My First Experience with TRX

I joined the YMCA about a month and a half ago. The wonderful thing about them is there is stuff I can bring peanut to and they have an awesome gym I take advantage of. They also have tons of free classes. Well I have been aiming to start taking advantage of those classes and today I went to my first one!

I went to TRX. TRX is a body weight suspension based training in which you use your own body weight to work your muscles. It looks a bit intimidating when you walk in there are these straps hanging from a bar and handles at the end. It took a lot for me to even go to this class honestly I was a bit aprehensive about it. I am so shy when it comes to doing new things on my own and it really forces me to reach way outside my comfort level.

But I figured hey why not give it a shot whats the worst that can happen? So in I went. The instructor was nice and I introduced myself and there were some women already there chatting away. I started thinking uh oh I am a newbie never done this I am going to look like a complete idiot... So I went and got in front of a set of straps and waited for class to begin. There was no stretching we went right into a move. This bugged me a bit but I stretched before anyways so I was ok.

TRX is definetly a different kind of workout! You hold onto the straps and have to let your body weight be your resistance. We started with squats and it felt awkward at first but after a few reps I began to grasp the concept. I liked how you can control how much resistance you want simply by moving into or away from the center of the straps. We did a lot of plank work and I liked it a lot suspending in the air holding onto the handles and doing pushups was a totally new cool sensation for me. I really felt it gave me a solid core workout. We did a few plank moves and some oblique twists.

The workout was set up like a circuit so we did 6 moves and then a minute of cardio with steps on the blocks and jumping jacks etc. I liked that about it because it kept my heart rate up throughout the workout. We did squats, and backwards courtesy lunges. We also did some rowing, arm curls and triceps moves. Over all I felt we touched each muscle at least once which was nice. TRX really involves balance and strength. You have to concentrate and listen to your body which I did enjoy. It gave me a different way to work my muscles and use my own body. The workout was only 30 minutes long and the class ended with a 1 minute wall sit. Again no official stretching but I stayed and stretched for a bit so I would not be sore.

And what did I think?

Well according to my Polar HRM I burned 251 calories in that 30 minutes so I would say it is a decent workout. That is my normal burn for a Jillian Michaels video of that length. Honestly it was OK. I am not totally in love with it I will admit I was looking for more of a challenge or more of a burn. I enjoyed it but I guess its only my first time doing it so I need to go a few more times to get accostomed to it and learn more about it. I feel that it could be a great workout if I used it right and pushed myself harder. Also the people in class where a bit whiny and it kind of annoyed me LOL again my first time going to a class so something I will have to adjust to ;)

I will go again, there is a 45 minute long TRX boot camp on Friday mornings at 5:30 AM with a different instructor who does a lot of classes so I may try to go to that this week and see if I like it more. Its funny I walked in worried I would not be able to handle it and already am thinking of how to make it more of a challenge. I guess we do under estimate ourselves all the time!

I went upstairs and did some time on the treadmill to burn another 250 calories before heading home.So I was not totally knocked out by the class which is a good thing.

Have you tried TRX? What did you think about it?