TRX vacation workout

Vacation Time can be a great opportunity to start an exercise routine or maintain a routine.

Often folks have preconceived notions of what fitness should be.  If you think fitness/exercise should be what you have seen in a magazine or on Television or what your friend (that lives in the gym) does everyday - it doesn't have to be.

Vacation time is often filled with: family time, food, camps, road-trips, sports, barbecues, cutting the grass, etc...  Regardless what your activities are, it can take a toll on your available "time".  I hope yours is filled with more "Fun" than "Obligations"; but that could just be perspective and would make quick write up a long winded philosophizing write up. 

Because you "have less time", because you have so much fun stuff to do - set yourself up to be able to get your fitness/workouts done and get back to having fun.

Simplifying can be challenging, some suggestions:

• Challenge your fitness to outside the "standard box thinking". 
• Maybe something you have not done before. 
• Keep it simple, and consistent. 
• Model the programming: how many reps/sets, how many days per week - depending on your schedule. 
• For consistency -you'd be encouraged to practice more frequent shorter sessions. 
• Challenge yourself from thinking like Dr. Frankenstein: bicep day, side chest day, rectus femoris day, upper dorsumus day, calf(ves) day... Instead think "whole body" or if you must segment: "upper" & "lower". 

There are many possibilities for your simplified workout routine.

In this article you are going to get some highlights of the body-weight suspension trainer.

Quick list of things about Suspension Trainers:

1. Portable 
2. Easy to use
3. Highly Scale-able (many options for different levels of fitness)
4. It targets multiple muscle groups (often the magic "core" muscles)

Portable - throw it in your backpack/suitcase.  It takes up the space size of about 1 shoe (perhaps this statement depends on your shoe size).
Easy to use - although a qualified personable coach is always going to get you up to speed and help critique and challenge you at a faster rate than you could youtube coach yourself - you can easily experiment and build off the basic movements.
Highly Scale-able - Very capable strong athletes & folks that have difficulty sitting and getting up from a chair, both use the exact same Suspension Trainer.  If you cannot quite do a push-up yet, it can help you build the strength and posture to be able to do a push-up.  If push-ups are rather easy and you'd like to take a run at the hand-standing push-up, it can help you build the strength and stability to get there.  I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
Targets multiple muscle groups - the common response received a day or so after using is something stating how much someone felt their: abs, obliques, glutes, shoulders, inner thighs... typically something they didn't expect; depending on the movement often something they'd refer to as their core.

Probably the best "branded" Suspension Trainer is the TRX.  It is around $200.  If you subscribe to their newsletter they run many discounts &/or package deals.  That may seem expensive - but it can do quite a bit.  I have abused mine for years & have no complaints yet.  If that still seems steep for you, you could get another brand.  Look for reviews of the "quality" not all are created equal but there are decent ones out there.  If you consider yourself a fitness Macgyver you could attempt to make one yourself out of ratchet straps - just make sure you stay safe Mac!

As hinted to in the bulleted list above, your perfect workout is going to depend on you and your schedule.  You could do super-sets, tri-sets, circuits.  You could practice total body sessions with an Easy Day, a Medium Day, a Difficult Day.  You could break up Upper Body one day, Lower Body the next day.  You could count reps or you could time 30-40 seconds of good reps.  The idea is there is no one way.  The mediocre workout that you practice consistently will give you far superior results to "the perfect plan" someone pontificates at you - that gets lackluster haphazard practice.

Here is a TRX Video Library.  More videos will be added in the future (so check back; or better yet subscribe!)

If you don't fancy the idea of a suspension trainer - you can still practice simple fitness for your vacation with a body-weight program. Read more here.