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Fitness, Personal Training, & Exercise Science

The 5 Hardest TRX Exercises for a Full-Body Workout: Build Strength, Stability, and Mobility

October 3, 2017
By Anna Smith

Last updated July 17, 2025

Why TRX Training Is a Game-Changer for Full-Body Fitness

TRX Suspension Training has become a go-to workout method for athletes, personal trainers, and fitness enthusiasts alike. Created by Navy SEAL Randy Hetrick, this system uses adjustable straps to leverage your bodyweight for resistance training. TRX helps improve strength, stability, flexibility, and mobility with minimal equipment and maximum versatility.

Whether youโ€™re a beginner or an advanced exerciser, TRX delivers scalable workouts that can target every major muscle group. Itโ€™s especially effective for people looking to address muscular imbalances, improve posture, and reduce lower back strain when performed with proper technique, making it a great training tool to incorporate into your client programming as a personal trainer.

What Is TRX and How Does It Work?

TRX Suspension Training involves anchoring adjustable straps to a secure point, allowing you to perform exercises that engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. The unique design challenges your stability, forcing your core to work harder than traditional strength training. This method allows for hundreds of exercise variations and progressions, making it ideal for both beginners looking to develop foundational strength and athletes needing functional, full-body conditioning.

The 5 Hardest TRX Exercises to Build Strength and Improve Posture

Below are five of the most demanding TRX exercises designed to engage your entire body. These exercises not only challenge muscular strength and endurance but also require balance, coordination, and core stabilityโ€”essential factors for better posture and back health.

Trx Single Leg Squat.png

1. TRX Single-Leg Squat

The TRX Single-Leg Squat demands exceptional lower-body strength and stability while challenging your balance.

Key Benefits:
This unilateral exercise strengthens the quads, glutes, and hamstrings while engaging your core to stabilize the spine. It promotes better posture and helps correct strength asymmetries between legs.

How to Perform:

  • Stand facing the TRX anchor, holding both handles with arms extended.
  • Lift one leg forward off the ground, keeping your chest lifted.
  • Lower into a squat on the standing leg, aiming for a 90-degree bend at the knee.
  • Drive through the heel to return to standing.
  • Perform 10โ€“15 reps per side.

Tip: Use the straps for balanceโ€”not to pull yourself up. Maintain core engagement throughout.

2. TRX Y Fly

The TRX Y Fly strengthens the shoulders, upper back, and improves scapular stability.

Key Benefits:
This exercise enhances postural alignment by targeting the upper back muscles that counteract forward shoulder posture, which is a common issue from prolonged sitting.

How to Perform:

  • Lean back holding the handles with arms extended overhead in a Y position.
  • Brace your core and retract your shoulder blades.
  • Pull your chest toward the anchor point while keeping arms straight.
  • Slowly return to start. Perform 10โ€“12 reps.

Tip: Avoid shrugging your shoulders. Keep neck long and spine neutral.

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3. TRX Atomic Pike

A true core scorcher, the Atomic Pike combines planking, push-up, and pike movements in one fluid motion.

Key Benefits:
This exercise builds deep core strength while integrating shoulders, chest, and hip flexorsโ€”key muscles for a strong, healthy back.

How to Perform:

  • Place feet in TRX foot cradles and assume a push-up position.
  • Perform a controlled push-up.
  • As you press up, lift hips toward the ceiling into a pike position.
  • Return to push-up position. Perform 8โ€“10 reps.

Tip: Focus on slow, controlled movement for maximum core activation.

TRX Power pull.png

4. TRX Power Pull

The TRX Power Pull adds a rotational component to strengthen the core and improve thoracic mobility.

Key Benefits:
This unilateral exercise develops rotational strength in the obliques and improves spinal mobility while engaging the lats and shoulders.

How to Perform:

  • Stand facing the anchor with feet shoulder-width apart.
  • Hold one handle with your working arm extended and rotate your torso away.
  • Pull your body toward the anchor as you rotate your torso back to center.
  • Perform 10โ€“12 reps per side.

Tip: Keep hips square and initiate movement from the coreโ€”not just the arm.

5. TRX Burpee

The TRX Burpee is a challenging full-body metabolic exercise that elevates heart rate while building strength and endurance.

Key Benefits:
This movement trains the legs, glutes, core, chest, and shoulders while improving cardio fitness. Its dynamic nature helps develop agility and coordination.

How to Perform:

  • Place one foot in both foot cradles.
  • Lower into a push-up position.
  • Perform a push-up, then drive the free leg forward under your chest.
  • Stand up on the supporting leg and reach arms overhead.
  • Return to push-up position. Perform 8โ€“10 reps.

Tip: Maintain core control to protect your lower back during transitions.

Stronger, Balanced, and Ready for Anything with TRX

TRX Suspension Training remains one of the most versatile and effective ways to build strength, stability, and functional mobility anywhere you go. The exercises above will challenge your entire body while supporting better posture, balance, and core strength, which is critical for both athletic performance and daily living. If youโ€™re a fitness professional or personal trainer, mastering TRX exercises can help diversify your skill set and offer clients effective, scalable training options.

Author:ย  Anna Smith

I’m a proud mother of three, passionate about health tips, beauty and ways to live healthier with more energy! I started Healthankering to provide advanced material about not only the best ways to get healthy, but also to entertain and create a great community.ย ย 

anna.healthankering@gmail.com

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