Oww! What muscle is that?

Head and shoulders, Knees and toes.....  more than just a playground song for kids.  This could be a more adequate description of areas of my body that were aching after Thursday night's TRX Boot Camp!  It would probably be better to say head, shoulders, knees, toes, and everything in between. 

We rounded out the first week of TRX Boot Camp with a class called "Back and Balance".  As the name implied, we worked every muscle up and down the back of your body.  When you change the level of balance, you also change the level of difficulty. So as you decrease your stability, you increase your difficulty.

As a runner, I think the back is probably one of the most neglected areas of focus.  We spend 99.9% of our time running forward, so that means we think about the chest, shoulders (sometimes), quads, and abs.  After completing this TRX Boot Camp focused on the back, I really see how under developed my back is and why it is important that I spend more time strengthening the posterior chain. 

One of the coolest things about TRX Boot Camp is the amount of education.  As a runner, I've trained by running.  At first I thought that was the right thing to do.  If I want to run 13.1 miles, then I start by running 3, then 4, then 5, etc.  Slowly working my way up to 13 miles, right?  No.  Wrong.  I've learned that it's more about balance and symmetry. Every muscle is connected.  You need a strong back to keep a correct posture, keeping the chest lifted and shoulders down and back. You need a strong lower back to properly support your hips.  If your lower back is weak, you'll have hamstring problems, that leads to knee issues, that leads to the ankles injuries.... I think you see the picture.  Running is not just about moving forward, but about the whole body being connected and  completely working together. 

The workout focused on one side at a time, full body posterior focus.  Seriously, I felt muscles working that I never even knew existed.   Especially as we did the TRX one armed row with rotation.  The name may sound overwhelming but you have the TRX in one hand, lower yourself back, rotate the opposite shoulder to the ground, then back to neutral, and use your back to pull your body back to the standing position.  It's actually a quite simple movement with a big effect! I was amazed that I could actually feel muscles in my back contracting and working that I had never noticed before.

Another exercise that really worked the back and core at the same time was the TRX Roll Out.  This reminded me of the old school Ab-Roller that you used to see on late night infomercials.  As you slowly lower your body down with your arms stretched in front of you, you can feel each and every muscle in your back engage to stabilize your body.  Unless you want to fall flat on your face and eat pavement, you have to feel the burn.  Some of the vets were able to do this move on their toes or on one foot.  This brings in the balance and stability factor of the workout.  If it sounds hard, it looks even harder!  I have a new goal to correctly complete a one legged TRX Roll Out by the end of the month.  These types of slow and controlled movement really help build strength.  This is just a whole new world from of training that I've never done before.  It's great to discover new muscles based on the amount of soreness and aches that you feel the next morning.  No pain, no gain... right?

This is the TRX Roll Out.  Just so you know.... we have way more fun in the park!  Who doesn't love working out with nature? :)

I was certainly feeling the sore and tired muscle aches on Friday morning.... and that was just after two days!  I ran about 3.5 miles Saturday morning and could really feel the difference from the first two TRX workouts. My posture and form were much better. I felt strong and light on my feet! I'm excited to see how this comes together to complete the picture and make me a better, stronger, faster runner.