Best TRX Workouts to Build Muscle and Lose Weight (2024)

Now that almost everyone on planet Earth has become more accustomed to home workouts, now is the perfect time to start expanding your at-home fitness arsenal. Rusty dumbbells and tired treadmills are old hat, meaning lightweight, portable and cost-effective suspension trainers and TRX systems are your 'new normal' when it comes to building muscle at home.

But there's more to using a suspension trainer than just hooking it up to anchor points and mindlessly smashing out reps. The adjustable straps, for example, will help you target specific muscle groups and, when used correctly, the system itself could be the ideal starting point when it comes to mastering advanced calisthenics exercises such as pull-ups, L-sits and muscle-ups. But first...

What Is a Suspension Trainer, or TRX?

A suspension trainer is a fitness device that uses adjustable straps, rings or handles to build strength, flexibility, mobility, and improve range of motion. Using a central anchor point — usually a doorway, hook or frame — the suspension trainer user uses gravity as a means of providing resistance. Lightweight and portable, suspension trainer kits can can easily be transported, making them ideal for home workouts or as a piece of fit kit to take on holiday.

They're great for beginners, too, as "it is possible to manipulate the difficulty and intensity of each movement, making it safe, appropriate and sufficiently challenging for all levels of users," says Tom Cuff-Burnett, a trainer for the TRX Training Club. "It also teaches the importance of proper movement standards – a hip crease below the knees on a squat, for example – which translates to exercises as the beginner progresses on their fitness journey."

What Science Says on Suspension Training

Despite its relative youth in the fitness and exercise ecosphere, the concept of suspension training has some credible science behind it. After all, olympic rings – a close cousin – have been used in fitness for decades. But what are the lab coats saying?

A study published in International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy detailed that performing suspension trainer (ST) exercises "increases muscle activation of selected muscles when compared to exercises performed on a stable surface" and, when it comes to warming-up or activating muscles, "the main finding was that each ST exercise had at least one muscle group that showed a statistically significant increase in activation when compared to its equivalent exercise on the ground."

Similarly, this study looked at the efficacy of suspension trainers during a front plank. By analysing the effect of the suspension trainer on the abdominis, external oblique, rectus femoris, and serratus anterior muscles, the muscle activation achieved was found to be greater when using a suspension system instead of a standard plank pose. Lastly, the American Council on exercise found that fat-loss, muscle gain and cardiovascular health were improved after a suspension trainer (the study used a TRX) was added to a 60-minute full-body workout three times a week. The study workout also included pull-ups, upper-body push exercises, lower-body exercises and core work.

Benefits of Using a TRX System or Suspension Trainer

There are few pieces of fitness equipment as versatile as the suspension trainer. It's portable, lightweight, easy to use. What's more, it can help you become more familiar with harder exercises — including pull-ups, muscle-ups and press-ups — while help you to increase your range of motion (ROM) and flexibility when you're lifting weights.

"The TRX is a sound investment because it can offer you an almost endless progression of exercises, which means your training never plateaus," explains Cuff-Burnett. "It keeps things interesting, too. For example, once you master a TRX knee tuck, there’s the swinging knee tuck, then the push-up knee tuck, then the one-handed swinging knee tuck and so on."

With that in mind, Cuff-Burnett breaks down a few more need-to-know points about training with a suspension trainer or TRX.

Building Muscle and Progressive Overload

"The same principles of progressive overload apply to the TRX as with other training modalities. For example, to increase the weight, you would use the ‘Vector’ principle to adjust the angle of your body relative to the ground," he explains. "A low row performed with the body horizontal to the ground will be heavier than when the body is more upright.

The TRX offers two additional principles of progression: the ‘Stability’ principle and the ‘Pendulum’ principle. ‘Stability’ refers to how many points of contact you have with the ground, so gradually taking these away will make an exercise more challenging. With ‘Pendulum’, think of the ground directly under the anchor point as neutral. The further away from neutral (toward you) you are, the harder an exercise will be. The farther past neutral you are, the easier an exercise will be."

MH Says: Try the exercises from Cuff-Burnett below for a quick-fire TRX or suspension trainer workout...

• TRX Chest Press into TRX Chest Fly (chest, shoulder and tricep focus)
• TRX Low Row into TRX T-Row (back and bicep focus)
• TRX Suspended Lunge into TRX Glute Bridges (quadricep, hamstring and glute focus)
  
• TRX Cossack Stretch – a great warm up and mobility challenge for the hips, prepping the abductors, adductors and glutes for a lower body strength session
  
• TRX Overhead Squat – one of my personal favorites, and a classic test of overall mobility. A brilliant one for identifying and alleviating tightness in the upper back, as well as teaching perfect squat mechanics
• TRX Golf Swing – a rotational stretch that loosens the hips and the thoracic spine

Injury Rehabilitation

"Suspension training enables individuals to perform bodyweight movements with an added element of control and safety," explains Cuff-Burnett, "making it perfect for those recovering from musculoskeletal and/or joint injuries, as well as the elderly population who have limited range of motion and low tolerance to impact."

Multi-Planar Movement

Ready to get functional? As Cuff-Burnett explains, "suspension training allows an individual to train their body in all three planes of motion – transverse (rotational), frontal (right/left), sagittal (forwards/backwards)." This, he says, will help carry over into real-world scenarios, "such as loading groceries into the car, playing with the kids, gardening and taking out the bins."

Posterior Chain Activation

You've heard the term 'posterior chain' — the muscle groups at the rear of your body, including your back, glues, hamstrings and calves — being banded around fitness circles and social media for years now, so it's time to put it into practice. Using a suspension trainer, you can "perform exercises that target these muscle groups, which are crucial for maintaining correct posture," Cuff-Burnett explains, "contributing to spine health and improving overall balance."

Progressing to Pull-Ups

Struggling to nail your pull-ups? This could be the nudge you ned to finally get a clean set of chest-to-bars. "The large muscles in the back (latissimus dorsi and erector spinae) are exactly the muscles we use when we perform a pull-up. The TRX Low Row is the perfect entry-level exercise for training these muscles, and we know we can use the Vector principle to increase weight in this movement," explains Cuff-Burnett.

"The TRX Pull-Up is also available, which uses an ultra-shortened strap and allows you to essentially perform a foot-assisted pull up from the ground. Combine these two moves with some eccentric-load and time-under-tension (TUT) training, and you’ll be pulling up in no time!"

Best TRX Workouts

After a suspension trainer or TRX workout to sweat through? Look no further. Below, we've assembled some of our most popular sessions for you to grind out. Let's get after it:

• The Suspension Trainer Workout For Full-Body Muscle
• 6 TRX Moves for a Bigger Chest
• 9 Best Suspension Trainer Moves for Strength
• Mix weightlifting with TRX moves for big results

Using a TRX Suspension System for Flexibility and Mobility

At this point, it's important to remember that using a suspension system isn't all building strength. Utilised correctly, the simple system can help you build flexibility, mobility and functional strength that will translate into a lot of your sessions in the gym. "The TRX allows you to unload bodyweight while doing specific movements, thereby making it possible to safely move through a greater range of motion," explains Cuff-Burnett. "The TRX can add resistance and leverage to a particular stretch helping safely pull the body to a range of motion that might not otherwise be achievable."

On the flip side, you can use the suspension system as a means of providing resistance and encouraging proper ROM. "The TRX offers the ability to work with and against the straps while moving into various stretches, reinforcing proper body mechanics and posture," says Cuff-Burnett.

TRX and Suspension Trainer Workout

Need a quick-fire suspension trainer or TRX workout to grind through? In the video above, pro trainer Alex Crockford walks you through the 'Devil's Triad': a three-move suspension trainer workout that only takes 15 minutes and hits your chest, back, shoulders and legs. The devilish versatility of the suspension trainer means you can push and pull your weight at the gym, in the park or from a door at home. Your mission is to work your way through a set of each TRX exercise every 60 seconds, only resting when you need to. Just don’t let go...

Where to Buy a TRX or Suspension Trainer

Ready to click add to basket but not sure where to shop? Below, we've assembled a few of our go-to suspension trainers and TRX systems that will help you cut through the noise when it comes to assembling the next part of your home gym set-up.