TRX Ab Exercises:
1. PLANK
Placing your feet in the stirrups, you will assume a regular plank position. Things to keep in mind are that your
elbows should be directly under your shoulders and you should keep your core tight at all times (thus, not allowing
your hips to sink). Keep your back flat and hold the position. Work your way up in terms of time, start with 20 or 30
secs and work your way up to 1 minute.
2. SIDE PLANK
As with the regular plank place your feet in the stirrups but this time place one foot in front of the other. Again, make
sure your elbow is directly under your shoulder. Keep your core tight and hips up to really engage the oblique
muscles. Work your way up in terms of time, start with 20 or 30 secs and work your way up to 1 minute.
3 . KNEE TUCKS/SUSPENDED CRUNCHES (FROM ELEVATED PLANK POSITION)
For this exercise you want to make sure that your wrists, elbows and shoulders are aligned. With your feet in the
stirrups, start by raising your hips as you slowly bring your knees as close to your chest as possible (hold for a one
second count) then slowly return to the starting position and repeat.
4. PIKE
Start in the elevated plank position, again making sure that your wrists elbows and shoulders are aligned. With your
feet in the stirrups, raise your hips and glutes upwards. Keep your legs straight and bring your feet in towards your
body. Hold for a one second count then slowly extend your legs back out to the starting position and repeat.
5. SUSPENDED MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS
This exercise is great for tightening up the lower belly area. With your feet in the stirrups assume the elevated plank
position (wrists, elbows and shoulders aligned) then bring your right knee to your chest while keeping the left
straightened then alternate legs. This exercise does not need to be as slow and the other ones but still maintain
control as it is very easy to lose balance.
TRX Push-Up
Targets: Shoulders, chest, arms
Difficulty: Beginner
How to: Here’s how you pump up the plain ol’ push-up. To start, hook toes through the TRX straps so that the tops of your feet
face the floor. Lift your body up so that weight rests on the palms of your hands. Keeping core tight, bend elbows to lower your
chest between hands. You’ll feel your chest and shoulders working as you press back up to the start position.
TRX Inverted Row
Targets: Biceps, lats
Difficulty: Beginner
How to: Row, row, row your… way to a fitter physique. Lie directly underneath the TRX. Ben d knees and plant your feet on the
floor. Reach up to grasp the handles, palms facing each other, arms fully extended, as you lift your body a few inches off th e
floor. Keeping them close to your sides, bend your elbows to pull torso up towards the handles until your body forms a straight
line from shoulders to knees. Lower down to the starting position. You’ll put your biceps and back to work as you raise and
lower your torso, slowly and with control. You can also perform this exercise with straight legs, heels grounded to the floor, and
your body at a diagonal.
TRX Power Pull
The power pull is excellent total-body exercise that develops rotational strength. HOW TO DO IT: Stand facing the anchor
point, holding one handle of the suspension trainer with one hand at the side of your chest and the other reaching up
toward the anchor point. Slowly lower your body away from the anchor point, letting yourself rotate away, until your free
hand is reaching toward the ground. Brace your core and focus on maintaining a rigid plank position. Pull yourself back to
the starting position in one controlled movement until your free hand is again touching the suspension trainer.
TRX Chest Press
Targets: Arms, chest
Difficulty: Beginner
How to: Forget lying down to perform the typical chest press. Face away from the anchor with your feet shoulder -width apart.
Grab the handles with an overhand grip and extend arms in front of you at shoulder height. Lean forward so that your body is at
a slight diagonal. Bend elbows and lower chest between your hands. You’ll engage your chest and arms as you push yourself
back up to the start position.
Atomic Push-Up
Targets: Chest, shoulders, arms, and abs
Level: Advanced
How to: You might look a bit like a frog in motion, but you’ll definitely feel the burn in your upper body and core as you bring
your knees to meet your elbows. Slip your feet into the cradles so that the tops of feet face the floor. Lower body down into a
push-up. As you press your body back up into plank position, bring knees in toward elbows, allowing legs to draw apart. Hold
for a few seconds and then return to start.
Lunge
Targets: Legs and abs
Difficulty: Beginner
How to: If regular lunges have become a piece of cake, up the ante with this move. Not only does it work your lower body like a
traditional lunge, but it’ll also lead to better balance and stability. Facing away from the anchor point, place your left foot in
both TRX straps, and plant your right foot firmly on the ground. Lower down into a lunge, extending the left leg behind you,
without losing the bend in your knee. Return to starting position and repeat on the other leg. You’ll feel your lower body an d
abs working hard throughout this movement—both to actually complete the movement and to stabilize your body.
Hamstring Pull-In/Hamstring Curl
Targets: Thighs, glutes, hips
Difficulty: Intermediate
How to: Get your hammies in on the action! Lie faceup with arms extended by sides. Place heels in the cradles and press down
to secure them. Keeping your core tight, lift hips off the floor. Pull your heels in toward hips in a smooth and controlled m otion
(there’s no swinging here!). Straighten legs back to the starting position.
Single-Leg Hamstring Pull-In/Hamstring Curl
Targets: Thighs, glutes, hips
Difficulty: Intermediate-advanced
How to: Isolate the strength-training movement to one leg at a time, and boom—you’ve got a pretty killer variation on the
regular hamstring exercise. Start off as you would to perform the hamstring pull -in (see No. 22), but instead of pulling both
heels toward your hips at the same time, alternate legs. Isolating legs will make this move even more challenging.
Reverse Mountain Climber
Targets: Triceps, abs, hip flexors, quads, hamstrings
Level: Intermediate
How to: Thought regular mountain climbers were tough? Try flipping your body and use your arms to hold yourself up from behind, engag ing your
entire body as you push through the movement. Sit underneath the TRX and hook your heels into the foot cradles. Place palms on the floor behind
you with your fingers pointed toward your feet. Lift your body off the ground, keeping a slight bend in elbows. Bring right k nee into your chest,
extend back to start, and immediately repeat with the left knee. Alternate as quickly as you can without losing form.
Spiderman Push-Up
Targets: Chest, triceps, obliques, quads, lower back, shoulders, and core (plus, it opens up the hips)
Difficulty: Advanced
How to: Regular spiderman push-ups aren’t for the faint of heart. Add in a destabilizing element—that’d be having our feet suspended in the air
behind us—and we’ve got one amazing shape-up move on our hands. With one foot in each loop, start off in plank pose. Lower your body down
into a pushup, bringing the right knee to the right elbow—this is when you’re firing up your obliques. Return to start and repeat with the left leg.
Kneeling Triceps Press
Targets: Triceps
How to: Target those tris with this no-frills move. Kneel down facing the anchor and grab the straps with an underhand grip.
Stretch arms straight out in front of you and hold them shoulder-width apart. Bend elbows to lower your upper body toward
the floor until hands are in line with your ears—this is when you’ll start to feel those triceps burn. Return to start.
TRX Chest Press
Targets: Arms, chest
How to: Forget lying down to perform the typical chest press. Face away from the anchor with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Grab the handles with an overhand grip and extend arms in front of you at shoulder height. Lean forward so that your body is at
a slight diagonal. Bend elbows and lower chest between your hands. You’ll engage your chest and arms as you push yourself
back up to the start position.