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We now have some new videos on the legendary TRX Suspension Trainer product to show you. These videos show you what the TRX trainer is, and how it can be used and setup in your home to develop the body and fitness levels you’ve been looking for…

TRX Suspension Trainer Professional Review Video

TRX Force Kit Review Video

The next two videos explain the anchoring solutions for the TRX Professional and TRX Force Kit so that you can use it in and around your home or keep fit on your travels.

TRX Door Anchor

TRX X-Mount

All TRX equipment is available to buy now from Fitness Anywhere, click here for pricing information.

Our Universal Strength Apparatus has arrived. Here’s a breakdown of the product and our first impressions.

What’s in the box?

The USA comes with two ‘fitness ladders’ that can be used individually or attached to one another to create one long unit, and a duffel bag for storage and portability.

The duffel bag is of OK quality, it’s a nice addition but we’re focusing on the fitness ladders themselves.

The ladders are basically made up of thick canvas, with some heavy duty stitching holding the whole thing together. The canvas rungs are thread through a durable plastic cylinder which is what you grip onto when using the apparatus. The final piece to the equipment are the carabiner style clips attached to the top which allow you to fasten the ladders together or suspend them from your anchor point.

Setting up the Universal Strength Apparatus

The USA can essentially be setup in two ways; by suspending it from an overhead structure of some kind, or rigging it up to a door. Generally, fixing it to a door is more for your traditional suspension training exercises. You will find examples of these in our suspension training exercise directory. Attaching it to an overhead structure allows you to climb the apparatus, which is where we really value this equipment.

We setup the Universal Strength Apparatus on our garage rafters in minutes with the help of some step ladders. We also wrapped an old towel around the rafters to minimise the abrasion between the USA and the wood, and help prolong the life of the equipment.

Here are a few photos of our first attempts at training with the Universal Strength Apparatus:

The first is a pullup using the USA, and the others are of attempts to climb it!

Verdict

This is a really fun and novel piece of equipment and we definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to inject a bit of variety into their training regime. It’s much more difficult than we ever imagined and after a very brief first time training session we were aching the next day particularly in our lats and upper back muscles.

We really see the value of the Universal Strength Apparatus in the climbing and pullup exercises as opposed to the more traditional suspension training moves as it’s simply not as good a product as the TRX for suspension training.

One improvement we could suggest for the USA is to the plastic rungs which can be quite slippy and uncomfortable on the hands although this is easy to get round by wearing gloves or training with chalk.

The Universal Strength Apparatus is available now from Bodyweight Culture.

The TRX Professional was our first introduction to the niche fitness of suspension training. We had been looking to incorporate suspension training into our exercise regime for a while after the excellent reviews throughout the fitness industry it was receiving. As we were travelling a lot more, a good suspension trainer would allow us to take our training on the trip and ensure our exercise never had to stop.

Like most, we were looking for a quality trainer that was portable, light-weight, and flexible enough to allow us to train anywhere.

The TRX Suspension Trainer seemed like the only choice after looking around on the internet so we bought. I’m not too sure what we were expecting… but this exceeded it. It feels well conceived, cleverly designed with excellent attention to detail, and is superiorly constructed. It’s hard to imagine finding a better product suited to it’s goal.

The TRX Pro comes with everything you need and a little bit more. Take for example the travelling bag to keep everything nicely together and compact, or the “KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING!” sign.. a nice touch which has probably saved us a few bruises on more than one occasion.

The mantra of ‘train anywhere’ is lived up to…. It has a cleverly implemented fastening technique in which the strap can be suspended from any stable, overhead structure using the carabiner. You can also connect the door attachment so that you have the flexibility to use the trainer in and around the home.

Being very light and compact means it’s a perfect product for travellers, and the TRX makes our suitcase on every vacation or business trip to help us stay in shape and maintain fitness away from home.

To cater for the various exercises that suspension training offers a trainer needs to be height adjustable and the TRX is… in seconds. To shorten the TRX trainer and perform standing exercises such as the chest press; simply press the metal clasp and pull the tab away from the handles. Conversely, to perform floor based exercises and extend the trainer to tone those abs and thighs; press the metal clasp and pull the suspension trainer handles away from the fastener. Easy.

At the risk of sounding short-sighted or perhaps outright biased we really tried to criticise the product and find fault, but couldn’t. As a suspension trainer the product does its job and it does it well and we have no complaints. I guess the question most important becomes - Will suspension training help me achieve my fitness goals? This is something only you can answer but we use the suspension trainer as one part of a larger regime, in combination with weight training and some cardiovascular work it covers off all our needs and provides a well-rounded routine.

To sum-up, if you are looking to get fit, tone up and want to take advantage of the many benefits that suspension training offers, suspension trainers don’t come any better than the TRX Professional. We would recommend this product to anyone.

The TRX Professional is available to buy now from Fitness Anywhere.