What is a TRX Suspension Trainer?

I've been wanting to try TRX since it's become all the rage, with dedicated classes and at-home gear. While I haven't been able to get to a class just yet, I found this great article at ThreeFatChicksOnaDiet.com:

The TRX Suspension Trainer is a portable fitness tool that can help users accomplish many different tasks through the versatility of simple resistance bands. This kind of innovative workout gear is getting popular, not only with military professionals like U.S. Navy Seals, but with top athletes and recreational users, too. These days, it seems like everybody is looking for the best ways to drop weight, tone muscles, and get better overall body capacity for living better and doing more. The TRX Suspension Trainer is one way to get yourself closer to your fitness goals without investing in bulky, expensive equipment that might end up just filling up the basement or attic.

Looking at the TRX Suspension Trainer

Weighing just over 21 pounds, the TRX Suspension Trainer attaches to various surfaces to provide nimble resistance for the legs, arms or core. The possibilities for using this free-form item are almost endless. Manufacturers and retailers provide easy illustrated guides to all of the exercise options that the TRX Suspension Trainer offers.

Exercises for the TRX Suspension Trainer

One way to work out with the TRX Suspension Trainer is to stand on the ground with your arms attached to the resistance cords. These kinds of exercises help to build the upper body. Alternately, users can squat on the ground with their ankles attached in order to work the lower body and core. For example, in a take on the classic push up, users can keep their feet connected to the TRX Suspension Trainer, where only the hands are touching the ground, in order to maximize body responses. For upper body exercises, users can strap the resistance gear around their chests in order to work their torso, or target the arms with exercises like the Chest Press Fly or Combo. Exerting pressure down with the straps while standing on the ground can work some of the upper back muscles, such as the “lats” or latissimus dorsi muscles, that don’t usually get a lot of intense training on traditional weightlifting machines.

Apart from the above exercises, the TRX Suspension Trainer offers a good training experience regardless of your favored sports or recreational activities: from golf to martial arts, and from football to gymnastics. Lots of experts are showing up to endorse this product and explain to their clients how to handle the TRX Suspension Trainer for the best overall workouts to reach their fitness goals.

If you are on the hunt for a machine that can quickly take you to a higher level, check out the vast resources available around the TRX Suspension Trainer, on vendor websites and associated pages. At these locations expert coaches and trainers appear in free videos that illustrate how others are using this new fitness product to increase their strength, improve coordination and balance, and yes, burn fat and calories.

Have you tried TRX? What did you think?