Key points

Motor skills

Balance

Suspension fitness has the ability to challenge and therefore develop clients’ balance. Some client groups find balance to be one of the most difficult aspects of training. The equipment can offer a point of external support to those challenged by balance, allowing these clients to then perform standing, functionally relevant exercises with greater confidence. Other client groups will wish to push their balance skills much further. Again, this can be accommodated with a bit of fine tuning and the correct exercise choice.

Coordination

The ability to bring about movement in a coordinated fashion is arguably more challenged in this method of training than in other, more traditional options. If many regions of the body are to work as one, producing the right amount of force at the right time and in the right manner, is key. The CNS must recruit large numbers of muscles to meet the demands of such a task. The size of this task can be varied greatly using suspension fitness. Also, posture is a task of co-ordination and alignment is greatly challenged in this mode of training as no additional benches or back rests offer the support and feedback to the client. The exerciser must maintain good alignment from head to toe based on how the exercise feels and looks without the guidance of a machine.

Agility, reaction time and speed/power

There may be better methods to develop some of these components of motor skills than suspension fitness allows. This does not mean they can’t be developed and it does not stop inventive trainers devising ways in which to do this. Aspects of reaction time, speed/power and agility can be challenged and combined in jump training.

What else can suspension fitness give to trainers and clients?

1. Portability Suspension fitness needs only light, easily portable equipment to reproduce many free weight or resistance machine based exercises. Although maximally loaded exercises may not be possible for all clients, the scope for taking this equipment to a range of environments for workouts is huge. Clients don’t necessarily need a large array of free weights at home if the loading method can come to them. The same applies to the workout in the park, and as long as an anchor can be found, suspension fitness can offer effective, whole body resistance training alongside more regular outdoor exercise. 2. Whole body integration Resistance machines can be limited in their ability to challenge the body in its entirety, in just one single exercise. Suspension fitness can do this, if we so wish. Suspension fitness allows a traditional biceps curl to become an exercise that supplies challenges from foot to head and most things in between. Resistance machines often allow work in only one plane of motion (usually sagittal) whereas in this approach trainers can easily place additional work on a client in a mixture of planes. Varying the degree of sagittal, frontal and transverse challenge can allow for a more specific targeting of the desired movements or muscles.

3. Versatility (cost) Anything that offers such versatility limits the need for lots of other kit. Trainers wanting to optimise yearly profits will find there are fewer requirements to purchase more equipment.