My first anxiety: no one would confirm nor deny that dinosaurs were involved in the practice known as TRX. My second: it seemed awfully gendered. The second one is more a sociological problem than a physiological one. Honestly, I just thought of TRX as something mysterious that dudes do. As it turns out, it’s something totally fun and totally hard that everyone does.
On my first outing, I was in the capable tutelage of Mason Hendricks, one of the latest additions to the Six Degrees team. A former pro rugby player who coaches professional athletes, I feared he’d take one look at my nougat-y self and sigh, woefully, about the hour of ridiculousness he was about to witness. I mean, I was wearing my trusty Diamond David Lee Roth shirt. Instead, Mason gave me a huge hug—his greeting of choice—and said, “Let’s have fun!”
Over the next hour, my instructor engaged me in chatter about how we met our respective spouses, what enzymes do what in the body, and why I like surfing while still being pretty bad at it—which is to say, Mason distracted me while guiding my body into proper form and pushing me further than I thought I could go. I did more reps than seemed possible and tried new exercises I would have balked at previously. Something about the great coaching and the novelty of applying what I’ve been learning in Pilates, yoga, and Six Degrees Barre in a new setting just got me going.
I now heartily recommend trying out TRX, which involves a sort of modified mat Pilates practice using your own body weight and a set of strong, stretchy straps that dangle from the ceiling. Essentially, it took my Pilates practice to a new level and tapped into muscle groups that even Align Barre hadn’t been activating—at least not to this degree! I feared my body would be jelly for days, but instead, the only lingering pain was, of all places, down the front of my forearms—must have been all those planks and reverse pushups. End verdict? Give it a shot. TRX is hugely fun and has nothing to do with being a militant jock—it’s about adventure and connecting through movement.