Suspension trainer failure

[Aunt Famous]

Let me begin by saying that my son was shaken but not hurt.

A few years ago, I bought a big-name suspension trainer. I did not purchase it from the company's website; instead, I comparison shopped and bought a complete kit. It was expensive, but it was not as much as the kit directly through the company.

I later bought a ceiling mount through the company, and I attached the carabiner from the trainer directly to the ceiling mount. (We'll call that one the first carabiner.) That carabiner extends to a strap extender, which in turn attaches to the carabiner on the main apparatus. (We'll call that one the second carabiner.)

When my 18 year-old, in-shape son was using the suspension trainer yesterday to do some push-ups (hands in the loops, feet on the ground), the second carabiner sheared. Seriously, it broke in half. He fell to the ground, got up, and called his mother.

I then called the company and looked online. I learned several things that I did not know, which I want to pass along to my fellow suspension trainer owners.

1. According to the company's customer service number, do not -- I repeat, do not -- directly attach the first carabiner to the ceiling mount. (Although the rep said that this is all over the website, I couldn't find it. It would also be unlike me not to follow directions. Not saying it's not there; just saying that I am now painfully aware of it.) I have looked it up in other avenues, and it appears that the mesh extender strap should go through the ceiling mount, with the first carabiner attaching into the strap. Don't just take my word for this; I encourage you to look into it, too.

2. According to the company's customer service number, suspension training is a market rife with counterfeits. When I looked for the serial number on my unit, I was very surprised not to find one. It looked right, it had all the badges, it came from a fitness website, it had a bunch of stuff with it -- and I paid a lot of money for it. I thought I was purchasing an authentic system. According to the company, its carabiners don't break. This one sure did; again, it sheared in half.

3. According to various websites, suspension trainers should be replaced about every 8 months in gym use, every 2 years for lighter home use. I do not know if this is true, but I figured I would mention it.

I tell you these things so that you can perhaps perform a visual safety check, tug at the cables, manipulate the carabiners, check the mounting, etc., of your own suspension trainer. We are taking a break from it at my house, but when suspension training resumes, I intend to add mountain climbing quality carabiners as a back-up to the manufacturers' standard carabiners (in other words, use two carabiners at both the first and second points). This belt and suspenders approach may not be pretty, but it may prevent a fall.

Be careful out there.

AF

Check out my blog at www.typeALC.com

[lreidgreen]

Hmm. my TRX is mounted to a beam in my basement. DH put in ceiling mount hardware (from Home Depot, not from TRX ) on the side of the beam and we have the carabiner from the trainer attached directly to the ring on the mount. The "beam" is actually a floor joist so we can't wrap the extender around it.
I guess I should call them to ask about ways to mount this safely given our situation.
I find it hard to believe a good quality suspension trainer used indoors in a normal manner by one person needs to be replaced every 2 years.

ETA: thanks for bringing this up AF.

[kat_b]

If this is about a TRX, can you say where the serial number is supposed to be? I bought mine directly from the company and I don't see a number anywhere. It may be they added it later--mine is about three years old.

Interesting about the carabiner: I've now adjusted mine to clip through the webbing. I think that was on the set up video, but I forgot.

[Aunt Famous]

The representative told me about a million times that "metal shouldn't touch metal," specifically about the mount and the carabiner. This surprised me -- mountain climbing photos show carabiners clipping into metal all the time -- but that was the company's position. Interestingly, that was not the carabiner that failed.

A serial number on the TRX is located under the rubber TRX tabs just above the handles -- just push those tabs up. Apparently, there's a hologram there, too.

AF

Check out my blog at www.typeALC.com

[kat_b]

Originally Posted by Aunt Famous

The representative told me about a million times that "metal shouldn't touch metal," specifically about the mount and the carabiner. This surprised me -- mountain climbing photos show carabiners clipping into metal all the time -- but that was the company's position. Interestingly, that was not the carabiner that failed.

A serial number on the TRX is located under the rubber TRX tabs just above the handles -- just push those tabs up. Apparently, there's a hologram there, too.

I'm so glad your son wasn't seriously hurt! And, I just checked: no serial number on mine. As mentioned I ordered it directly from them, but it has been over three years ago.

[yogapam]

Scary, glad he is okay!

[athompson10]

THANK YOU for the warning, and so glad your son's OK.

[bzar]

AF, thank you so much for this post.

I haven't purchased a suspension trainer yet, but I was looking all over the internet, reading reviews, etc.

I can't recall which brand it was, but someone mentioned about the caribiner for one of the brands having an unsafe design (either cracking, or a sharp edge at a critical point), so that reviewer replaced it with something more sturdy and safe. i'll try to look it up again and report back.

thanks for being willing to disclose the brand because now people can be aware of pirated look-alikes.

[Helen S]

I'm glad that your son is o.k.

[FirmDancer]

Thank you for alerting us. And I'm glad your son is ok.

I have a TRX. I had no idea you're supposed to replace the system every so often. If I had known that, I would not have purchased it. It's expensive enough; don't want to incur that every few years.