I got a question some time ago about the TRX system, a go-anywhere piece of fitness equipment designed to take the place of all manner of weight-training equipment.  The reader was wondering if it was worth the $150.00 price tag. 

There's no getting around it:  the TRX is, quite simply, a pair of nylon straps with handles.  You affix one end of the nylon straps to something sturdy at about eye level, grab the handles, and lean yourself every which way, using your body weight for resistance-style movements, some traditional (pushups), some novel (twisting, lunging, reaching something-or-others).  

A simple concept, but it's surprisingly versatile:  for the purists among us, there appear to be plenty of transverse and closed-chain movements to choose from, and you can easily perform weight-room staples like overhead presses and rows--essential moves that are usually impossible without cumbersome equipment.

Now, I haven't used one of these things, so I'm basing my evaluation of the TRX on videos and advertising material--hardly the picture of unbiased and clear-eyed sources--but I have to say it looks pretty cool.  Astutely, they're not selling the TRX as a magical device that does the workout for you  (a la The ThighMaster), but as something that can help you get a killer workout.  As such, I think the TRX succeeds.

Having said all that, I don't quite buy the "all you'll ever need" angle.  As they claim, it is possible to adjust the resistance on most of the movements with just a shift in body positioning.  This is useful for people building up to movements like the body-weight row.  But I can see no way of using more than your body weight on any exercise unless you grabbed a pair of dumbbells or cinder blocks or had a buddy jump on your back. 

For many exercisers, that's not a problem:  it can take years, for example, for many people to build up to three sets of twenty pushups or even one set of twenty pull-ups.  But for someone trying to build serious strength and muscle, it's essential to move past the body-weight threshold in exercises like the bench press, row, chin, and particularly in large, lower-body workhorses like the squat and deadlift, neither of which can be performed particularly effectively on the TRX.  

Moreover, I'd wager that if you can motivate yourself to go out to a park and crank out continuous sets of body-weight squats, lunges, pushups, pullups, planks and reverse crunches, you're getting an almost identical workout and you've saved a few bucks.  Sure, the straps are going to challenge your stability, and you'll have to get creative if you want to do rows and overhead presses, but it's darn close.  Both the boon and the drawback of the TRX is that it's nothing hugely new:  body weight training with a twist. 

So:  is it worth the money?  Maybe.  

I used to have a Soloflex, which when I was fifteen was the sine qua non of home fitness devices.  I loved it.  No, it wasn't "all I ever needed," as it also claimed to be.

But it was my entré--my 'gateway' to the world of exercise, and it became a tangible reminder of my newfound devotion to exercise and fitness.  Its sleek design stood in for what I hoped my body would someday become:  cool, sturdy, lean, efficient.  The Soloflex was the chief sacrament in my fitness ritual. 

Nowadays, were Soloflex still in business, I would say, "Ah, the action on the level arm isn't smooth; squats aren't comfortable; the stretch-bands don't replicate the feeling of real weight," and on and on. 

But so what?  The important point is that the machine got me started and kept me going for about three years.

TRX isn't a perfect exercise tool, either, and it isn't all you'll ever need, partly for the reasons I've cited but largely because the body is just way too complex to have its secrets unlocked by a single piece of equipment, no matter how clever or elegant.  I'm far more inclined to say, "Go to the park and use your imagination," than I am to say, "This new thing will magically make exercise simple and easy and fun forever."

But if, as the Soloflex did for me, the TRX system looks like something that will make sense to you, motivate you to work out, inspire you to explore and dig into what you can do athletically, well then--a hundred and fifty bucks is a small price to pay.

It's tiny, in fact.