BENEFITS OF SUSPENSION TRAINING

Although a relatively new piece of workout equipment, if you haven’t ever used a suspension trainer, chances are you have already seen them or at least heard of them. So what are they, and what is all the fuss about?

The original TRX suspension trainer was invented by a US Navy Seal to keep him and his team in excellent physical shape, using just their body weight for resistance. It had to be lightweight and transportable, with the ability to be used almost anywhere for troops on deployment. The suspension trainer is in essence an adjustable strap system with handles for hands or feet and can be looped around an irremovable object or can trapped inside a closed door, to create a fixed point for the tops of the straps.

The amount of exercises that can be carried out on a quality suspension trainer is almost endless, but most people tend to stick to some of the classics shown below. The benefits offered by such a simple piece of kit are huge, and are hard to be beaten. Sure, kettlebells are even simpler, but you need varying weights as you get stronger and cannot fit in your rucksack and weigh under 1KG. So, let’s discuss five of the best benefits of using a suspension trainer:

1. People of all abilities can use them

You do not need huge experience of muscles to use a suspension trainer. By adjusting the length of the straps, or your body positioning, you can make your workout much harder or easier to suit you current ability, as it adjusts the amount of mass you are in essence lifting or moving.

2. Versatility

Two straps. That is all it takes to workout every muscle in your body and they’re almost infinitely adjustable so that you choose the resistance, and with so many workouts available, their versatility is unmatched.

3. They can improve your cardio AND strength

As you choose how much resistance your are working, you can lighten the load and increase speed for a cardio workout, or have almost full body weight resistance for an intense strength workout.

4. They offer a low impact workout

As your body is partly ‘suspended’ by the straps, suspension trainer workouts offer a very low impact workout compared to many weight workouts, which helps to reduce the chance of injury.

5. They engage the whole body

Unlike machine weights in a gym, or specific muscle group workouts, suspension trainers are working your whole body, the whole time on most workouts. This is in part because of the instability of the strapping meaning your body has full free movement and you are what keeps it moving in the right direction, unlike machine weights that guide the path.