Ex-Navy SEAL Sells TRX Fitness Gear That ’Enables’ Content Sales

In 1997, Navy SEAL squadron commander Randy Hetrick was in Southeast Asia, preparing for a training mission that involved scaling a cargo ship and commandeering it. Operating undercover, Hetrick and his team of frogmen couldn’t leave the wharfside warehouse until the mock exercise began. As days turned to weeks, Hetrick -- like most SEALS, conditioned as if he were a professional athlete -- started looking for alternatives to sit-ups and pushups.

Familiar with body-weight training, a type of exercise used for years by acrobats, Hetrick wondered whether he could fashion a device that would use his weight to strengthen his muscles. Rooting around in a supply box, he found a spool of nylon webbing employed in making parachute harnesses. After cutting three strips and tying them into a Y, Hetrick attached one end to the door and held the other two in his hands. Then he started experimenting on himself, attracting the attention of colleagues who offered suggestions. “SEALs are pretty innovative cats, particularly around physical training,” he says.