Loop Trainers: Strong Core and Healthy Back

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

By replacing solid support with unstable workout loops, you will significantly increase strength and endurance, improve your sense of balance and increase joint and spine stability.

Why You Should Try Loop Trainers

To develop balance through strengthening the core muscles

Loop balancing exercises strengthen your core, the complex of muscles responsible for stabilizing your spine, pelvis, and hips. The better these muscles are developed, the easier it will be for you to maintain balance during exercise in the gym and in everyday life - when walking, running, dancing.

Due to instability, the core muscles are trained in any exercise on the loop machine: during push-ups, lunges, or pulling the legs up to the chest.

You build muscle for a tighter body and build balance to reduce the risk of injury.

For uniform body development and functional strength

Working out on conventional machines in the gym, you are pumping muscles in isolation. You become stronger, but this power will not help you in real life situations. Isolated machine movements transform the fascia (connective tissue) into a unidirectional network that copes well with the usual loads on the machine, but is not adapted for movements in real life.

Loop machines, on the other hand, require interconnected movements, when all the muscles of the body are involved in an attempt to maintain balance. Such training allows you to form a mobile and functional fascial network, as a result of which the body becomes versatile, strong and adapted to any stresses that may be encountered in life.

To stabilize the spine and reduce back strain

Another advantage of loop machines is the benefit for the back. During suspended exercises, there is no axial load on the back. The body weight is transferred to the loops, due to which the usual pressure on the spinal column is reduced, and the intervertebral discs do not compress under load. You are pumping muscles without stressing the spine.

In addition, looping exercises strengthen the core muscles, which are responsible for stabilizing the spine and maintaining the neutral position needed to safely perform most weight-bearing exercises.

By pumping the muscles that stabilize the spine, you provide an even distribution of the load on the intervertebral discs and improve posture. Strong back muscles keep the spine well upright, providing functional stability.

Types of loop simulators

Hinges TRX

The most famous loop trainers are TRX loops (Total Body Resistance Exercise). These are two belts with anchors of the length of the lines, at one end of which there are loops with rubber grips, and on the other - a carabiner.

The kit usually comes with a door mount, a horizontal bar mount or a tree branch.

You can buy TRX Pro hinges (the latest model) on the official website for $ 219.95 or from a Russian distributor for 17,252 rubles. Non-original products can be purchased on AliExpress for 4,210 rubles.

Variosling Rotate

German loop trainer, which provides additional instability due to a special roller.

Loops with handles are attached to a rope that is passed through the roller. Due to this, the hinges in the Variosling Rotate are interconnected, so there is no stable support. The rope is in motion, forcing you to strain even more to maintain balance.

You can buy Variosling Rotate on the official website for 139, 96 euros, on the website effectivetraining.ru for 10 944 rubles, on ekipamarket.com for 9 990 rubles.

Jungle gym xt

Training loops from the American manufacturer Lifeline. These hinges are attached separately. They are not connected in a single strap as is the case with the TRX.

You will have to individually adjust their height, but this provides more training options. You can vary the width between the loops and come up with more exercises for different muscle groups.

You can buy Jungle Gym XT loops on the official website for 99.99 dollars, on Amazon for the same price or on Russian sites selling Jungle Gym XT from 8 to 11 thousand rubles.

Beres hinges

This apparatus was invented and patented by the Ukrainian gymnast Beres, the absolute European champion and medalist of the Sydney Olympics.

These are two separate hinges that are not fastened together and do not have handles. The loops themselves are quite wide, in them you need to rely not on the wrists, but on the forearms. You will do balance exercises without overwhelming your wrists.

There is a variant of Beres' loops from Lifeline - Ab Wings. This equipment has smaller loops so that you can do abdominal exercises with support on the forearms and other balance exercises with legs in the loops, such as push-ups.

Beres' loops cost from 2,000 to 4,000 rubles in Russian online stores.

FTL hinges

This multifunctional machine was created by Russian trainers and fitness experts to combine block machines, gymnastic rings, parallel bars, horizontal bar and skipping rope.

FTL is two loops with flat seams and a special handle system, in which you can fix the leg so that the handle does not interfere with the heel. There are also two rollers in which the cable slides.

The cost of the simulator is not listed on the manufacturer's website. But you can order loops by sending the corresponding request by e-mail.

If you don't want to buy an exercise machine, but there are gym rings in the gym you visit, you can use them. Although you will not be very comfortable during exercises that require placing your legs in the loops.

A set of exercises with loop simulators

Legs

Bulgarian Weighted Split Squat

Involved: gluteal muscles, hamstrings, quadriceps.

Exercise technique

• Stand with your back to the hinges, place one leg in the handle of the loop trainer. Adjust them so that the knee angle of the bent leg is 90 degrees.
• Pick up dumbbells.
• Sit down on one leg. The leg drops in the loop, the knee does not reach the floor a little.
• When squatting, the knee should not curl inward. Make sure that it "looks" at the toe.
• Try to keep the body straight. If you are doing the exercise without dumbbells, fold your arms in front of you or place them on your belt.

King Row Weighted

Involved: gluteal muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, back extensors.

Exercise technique

• Stand with your back to the hinges, place one leg in the handle of the loop trainer. Adjust them so that the knee angle of the bent leg is 90 degrees.
• Pick up dumbbells.
• Do a squat and tilt the body forward so that the dumbbells almost touch the floor.
• Keep your back straight. This will put more stress on your glutes and hamstrings.
• Straighten up and repeat the exercise.

Press

Plank with a pelvic rise (fold)

Involved: muscles of the core, shoulders.

Exercise technique

• Stand on the plank, place your feet in the loops of the simulator.
• Lift your pelvis up and forward so that your back is almost perpendicular to the floor.
• Lower yourself into a plank and repeat the exercise.

Body slopes

Involved: core muscles.

Exercise technique

• Stand up straight, raise your arms up and grasp the loops of the simulator.
• Move your pelvis to the side, keeping your legs straight.
• Return the body and repeat the exercise on the other side.

Diagonal fold in the stop

Involved: core muscles, oblique abdominal muscles.

Exercise technique

• Stand on a plank, place your feet in the loops of the simulator.
• Bring your knees to your chest with a shift to the side, stretch your knees to your shoulder.
• Return to plank, repeat on the other side.

Chest and arms

Breeding hands

Involved: core muscles, trapezium, shoulder muscles.

Exercise technique

• Grasp the hinges with your hands, lean back and hang from them. The feet remain on the floor.
• Almost without bending your elbows, spread them to the sides, giving the body forward.
• Don't arch your back. Legs and back should be in a single straight line.
• Return to starting position and repeat.

Push-ups at an angle

Involved: core muscles, triceps, shoulder muscles, pectoral muscles.

Exercise technique

• Stand in a plank, place your feet in the loops.
• Stand back on your hands so that the body is at an angle of about 45 degrees from the floor.
• Perform push-ups.
• Tighten your abs to avoid arching your lower back.

This is a rather difficult exercise, so if you cannot do it (there is a deflection in the lower back, the arms are not strong enough), first try regular push-ups with legs in loops or push-ups with a fold.

Push-ups with pulling the knees to the chest

Involved: muscles of the core, shoulders, chest.

Exercise technique

• Stand in a plank, place your feet in the loops.
• Perform a push-up.
• Pull your knees up to your chest.
• Return to the plank and repeat the exercise.

Burpee with one leg hanging

Involved: whole body.

Exercise technique

• Stand with your back to the machine, place one leg in the loop.
• Take an emphasis lying down, without lowering your legs from the loop. Do a push-up.
• With a jump, put your leg to your hands.
• Jump up on one leg.
• Repeat the exercise.

If exercise is not enough for you, this article will provide you with a few more options for training with loop machines. Give it a try and share your impressions in the comments.