I'm one of those people who genuinely loves working out. Every Sunday, I sit down with my schedule for the week ahead, and figure out which workout classes I'm going to go to at my gym, and when. The result ends up being a mix of bootcamp classes, HIIT classes, personal strength training, yoga, and running outside near my apartment in Brooklyn Heights.
But even though I exercise pretty regularly, and work at a wellness publication, I've never been a particularly goal-oriented person when it comes to fitness. I work out mostly for the mental health benefits, and because I feel good in my body immediately afterward. And going to so many different types of classes, many of which don't build on each other, makes it even easier to maintain this one-and-done mentality.
Lately, though, a curious thing has been going down in this brain of mine: I've started to reconsider my approach. Perhaps it's because spring is finally here, and the warm weather has me feeling extra energized and motivated; perhaps it's because I've read one too many scientific studies about the life-changing magic of setting goals. Whatever the reason, I've been toying with the idea of setting a fitness goal—which is why I was so excited when TRX Master Instructor Susane Pata offered to help me make it happen.
First, we decided on my goal: to start training so that I could eventually be strong enough to do a perfect push-up.
Okay, okay, let's just get this over with: I, Annie Daly, lover of the gym and all things leggings, cannot do an actual push-up. I always modify them during class, or just sort of scam my way through them and hope no one is watching. Gah! Anyway, I'm not going to lie, I was surprised when she told me that the TRX Suspension Trainer™ could help me finally pull off a push-up (lol). I'd certainly dabbled in TRX throughout the years, in various fitness classes and around the gym and whatnot, but I'd always thought of it as a standalone exercise, not a strength-training tool that I could use to help me achieve my own personal fitness goals.
Oh how wrong I was.
"TRX is a great strength-training tool because it gives you bigger bang for your buck. You are doing more than you think you are to stabilize control and move your body through space than if you were using the floor or chair or something that's fixed," Pata told me. "As a result, you progress from one area to another quite easily. We always say around here that you learn your progression, and then once you learn it, you drop the 'L' so you've earned it," she continued.
Pata came up with a weeklong training plan that—wait for it—hardly involved any push-ups. The plan involved four TRX Suspension Training® sessions at Crunch Fitness, two rest days, and one yoga day. We did do a few push-ups during each session, but our main focus, actually, was mastering the TRX Suspension Trainer™ plank. And that's because the plank, according to Pata, is the key to the perfect push-up.
"In order to get better at push-ups, you will, of course, need to practice push-ups—but if you cannot get a push-up all at once, breaking it up is a great idea," Pata told me.
Her advice: Break it up into the two parts of the push-up, which are the plank part and the push part. "Training for the perfect plank is the first step toward training for a push-up, and then, when you layer on the action of pushing, you'll be that much closer to your goal," she said.
