Can you build muscle with a TRX?
Yes, but only if you use the right technique. Most people never do, which is why they decide it doesn’t work.
To build lean muscle using a TRX suspension trainer, you need to do two things….
- Firstly, use it with ‘muscle centric TRX suspension trainer technique.’
- Secondly, apply your mind-muscle connection.
When you master them, you’ll go from the belief that you can only build muscle in a gym with weights…
To what I call Fitness Freedom….
Where you can confidently build muscle and transform your body with just a suspension trainer anywhere.
These two techniques that I’m about to take you through. Have helped transform the bodies and lives of over 8000+ busy men and women in the Fitness Freedom Athletes community.
If I can do it and they can do it, so can you! Away we go…
Don’t have time to read the post in full? Then watch the video below to learn how to build muscle with a TRX…
Can You Build Muscle With A TRX?
There’s a BIG difference in how people exercise to transform their bodies. It comes down to two techniques:
1. Movement-centric technique (99% of people)
2. Muscle-centric technique (1% of people. This is us!)
One is much more effective for building strong, lean muscle. That effective technique is called muscle-centric technique.
These two techniques are the difference between the person who has been using a TRX suspension trainer (or resistance band, body weight, even weights in a gym) for months and months.
And rarely builds muscle or sees visible results….
Compared to the person who month on month builds muscle and improves their body, along with their mind (mental well-being).
You’re probably thinking…
“Adam, what the hell are you going on about?”
Allow me to explain because this is important and will literally, change your life (a client’s words, not mine).
By the way, if you want these skills plus 5 other powerful ones as a downloadable Handbook, just enter your email below and I’ll send it to you…
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‘Movement-Centric’ TRX Technique
Walking is a type of movement-centric technique, and so is running, cycling, or an aerobics class. You don’t think about moving, you just move. The body wants to be efficient. It wants to use as many muscles as possible to move a load because it’s easier.
With movement-centric technique you allow the body to activate all the muscles it can to move a load (like body weight or an actual weight). Many people grab a TRX suspension trainer and do this.
They jump around, pushing, pulling, and hanging. Not thinking about how they are moving, just moving. The same thing happens in a gym. When you see people grunting and groaning moving a weight that is too heavy for them sacrificing form just to get the weight up.
So long as they move it and look strong, they don’t care (I used to be this guy).
Here’s The Problem With That
The problem with movement-centric technique is that the load is shared. Not one or two muscles take all the load to do the work. Sometimes six or eight muscles do.
So if we take 100% load and share it across eight muscles, that’s only a 12% strain for each muscle. That’s fantastic teamwork by the body and amazing biomechanics of the human species. But, it is useless for building lean muscle to transform your body.
Because the load placed upon each muscle isn’t enough to get a muscle growth stimulus. Here’s an example of ‘movement-centric technique’ with a TRX Chest Press…
Most when they do a TRX Chest Press, mindlessly press forward and back. That’s movement-centric technique. All you’re focusing on is the movement of pressing. The problem is when you do this lots of muscles share the load.
The chest is the targeted muscle but other muscles are helping out. Such as your triceps, front shoulders, and biceps. You’re not isolating the individual chest muscle to place the majority of your body weight load onto it.
This means the chest muscle gets a weak muscle growth stimulus because it hasn’t been worked enough to cause muscle breakdown. A weak stimulus means the muscle doesn’t grow effectively, if at all.
This is the reason why so many people struggle to build lean muscle and keep stalling. Then they constantly change things up due to the frustration of not understanding the reason for the lack of progression.
‘Muscle-Centric’ TRX Technique
Instead, you want to perform Muscle-Centric TRX technique. Focus on the specific muscle you want to target.
Isolate the chest muscle and don’t allow other muscles to help. By using a slow, controlled technique and your mind-muscle connection. To squeeze the muscle powerfully throughout the exercise. Then the majority of your body weight load goes onto that single muscle.
In the TRX chest press example. You lock your body in stone. Then initiate the movement of the press by squeezing your chest muscles. Don’t mindlessly press forward without focusing on the muscle you are targeting.
Maintaining tension (the squeeze) on the chest muscles throughout reduces the amount of shared load from other muscles. So the majority of your body weight load goes onto that chest area throughout the whole range of motion.
When you isolate a muscle and put all the load onto it, you get a powerful muscle growth stimulus. Because the muscle has to work harder so more muscle fatigue and breakdown occur. Which means more effective lean muscle and strength development. And visible results in the mirror.
This Makes Building Muscle With a TRX Easier
A Muscle is MUCH weaker when isolated on its own. So you can use lighter loads, like your body weight, to create a powerful growth stimulus. This means you’ll build lean muscle faster because you’ll achieve a transformational result from every workout.
And because you’re using lighter loads with more control. You’ll build healthy, balanced muscles that support joints and improve your movement patterns for longevity.
Unlike lifting heavy weights or doing persistent impact exercises. Which wears down joints, and causes injuries and pain.
Using muscle-centric technique with a TRX suspension trainer means you can build lean muscle and visibly transform your body. Without needing to rely on a gym or weights ever again.
And there’s a second even more powerful technique. When combined with muscle-centric technique, it will amplify your results and transform your workouts into a form of meditation. For better mental well-being…
How I Discovered Muscle-Centric Technique
I spent most of my 20s living inside a gym. I believed I had to be in one to build muscle, and my ego led every workout. My only idea of progress was adding more weight, so I was always getting injured.
Then I studied people like Ben Pakulski, a bodybuilder turned yogi, and even did a mentorship with him. He taught me that building muscle comes from targeting and isolating each muscle with intention, not from lifting the heaviest weight.
So I asked myself: “How can I apply those same bodybuilding principles to a TRX?”
When I left the gym and started travelling, I had no choice but to find out. Backpacking on a beach in Mexico or in a mountain range in Patagonia, I only had my bodyweight and a TRX. So I learned how to position myself to isolate each muscle and squeeze it powerfully, from multiple angles.
That’s how muscle-centric technique was born. I still approach TRX training with a bodybuilding mindset:
“Where are my weak points? How can I use a TRX to target just that muscle?”
And I’ve built more lean muscle this way than I ever did in the gym:
And there’s a second even more powerful technique…
When combined with muscle-centric technique, it will amplify your results and transform your workouts into a form of meditation. For better mental well-being…
Unlocking Your Mind-Muscle Connection
What your mind believes, “I Need A Gym & Weights To Transform My Body”. What your muscle knows…
“Your muscle does NOT know where you are or what you are holding. All it knows is the tension you can place upon it through a range of motion”
If there is ONE thing you take away and remember from this, make sure it’s that powerful fact. I call unlocking your mind-muscle connection, the squeeze. In the Fitness Freedom Athletes community, members tease me about it. BUT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT…
‘The Squeeze’ means to powerfully contract the muscle you are targeting with mindful intent throughout the entire range of motion. Place your mind inside your muscle and visualise it squeezing, stretching, moving, and growing. Focus all your attention internally on your body and on that single muscle.
Arnold Schwarzenegger famously talked about visualising his muscles working and growing as he trained. Sometimes, halfway through a set, I close my eyes and do the same: I feel my muscles working and see them lengthening and contracting in my mind.
An internal focus is the foundation for unlocking your mind-muscle connection. It’s MINDFUL. Most people are externally focused when they workout, especially in a gym. I bet you can relate to this…
An external focus is mindless. When people workout they think about the rep number, what’s the next exercise, and when will this be over? Or they have ‘life thoughts’ about work, money, daily conversations etc.
They don’t mindfully focus on the one specific muscle they are targeting and how it feels during the exercise. To build lean muscle you need to mindfully connect and internalise your focus. Place your mind inside your muscle.
Let go of external distractions. Keep your phone out of sight. This is why being in your own space on your own time with a suspension trainer is so beneficial.
In a gym, you are externally distracted by the environment. But in your own space, you can internalise your focus without external distractions. You focus on squeezing the muscle you are targeting throughout every single rep. Especially at the top motion of each exercise (picture the top curl part of a bicep curl).
Being able to do this, feel and visualise your muscle contracting and stretching is called having a good mind-muscle connection.
• Building lean muscle
• Increasing your functional strength
• Feeling confident in your body and how it moves
… starts in the mind.
Practising your mind-muscle connection in every workout creates a holistic body connection between your mind, body, and soul. It makes you more in control and more confident. It builds and awakens pathways to parts of your body you never knew existed.
You truly become one with your body and mind. And it feels awesome!
Full Body TRX Workouts & Meditation
With the mind-muscle connection, you can literally use your body to master your mind. When you internalise your focus on the specific muscle you are training. TRX Workouts become a form of meditation.
Meditation is focusing on one thing for an extended period of time.
If you don’t focus on anything else except your body and the muscle you are training, you are meditating. And we know the HUGE benefits of meditation. Constantly seeking to internalise your focus in every 30 – 50 minute workout, compounds over time. And you will feel your mental well-being improving with it.
When you begin to use TRX workouts as a form of meditation, it’s a double whammy. Not only do you improve your body, but also your mental well-being. It’s a never-ending improvement circle. As one improves, so does the other.
I’ve personally found, and had clients report:
- social anxiety reduced
- fewer procrastinations
- more grounded and calm
- ability to deep work (business success)
- more confident (relationship success)
This is using your body to master your mind.
TRX Pros and Cons for Building Muscle
A TRX is just a tool, like a dumbbell or a gym machine. So here’s my honest take on what it does well, and where it falls short.
The pros:
- Easier on your joints: you load your muscles, not your joints, so it’s far kinder to your knees, shoulders and elbows than heavy weights.
- Train anywhere: all you need is an anchor point, at home, in a park or on holiday.
- It forces good technique: without heavy weights to throw around, you have to slow down and focus on the muscle you’re working.
- It works with your body: unlike a gym machine, a TRX adapts to your size and mobility. For example, if tennis elbow stops you fully straightening your arm in a bicep curl, you can stand side-on and curl one arm with your elbow parallel to the floor. It takes the load off your elbow so you can still work the full bicep.
- Your core works in everything: the straps are unstable, so your core and stabilisers work in almost every exercise.
The cons:
- It’s harder to add load: you can’t just add another plate. You progress by changing your angle, slowing your tempo or training one limb at a time.
- Legs are the hardest to progress: bodyweight alone runs out quicker for big leg muscles, so you’ll rely on single-leg exercises and slower tempos.
- It’s easy to do it wrong: most people use movement-centric technique and get a sweaty cardio session instead of muscle growth.
- It won’t build a stage bodybuilder’s physique: if you want competition-level size, heavy weights will get you there faster.
But for most people, the goal isn’t a bodybuilding stage.
It’s real, lean muscle, strength that lasts, and a body that moves well without pain.
And for that, a TRX with muscle-centric technique is more than enough.
TRX Transformation Foundations
As a foundation, just mastering the mind-muscle connection and muscle-centric technique, will make a HUGE difference to your fitness results using a suspension trainer. The benefits are awesome once you gain the technique practice,
Because I’m a nerd and love Star Wars, it’s kinda like Yoda. With just the force (mind-muscle connection) he’s ok. But combined with muscle-centric technique (light saber), he’s incredible.
The same can be said for our results with a TRX when we use both. Now imagine the possibilities when these two effective techniques are combined with other good principles. Which I refer to as the layers to build upon.
Layers like:
- The right TRX suspension Trainer Program for your level and goal
- The correct nutrition for your goal
- The effective range of motion for each exercise
- Tempo, rest, sets and other training variables
Compounded together your results will be exponential. This is what I call Fitness Freedom.
More TRX Guides by Body Part
- Complete TRX exercise list (Every Body Part)
- TRX Chest Exercises
- TRX Arm Exercises
- TRX Core Exercises
- TRX Back Exercises
- TRX Leg Exercises
- TRX Shoulder Exercises
FAQ
Can you build muscle with just a TRX?
Yes. Your muscles don’t know where you are or what you’re holding. They only know the tension you place on them. Use muscle-centric technique (isolate the muscle, slow down and squeeze hard through a full range of motion) and your bodyweight becomes a serious muscle-building load.
How long does it take to build muscle with a TRX?
Most people start feeling stronger within 2–4 weeks, and see visible changes in 8–12 weeks, if they train consistently with muscle-centric technique. Your results depend on how often you train, how well you isolate each muscle and how well you eat. The biggest mistake is jumping around with movement-centric technique, which can mean months of training with nothing to show for it.
How often should you use a TRX to build muscle?
3–4 sessions per week is the sweet spot for most people. That gives each muscle enough stimulus to grow, and enough rest to recover. It’s what I did while travelling the world with just a TRX, and I added lean muscle rather than just maintaining it.
Can you get big with just a TRX?
You can build a lean, athletic, muscular physique with just a TRX, and that’s what most people actually want. If your goal is stage-level bodybuilding size, heavy weights will get you there faster. But for looking and feeling strong, moving well and staying injury-free, a TRX with the right technique is more than enough.
Is TRX better than weights for building muscle?
Your muscle doesn’t know the difference. It only knows the tension you place on it. Weights make it easier to add heavy load, but a TRX works with your body’s natural movement, is easier on your joints and forces you to slow down and focus. I built more muscle with a TRX than I ever did in my gym ego days, because I finally started training with intention.
Do you need to eat more to build muscle with a TRX?
Yes, training is only half of it. To build muscle, you need enough protein spread across the day, and enough total food to fuel growth and recovery. Training hard without eating properly is like trying to build a house without bricks.
Your Muscle Building Suspension Trainer Guide,
Coach Adam, aka TRX Traveller
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