Yes, we can all throw heavy weights around quite easily. Who among us has not enjoyed using the leg press to tone and strengthen the quads, glutes and hamstrings. Or, for that matter, the use of dumbbells to add extra resistance to lunges and squats. Pilates instructors, Yoga teachers and personal trainers, however, are now expressing a new love for cross training, in their respective disciplines, with the use of TRX Suspension straps. In my opinion, there maybe no need for weights anymore!

It's not that I have ended my love affair or desire to use weights, it's just that over the years my use of functional training equipment and cross training with tools such as BOSU Balance Trainer, resistance bands, stability balls, Pilates equipment/apparatus and now the TRX Suspension system, has grown so much more that many clients actually prefer to work and move their bodies outside of the traditional gym environment, without the use of weights.

The TRX System was developed by a U.S. Navy SEAL as a revolutionary method of leveraged bodyweight exercise allowing one to perform hundreds of exercises that build power, strength, flexibility, balance, mobility, and prevent injuries, at an intensity level chosen by the user. While it may not be new to gym rats or personal trainers, it is a unique tool for Pilates studio owners and teachers. However, its core-based total-body resistance, functional training is so very complimentary to the healing movements that Joseph Pilates had in mind when he created the method of training that bears his name.

All functional training allows one to move easily with the equipment, maximizing the body and mind's training and minimizing the injury to joints and overworked muscles. Functional training involves (body)weight-bearing activities targeted at the core muscles of the abdomen and back. Rather than isolating a single muscle, which may not necessarily bear any relationship to the movements people make in their regular activities or sports; functional training attempts to adapt or develop exercises which allow individuals to perform these activities of daily life more easily and without injuries.

It is for this reason that the fusion of Pilates with the TRX Suspension straps in a Pilates fitness workout for total body movement training can be so powerful. I believe that functional, cross-training, particularly with the TRX Suspension equipment and Pilates-based movements, can lead to better muscular balance and joint stability, possibly decreasing the number of injuries sustained in an individual's performance in a sport. This is due to the fact that the training emphasizes the body's natural ability to move in three anatomical planes of motion.

For many, the introduction to the TRX Suspension straps, in a Pilates Movement Boot-Camp class, may appear a little daunting, uncomfortable, and unmanageable, at first. However, after using them for a couple of workouts, most begin to notice change and difference in the body. The use of the straps adds finite resistance to every exercise and most people report immediately "feeling the burn" with each progressive move and exercise with the straps. The resultant glee of the participants who have accomplished a core-based movement - with some portion of their body suspended in space - can only be appreciated when it is witnessed in person.

While stationary equipment/machines can sometimes be safer to use, they restrict movements to a single plane of motion, which is an unnatural form of movement for the body and may potentially lead to faulty movement patterns or injury. When stationary equipment is essential however, students can be moved to the floor or the Pilates Reformer to begin safe movement exercises. As strength and core connections are attained, additional planes of motion and movement are safely added into the exercise regimen and program.

Many people erroneously equate strength training with bodybuilding. Further, many assume that Pilates is for "women only." Additionally, many individuals, male or female, that are involved in endurance or flexibility-based sports (tennis, golf, basketball, football, skiing) may not use traditional forms of strength training for fear of gaining too much bulk and losing flexibility.

This is why Pilates and pilates-based movements that utilize functional training equipment, such as the TRX Suspension Straps, are a perfect choice for creating adaptive training workouts that build strength and flexibility and make returning to one's sport of choice a joy. For example, globe-trotting golfers, be they male or female, have expressed positive experiences with TRX Suspension functional training. The straps can be used in tandem with other Pilates and traditional strength training equipment as an essential component of all core workouts; helping to create length with strength as they facilitate an improvement in focus, core control and thus performance on the golf course. Work with the straps is reported by many to simultaneously increase strength, balance, and flexibility and giving one the ability to complete that requisite "drive with power and control."

Summary

Pilates and traditional strength training both benefit from the added challenge a little suspension provides by moving the body with core-based, fitness training.

While traditional weights and strength training will remain key to body weight management with most clients,
I am so thrilled with the use of the TRX Suspension straps during all variety of training sessions; a) indoor general strength training, b)outdoor Boot Camp sessions, and c) Pilates studio sessions. A challenging protocol replacement for those seeking a break from the norm.