is unparalleled when it comes to the following:
1) Core training.
Your center of gravity is located just above your hips along the midline of the body. Changing body positions shifts your center of gravity. The body uses muscular strength and coordination to control its center of gravity during movement. Suspension Training bodyweight exercise is designed to intentionally displace your center of gravity, activating the core musculature during every exercise to stabilize and balance the body in a truly functional way.
2) Pulling exercises.
It's one of the oldest bodybuilding methods, but it works big-time. Pulling exercises allow you to train all of the muscles involved in pulling (back, biceps, rear delts, traps, forearms, hamstrings) together at once, so you're really lighting up your entire posterior chain. With the TRX Suspension Trainer, you're pulling your entire bodyweight, plus you can add an exterior load if you want an additional challenge. The Suspension Trainer requires you to integrate the entire posterior chain with the pulling moves--hip extension combined with torso stability and pulling from the back. Hard to beat it!
3) Unilateral training.
Unilateral training is important to help identify muscle imbalances and/or weakness, which can lead to injury. Research has found that about 65 percent of injuries--both athletic and lifestyle-related--come from overuse, which is repetitive use of joints that are rendered dysfunctional by muscular imbalances. The simplest way to avoid muscle imbalance is to choose exercises that strengthen opposing muscle groups or perform unilateral training. Enter, the TRX Suspension Trainer.