Coach Troy and TRX!

No, not THAT coach Troy. Troy is my TRX instructor, drill master, etc...

All the buzz is about TRX so since it is offered at my YWCA I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. There is a class offered but i knew i wanted to have some 1:1's just to even figure out the "ropes" before I took a class...I am not going to go on and on about how great this is ( it is) and how sore I am ( I could barely roll over in bed for 2 days, much less flip turn after my first session) but I have found it refreshing and fun and scary and hard all at the same time.

So session 1. I keep thinking "yea I have a pretty strong core. I do alot of Core work...I know core" Coach Troy says : "You are pretty strong. Runners have strong legs. Um. Your core...( dot dot dot....) sentence never finishes....Great. Bubble burst.

I am sore for about 4 days. I mean serious sore. Like I was afraid I had Beth's rib issue all from some stupid ropes. ( Coach Troy said " I was corrected by the women not to call them Stirrups." Good idea, Troy.

Session 2, 1 week later. Serious fear. My forearm was sore as well. Great now i have golfers elbow ( medial epicondlyitis) from being in the flexed wrist position supporting my weight. But that is ok if i tape it... all is fine. We focus on glutes and lower body more today. I am relieved that my core is just sorta on fire. My glutes are sore for another 2 days.

Now its a week later ( these are spread by 1 week) and its a Monday. Usually i swim mondays but today i had off so i was bursting to actually have more arm/back/Lat strength. It was perfect since it was the start of the class and I wasnt going to have to whine and feel all wimpy when i couldnt do a push up. At 3:00 i get home and have a message..."Coach Troy is sick..."

WHAT??? Poor guy, but um I am NOT going two weeks btwn TRX sessions bc I can only imagine the hurt locker i would be back in. ADAPTATION IS A KILLER ( or insert your own word to describe it!)

So I get in with Troy for a 1:1 today. And today's comic relief started with me doing some sort of spinal twist where you had to basically hold the handles with one hand and rotate backwards/sidebend rotate etc...while holding on with a straight arm.

Coach Troy: " So you havent spent much time working your "Guns" have you?"

Me : "um, no."

Then we go to a supine "sit up" for lack of better term where my legs are straight I am supine and my heels are in the handles. I have a heavy medicine ball over my head and i have to sit up "vertebrae by vertebrae and reach forward with the med ball and then lie back down in the same manner." This is pilates-esque so i did it last time with no med ball and did fine. Today tho after 45 seconds if i wasnt turning like a top. I would come up slowly and my feet would drift left. I would slowly lie back down and my feet would come center a bit but every time i would come up my feet ( suspended in the straps, but you have to dig your heels) would drift left and by the time i had finished 1 minute i had rotated my entire body about 15 degrees to the left.

Now I am not a TRX know it all, if you are, then speak up but gotta guess that my right core, glute etc...is working a bit more than the left, eh? Troy couldnt stop laughing and the more i tried to dig my left side into the handle and squeeze my glute the more i got frustrated with my counter clockwise demise.

Anyways...I feel really lucky to have tried this and coach Troy is fantastic. I am thinking about getting one for home, but it is really nice to have someone tell me what to do and to also not do this at home. IF you have one at home, do you use it over the door or do you risk pulling the ceiling down? Plus Troy is offering a class outside this summer. That sounds awesome.