Clients hire a personal trainer because they want the building blocks for long-term fitness. When you start coaching a new client, it's important to make sure they have a handle on the basics. Take our quick form assessment quiz to get personalized tips for teaching these fundamentals. To help, we're going over five TRX skills every beginner should know to get the most out of their TRX Experience.
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Adjusting the Straps
The TRX Suspension Trainer is the most versatile fitness tool on the market, but that doesn’t mean that every client intuitively understands how to adjust the straps. If you’ve ever taught a TRX group class, you know that even some long-time TRX devotees struggle with adjusting the Suspension Trainer.
Particularly if you’re working with clients virtually, take a few minutes to go over how to set up the Suspension Trainer, adjust the strap length, adjust the foot cradles, and place toes and heels in the foot cradles. Those basics will make transitions between moves smooth and stress-free.
TRX Low Row
The moving plank is at the core of most TRX exercises that start standing facing the anchor point. The TRX Low Row is one of the easiest ways to teach proper form for the moving plank because it targets lats, traps, and rhomboids—muscles that tend to be more developed, even in beginner clients.
In addition to teaching the moving plank, you can use the TRX Low Row to demonstrate how to progress and regress an exercise by adjusting the standing width and angle relevant to the anchor point.
TRX Squat
The Suspension Trainer can be a full-body fitness tool on its own, or it can be the training wheels equivalent for strength training—especially when it comes to squats.
Many new clients falsely believe they know how to squat, and correcting bad form can be challenging. (No client likes hearing they’re wrong.) Teaching Suspension Trainer squats gives you leeway to teach proper form because you’re working in a new modality. Establishing that technique early will not only pay off when you introduce variations on the squat, but also when your client attempts weighted squats off the straps.
TRX Chest Press
Much as the TRX Low Row is a great way to coach the moving plank for the standing facing the anchor exercises, the TRX Chest Press is the best introduction for exercises standing facing away from the anchor. In addition to playing with progressions and regressions, this is also a good move to demonstrate the offset stance for clients who are pregnant or coping with injuries.
TRX Plank
Want to give your new clients a benchmark challenge? Put them in a TRX Plank!
In addition to serving as the base component for a number of TRX exercises—like crunches, runners, pikes, and more—the TRX Plank is excellent for creating body awareness. It gives you an opportunity to coach your clients through the differences that engagement in different muscle groups can make to overall form.
Most TRX newcomers struggle with their planks in the beginning, so this is a smart way to help clients measure their progress. Time how long the client can hold a basic TRX Plank in your first session, then set a goal to increase that duration in each successive meeting.
Anyone can search the internet for a workout plan or download a list of exercises, but a trainer offers expertise and feedback on a client’s form. Coaching your clients through the Suspension Trainer basics at the beginning will give them a foundation for long-term success.
To learn more about TRX tips and tricks for coaching clients, check out TRX Education.
