TRX Workout For Everyone

I posted an earlier blog with a pretty challenging workout that took some people upwards of an hour to complete.  I know that for many average TRX trainees it may have been too difficult so I decided to put up another workout that could be challenging, but doable for users of all skill levels.

The exercises are listed in supersets below, note that there are no set or rep prescriptions listed for them yet…

Crossover Lunge
Bicep Curl

Low Elbow Row
Kneeling Abdominal Rollout

Suspended Push Up
Reverse Shoulder Fly (use staggered stance)

High Elbow Row
Double Crunch

So here is how to adapt these exercises into a workout appropriate for you:

Beginner – Use a shallow angle and slowly and under control perform 3 sets of 10 for each exercise. Try to take note where your feet are placed during each exercise and repeat the same angle while trying to add repetitions for each exercise. Continue doing this until you can make it to 15 for each one.

An example would be
Suspended Push Up 3 sets of 10 (at a high angle, with feet apart for stability)
Reverse Shoulder Fly 3 sets of 10 (at a high angle, with feet staggered to distribute bodyweight)
Use a deliberate and controlled tempo for each

Intermediate – Use a challenging angle for each exercise and use the first exercise as a strengthening and the second as an endurance. So use 8-10 repetitions of a very challenging angle going at a controlled pace for each of the first exercises then 15-20 repetitions for each of the second exercise.

An example would be
Low Elbow Row 3 sets of 8 (at very steep angle, laying horizontally if possible)
Kneeling Abdominal Rollout 3 sets of 20

Advanced- For most advanced athletes the TRX can be limited with its ability to build true strength, however it is limitless in its ability to build endurance strength. Therefore the advanced trainee will use timed sets for their workout. Start at sets of 30 seconds and progress up to a full minute. Start at a challenging angle and proceed to auto-regulate your body angle to keep yourself always just short of complete failure. Trust me this is much harder than you might think!

An example would be
Crossover Lunge 3 sets of 30 seconds per leg
Bicep Curl 3 sets of 30 seconds (use a steep angle and gradually lessen the angle as you go)

The final variable that can be manipulated in this workout would be rest periods. As a beginner you can take up to a full 60 seconds between exercises and supersets. This would look like:

Suspended Push Up 1 set of 10
rest 30 seconds
Reverse Shoulder Fly 1 set of 10
rest 60 seconds
Perform next set

An intermediate trainee should go through a full superset then rest before the next set, he or she may rest anywhere between 30 and 60 seconds. This would look like:

Low Elbow Row 1 set of 8
proceed immediately to
Kneeling Abdominal Rollout 1 set of 20
rest 30 seconds
Perform next set

An advanced trainee should go through all of the sets in each superset before resting, but allow a full minute in between supersets. This would look like:

Crossover Lunge Right Leg 30 seconds
proceed immediately to
Crossover Lunge Left Leg 30 seconds
proceed immediately to
Bicep Curl 30 seconds
Immediately perform second set
Immediately perform third set
Rest 60 seconds

So you can see with a simple list of only 8 exercises you can come up with a variety of ways to challenge people of all skill levels using the variables that are available to any workout: sets, repetitions, duration and rest periods as well as the variable unique to the TRX: angle

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Tagged as: Exercise, Fitness, Free, TRX, workout