The straps hanging from the rig scare more new faces than the barbells do. They should not. A suspension trainer, TRX being the brand most people know, is the most beginner-friendly bit of kit in the gym: it uses your own bodyweight, it is scaled by where you put your feet, and it is almost impossible to hurt yourself on.
Section
The one rule: feet decide the weight
On every strap movement, the further your feet are from the anchor point, the harder it gets. Standing upright with the straps loose is a warm-up. Leaning back to forty-five degrees is a workout. Nobody needs to touch a dial; you just shuffle your feet forward or back. That is why the whole class can do the same move at the same time.
The five moves you learn first
- Row. Face the anchor, lean back, pull your chest to your hands, squeeze the shoulder blades. The best back exercise for anyone who sits at a desk. It is where most of the pull-up strength starts too: the first pull-up plan.
- Chest press. Face away, hands at chest height, lean in and press out. A press-up you can make as easy as you need.
- Squat. Hold the straps lightly, sit back as deep as your knees allow, stand. The straps take just enough load to let you find the depth safely.
- Hamstring curl. Heels in the foot cradles, lying on your back, bridge and curl the heels in. Hamstrings and glutes, no weights, and it is harder than it looks.
- Plank or fallout. Forearms or hands, feet in the cradles or hands on the straps, hold. The straps wobble; the wobble is the point.
The mistake everyone makes
Bending at the hips. On the row and the press, the body stays in one straight line from heels to head, like a plank that tilts. The moment the hips sag or stick out, the core is off and the move is half as useful. I will say "straight line" a lot in your first week. It is not a criticism; it is the cue.
Where you meet them
The Sanctuary Functional class uses the straps most weeks, and they turn up as a station in the Saturday session. In one-to-one sessions they are how I get someone with a sore shoulder or a sore knee training hard from the first week. You will not be put on them without being shown; nobody is.
New to all of it? What the first class is like.