Suspension trainer workouts at home: setup, six exercises and an eight-week plan

A suspension trainer (most people call it a TRX, after the best known maker) is a pair of straps with handles that you anchor overhead and load with part of your own bodyweight. The whole set weighs about 700 grams, fits in a drawer and takes two minutes to hang. Below is where to anchor it, which six exercises cover the whole body, and how many sets to run over the first eight weeks.

You change resistance with angle, not plates

There is nothing to add. Load is adjusted purely by walking your feet: pulling gets harder the closer your feet are to the anchor and the closer your body is to horizontal, and for pressing the opposite is true.

A rough guide for an 80 kg person doing rows. With the body at roughly 60 degrees to the floor, close to upright, your arms carry about 30 to 35 kg. At 45 degrees it is around 45 kg. With the body nearly parallel to the floor, the arms carry 55 to 65 kg. In practice, one step forward of 20 to 30 cm is worth about ten kilos on a barbell. That is your only progression tool and it is enough for the first year.

Where to anchor it at home

• A door: the anchor goes over a door that opens away from you, and the door must be closed and locked. Never train facing the side the door swings toward.
• A beam, steel pipe or pull-up bar: the anchor point should hold at least 150 to 200 kg, because the jolt during a set is several times your static bodyweight.
• Anchor height: 2.1 to 2.7 m. Below 2 m, presses and planks in the straps become unworkable.
• Space: about 1.8 m of clear floor in front of the anchor and 60 cm on each side.
• What does not work: a drywall frame, a curtain rail, a radiator, a heating pipe, a plain door handle.

Before your first set, hang your full weight from both handles and rock gently for 10 seconds. Better the anchor fails there than in your fifth rep of a press.

Six exercises that cover the whole body

1. Row: heels down, body in a straight line, elbows close to the ribs, shoulder blades moving first. 3 sets x 8-12 reps.
2. Chest press: feet behind you, hands travelling forward and down to chest level. 3 x 8-12.
3. Y raise for the rear shoulder: easy angle, arms opening into a Y with straight elbows. 2-3 x 12-15.
4. Split squat with the rear foot in the strap: front knee stays over the middle of the foot. 3 x 10 per leg.
5. Lying hamstring curl, shins in the straps: hips stay lifted throughout, heels pull toward the glutes. 3 x 8-10.
6. Knee tuck from a plank: feet in the straps, hands under the shoulders. 3 x 10-12.

Tempo: two seconds lowering, a short pause at the end position, one second back. Rest 60 to 90 seconds between sets. The whole session fits into 25 to 35 minutes.

The first eight weeks

1. Weeks 1-2: two sessions a week, 2 sets per exercise, 8-10 reps, an easy angle, leaving 3-4 reps in reserve. The goal is learning to hold a straight line, not getting wrecked.
2. Weeks 3-5: three sessions a week, 3 sets, 10-12 reps, two reps in reserve.
3. Weeks 6-8: three sessions, 3-4 sets, 8-10 reps, but one or two steps closer to the anchor. The last set goes to within one rep of failure.

Progression rule: once you hit the top of the rep range in every set cleanly and without swinging, move your feet 15 to 20 cm closer to the anchor next session and drop back to the bottom of the range. Skip this and in a month you are doing your day-one workout.

The mistakes that show up most

• Hips sagging in rows and presses, so the lower back carries what the trunk should. Squeeze the glutes before you move.
• Straps swinging and slapping the forearms. That means you are moving too fast or the two straps are set to different lengths.
• Shoulders creeping toward the ears. Depress the shoulder blades first, bend the elbows second.
• Jumping to single-arm or single-leg versions before you can do 12 clean reps on both sides.
• Straps rubbing the door frame. Check the stitching, carabiner and anchor once a month and replace the set as soon as you see fraying.

If you cannot hold a straight line for even three reps of a movement, the angle is too hard. Take a step back, literally.

When to see a doctor

Straps are joint-friendly, but the shoulder takes a lot of work here. See a doctor or physiotherapist if:

• pain in the shoulder, elbow or lower back lasts more than two weeks or wakes you up at night;
• you feel tingling, numbness or weakness in the hand and fingers;
• the pain is sharp, above 4 out of 10, and shows up at one specific point in the range of motion;
• you get chest pain, dizziness or shortness of breath during a set, which means stopping immediately;
• you are recovering from shoulder or spine surgery, are pregnant, or have uncontrolled blood pressure, in which case the plan gets cleared before the first set.

The short version

• Load changes only through body angle, and one step of 20 to 30 cm is worth about ten kilos on a bar.
• The anchor must hold 150 to 200 kg, sit at 2.1 to 2.7 m, and get a hang test before every session.
• Six exercises, 3 sets of 8-12 reps, 60-90 seconds rest, 25 to 35 minutes total.
• Two sessions a week for the first two weeks, then three a week through week eight.
• Pain lasting over two weeks, tingling fingers or chest pain mean a break and a check-up, not gritting your teeth.