TRX - My Classpass Adventures Begin (March 28, 2015)

I'm not sure where to begin this post, but I figured that I would start with explaining my latest purchase - Classpass.  My friends, realizing my hopelessly weird fetish for new workouts, have been suggesting Classpass to me for a while.  I finally took the bait when my friend Kristin emailed me a three-month discounted trial.  Classpass is a monthly membership, which allows you to use a number of different types of workout studios around the DC metro.  There are tons of studios and hundreds of classes.  You can take everything from spinning to pilates to tabata, but the catch is you can only take each class three times.  I was wary of this at first, but it turns out there are so many offerings that this should not be a problem.   Unfortunately for Kristin, I was too incompetent to figure out how to purchase the pass online, so she had to purchase it for me.  It is now linked up to he
r credit card.  You get charged if you miss a class, so really this is the best set-up ever.  There is nothing that will get me out of bed in the morning and to a class faster than the fear of pissing off a friend by having her credit card get inadvertently charged.  It isn't so much fitspiration as it is fearspiration, but regardless, here I go! Hopefully, Classpass will add even more spice to my workout menu.


My friend Sara and I have observed that people turn all sorts of things into workouts.  She recently informed me that two friends came up with a workout called Pound, which basically entails air drumming to the rhythm of music (I think this is essentially the game Rockband).  The two friends are now rich and probably laughing their way all the way to the bank about how they gave people drum sticks and made big bucks.  Sara and I are still trying to figure out what magical workout we are going to invent.  Perhaps something related to the air guitar?

Anyhow, the point of that anecdote is that I am similarly jealous of the inventors of the TRX workout.  They tied some ropes to the ceiling/wall/door and told people to use their body weight.  Basically, the customer is the equipment, and people are spending money all over the place for the workout.

Alright, on to TRX.

Now that I have the power of Classpass, I decided to hop into a TRX class at Thrive Pilates studio in Arlington, Virginia.  I love Thrive Pilates.  The classes are always small because of the equipment they use, the facilities are nice, and the instructors are pleasant.  

TRX classes at Thrive are limited to five people, which makes for almost a private lesson, which is fantastic because it allows for up-close and thorough instructions...but it also means that I can't hide in the back like I like to do with new workouts.  As soon as I walked into the class a girl named Brit was kind enough to introduce herself.  Brit had been doing TRX for a few weeks and was very complimentary of the workout.  I asked her how she got into TRX (thinking she could be another Classpass-er), and she said that she used to walk by a TRX studio in DC and go "what the hell is that?" when she looked in window.  She decided to sign up at Thrive for a TRX class to see what it was all about.  She said she was immediately hooked.  I am not sure why she didn't sign up for TRX at the studio she walked by everyday, but class was starting, so I didn't probe any further.

We worked the whole body during the class.  We put our feet in the rope loops and did push-ups.  The picture to the right is of TRX ropes to give you a better understanding.  When I say "loops," I mean the two holes at the bottom of the yellow and black rope.  While our feet were in the loops we also did pikes, which involves lifting your butt and pulling your legs towards your arms so your body is shaped in an upside down "V."  We also did planks with our feet in the loops.  We then switched over to putting the loops in our hands and doing bicep curls and other arm moves.

There were other items we used in addition to the TRX rope.  Well, there was a box, and so we did some box jumps, which is a simple, but challenging exercise.  There was also a small, blue ball, which we pressed together between our hands for an additional arm workout.

Finally, the TRX class integrated some barre and yoga moves into the class.  The class flew by with all the different activities.  Brit asked me at the end of the class if I liked the class, which is an awkward question since she obviously drank the TRX kool-aid.  Yes, I did like the class.  Will I do it again?  Unsure (I of course told her yes
because what else am I going to tell someone I have spoken to for a total of 5 minutes).  It is challenging to use your own body weight to do the exercises, but I don't know if it is my cup of tea.  And now that I have Classpass, I have way weirder classes to put on my docket.

There weren't a lot of pictures to offer up from TRX.  Literally, that is the equipment, unless you're dying to see pictures of a ball or box.  Instead, I including pictures of Kristin and Sara for reference points.  I also included a pic of my awesome new shoes.  I recently discovered NikeID, which allows you to design your
own shoes.  It is both amazing and terrible for a girl with an obsession with both shoes and working out.  I will start looking for my second job right now.