So I mentioned that I am evaluating a TRX suspension system, by Fitness Anywhere, via a 12-week fitness program. Today was Day 22.
Today was another brutal day at work, but I managed to get through TRX Day 22. Today’s strength component was a repeat of Day 15. So far, the TRX FORCE program has you work on the same sets of exercises, rest intervals, and numbers of sets, for two weeks each time before changing things up. So this week will be a repeat of last week, for the most part. But the fact that this week seemed almost “normal” means that my body much be growing and adapting to the new stresses, which resulted in concern and struggle last week.
Yesterday I commented that I could see and feel improvements after three weeks on the TRX FORCE program. But am I unusual in that respect? I mean, would most anyone who trained with the TRX see any benefits? Well, an informal experiment was conducted by John Berardi, Alwyn Cosgrove, and Fitness Anywhere’s Fraser Quelch, to compare three strength and conditioning programs. Basically, they compared a strength program that also included steady state cardio (like a treadmill), a strength program and interval training (like high intensity interval training), and a strength program with suspension training (the TRX). So each fitness program had the same strength component — what varied was the cardio component.
While I haven’t gone through the results in detail, they report no statistical difference between the three programs. Assuming they set up and conducted their experiment correctly, this shows that the TRX is no worse than more traditional cardio methods. And, they report an anecdote that the more traditional cardio methods (steady state and HIT) had higher percentages of drop-outs than did the TRX. The suggestion is that you are more likely to quit a program that involves you running on a hamster wheel / treadmill-type device, whereas the suspension system is more likely to keep your interest, and therefore be a better exercise option.
In any case, After three weeks I see the usefulness and benefits to a suspension system, so I plan on keeping the TRX in my long-term fitness program.
But in the short term, I need to finish FORCE!