The Core-Strengthening Workout Kate Hudson Can’t Get Enough Of

It kind of seems like there are no workouts that Kate Hudson hasn’t tried. Look through her Instagram, her cover stories, her interviews, and you’ll quickly see that she’s a fitness fanatic: She keeps her home gym well stocked with equipment, and she’s constantly bouncing between pilates (with and without tools), yoga, cycling, dancing, weightlifting, and more. Yes, she’s seemingly tried everything — but perhaps her most impressive fitness foray of all is Hudson’s TRX workouts, one of which she posted a video of on Instagram just this month.

The shot features the entrepreneur with her feet hanging from suspension ropes, with muscles quivering through an intense plank series as her trainer, Brian Nguyen, cheers her on in the background. “She’s starting to wake up!” the 42-year-old wrote in the caption. “Carried 3 babies who did a number on these hips and shoulders! Ladies! We carry our beautiful children ALL DAY LONG (literally AND figuratively) and forget to balance it out. Time to balance that SH#! OUT!”

It’s intimidating, to say the least. The actor, with her body suspended in the air and her forearms resting on an elevated surface, slowly moves into a pike plank before bending her knees, and then just as carefully moves back to her elevated plank. Though all of her workouts look exhausting, the sheer determination and control she projects throughout these movements proves just how difficult this particular workout must be — and why Hudson keeps going back to this method again and again.

That’s no exaggeration; Hudson has been a vocal fan of TRX for years. “I also love TRX because it's similar to Pilates in that you use your own body weight,” she told Shape in 2016. In fact, she’s so obsessed that she keeps the suspension ropes hanging up in her home gym — how’s that for dedication?

While it’s obvious that TRX ropes add a challenge to any workout, it’s more than just their difficulty that’s made them popular. TRX, which stands for total body resistance exercise, was developed by former U.S. Navy SEAL Randy Hetrick and involves a set of suspension trainers from which you can hang your feet or hands. The point is to utilize gravity and body weight to make moves harder.

Using TRX can help strengthen any areas of your body you choose to focus on, whether that be your arms or your legs. On top of that, it can also improve flexibility. But regardless of what move you’re doing, the TRX is designed to always work your core — and it’s proven to be effective. As the Huffington Post noted in 2016, a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that exercises done using the TRX outperformed those done without when it came to core muscles.

The TRX system is also versatile. The straps can be installed in a number of places, and used in many of the exercises you already do. Plus, you can adjust the level of resistance easily, so if something becomes too easy, you can instantly up the difficulty.

Let’s be real, though — if it’s approved by fitness queen Kate Hudson, that’s convincing enough. If you’re tempted to try (who wouldn’t be?), continue on to stock up on a few of her TRX workout essentials to help you get started.

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