Welcome all to the new location for the Life Active blog! Since some movements with the blog hosting service please redirect your browsers (and peepers) to this new page!
What I would like to mention today is the source of a great new yellow-and-black delight in my world : bees! Oh wait, they're delightful but they've been in my world for a few decades now...
No I mean the TRX Suspension trainer!
I had heard about these things a few years back when someone who was working at Golds at the time told me I MUST try one. Such fervour was rarely seen in other gym employees over what sounded simply like some strapping that you attached to a tree and attempted to pull yourself up.
I thought about it infrequently for the next few years until during the recent Fitness Industry convention (FILEX) in late April this year. Filex was for me, a mind-blowing experience: 3 full days of seminars on topics ranging from treatment considerations for diabetes, running a "bulletproof" PT business, to changing attitudes towards fat loss and certain training movements. Against this backdrop, I attended a late afternoon session on Functional Proprioceptive training, which was presented by one of my new heroes - Fraser Quelch.
Fraser went through a completely new theory for how muscles get recruited and for what movements, that integrated whole-body position rather than models for muscular action based on looking at what cadavers did (and they don't really do that much, if you've ever had to look at one). Whereas a bit of our knowledge about muscle actions around joints comes from early studies on cadavers (imagine getting to do the whole "Let's work out what happens when I run an electric current through this slab of meat right here ... " - very Frankenstein-ish!), there is much more that can be learned with modern techniques of 3D motion analysis, biomechanics and EMG.
I won't go into the full detail of what I got out of the session - though "speed skaters" certainly came up - other than a few mentions of this T-Rex device that were occasionally mentioned. When I queried him afterwards about what it was (he was at this point surrounded by a veritable bevy of enthusiastic fitness professionals asking about the T-Rex) it was explained that it was a device that allowed you to use your own bodyweight to provide resistance, for any number of strengthening or fitness routines.
The fitness expo that was running at the same time as the convention had a display of the T-Rex's (I had to avoid eventually discard the notion that it was somehow related to a Tyrannosaurus, otherwise I never would have found the display. Very non-dinosaury as it was). They were unassuming looking creatures, dangling from an extended A-frame without so much as a noxiously-over-muscled arm or bright orange slice of beefcake to demonstrate them ... those who went to the expo will know what I'm talking about!
Suffice to say that within a minute of trying it out in the expo, under the tutelage of one of the exhibitors, I was sold! Whereas it was apparent how you could use it for arms, chest and back, I went straight to the curly question and asked how it could work one's legs... 4 minutes of puffing and aching later, I rocked up to the counter weak-kneed and bought one.
The rest as they say, is history!
I made a commitment that I would give it a thorough go, replacing all my workouts with TRX workouts for 3 weeks. Let me tell you, by the end of the first week I was already starting to feel the difference. Stronger core, check.
More movement and movement freedom through knees and ankles, check.
More flexibility through shoulders and chest, check.
Now five weeks on, I notice improvements in even strange areas, like lower trapezius, gluteus medius (side hips), quads, and especially ankles. By allowing you to reach angles and movements that are otherwise quite difficult with traditional weights, it has improved my joint stability, range of motion and general feeling of control and co-ordination all over!
Whilst it won't be the only piece of equipment I will use, it's now taken a rather permanent appearance in my weekly training - for both myself and clients.
I'll keep you posted on some more of the great results!
I've linked to the TRX blog here: http://community.fitnessanywhere.com/blog
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