The Science Behind X3 and Why It Works
In 2015, Dr. Jaquish authored a research protocol for a hospital in London to study human performance and bone health. In that study, he discovered that individuals could generate tremendous forces through their bodies by isolating the impact-ready range.1
These forces were seven times greater than those in the American College of Sports Medicine database (Zone A below).2 After making this discovery, he realized that lifting weights was not the best way to trigger muscle growth.
In the words of Dr. Jaquish:
You’re seven times stronger than you think you are. This is because humans have vastly different strength capabilities at different ranges of motion. With variable resistance training, you can safely train with the proper forces for every range of motion.
Our team designed a workout system to help people utilize the latest scientific findings for optimal strength training. The X3 Home Gym maximizes your muscle-building potential while minimizing the risk of injury.
It allows you to work out freely without the limitations and dangers of cumulative joint damage. While using the prototype, Dr. Jaquish gained 30 pounds of muscle and lost body fat at the same time.
NOW, there is a MUCH better way to achieve your fitness goals. Dr. John Jaquish discovered that humans are seven times stronger in impact-ready positions—their strongest range of motion—compared to joint-compromised, weaker positions. This simple yet previously overlooked finding explains why traditional weight lifting can be ineffective, and it is the subject of his book, "Weight Lifting is a Waste of Time."
Consider the deadlift, for instance. You start the exercise in your weakest position, progress through your mid-range strength as you lift, and end in your strongest position right before completing the lift.
If you choose a weight based on your weakest range, it restricts the weight you can lift and diminishes your overall strength potential throughout the range of motion.
The X3 Home Gym: The Ultimate Strength Training Disruptor
X3 effectively utilizes variable resistance training to ensure safe training with the appropriate forces for every range of motion. It applies lower weight forces at the beginning of a movement and gradually increases to higher weight forces at the end, unlike traditional weights.
As you progress through each repetition, the resistance adjusts to continually challenge you with increasing force, all while maintaining safety at every moment. The X3 Home Gym offers the most effective workout solution, and we will present additional peer-reviewed research in the following paragraphs to support this claim.
At the bottom of the page, you will also find articles from popular publications highlighting the benefits of variable resistance.
Variable resistance training (such as X3) creates muscle gains faster than conventional training. We quote from a study on Cornell Student-Athletes:
Compared with C(control), improvement for E (elastic) was nearly three times greater for back squat (16.47 +/- 5.67 vs. 6.84 +/- 4.42 kg increase), two times greater for bench press (6.68 +/- 3.41 vs. 3.34 +/- 2.67 kg increase), and nearly three times greater for average power (68.55 +/- 84.35 vs. 23.66 +/- 40.56 watt increase).3
Compared to traditional weight training, variable resistance training resulted in greater improvements in one-rep max and average power during the tested time period.
The advantages of variable resistance training may represent one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of sports performance science. In this study, you’ll see that the elastic group incorporated both variable resistance training and traditional resistance training. The athletes used bars and plates connected to elastic bands. Although the level of resistance changed, they consistently had to lift the bar, plates, or other mechanical assembly.
While X3 is lightweight, it offers a workout experience comparable to that of an Olympic-style barbell combined with weight plates. Therefore, we recommend using the X3 with constant tension throughout your exercises. Make sure the resistance band remains taut during the entire range of motion for each movement.
When used in this manner, the X3 Home Gym effectively replicates the conditions that contribute to increased muscle growth. The constant tension it provides ensures a baseline level of resistance, similar to that of a weighted barbell. As you move through the range of motion, the resistance increases.
Ultimately, muscle tissue does not distinguish whether the force is applied by an elastic band or by gravity acting on a heavy mass.
X3 for Effective Variable Resistance
Variable resistance training, such as with X3, elicits greater anabolic hormone responses compared to conventional weight lifting. Variable resistance increases serum testosterone and growth hormone levels more than regular weight lifting does.
The X3 Home Gym Makes High-Intensity Variable Resistance Accessible: The X3 workout incorporates variable resistance through the use of resistance bands. You might be asking, “Why not just use resistance bands?” The advantage of the X3 Home Gym is that you can double-over a heavy-duty band to create resistance exceeding 600 lbs during your workouts.
From what we understand, it is impossible to perform this activity due to the twisting of the ankles and the torsion applied to the wrists. Not only does this pose a risk of injury, but the body instinctively limits muscle activation when such discomfort occurs, a process known as neural inhibition.
The X3 Home Gym eliminates these limitations, allowing you to lift heavier weights while reducing the risk of joint damage. With the X3, you have a standard barbell interface and can perform the same lifts as you would with conventional weights, but now with the advantages of variable resistance.
Variable Resistance Versus Weights: Additional Studies
Another compelling piece of research on variable resistance showed greater muscular gains in the variable resistance group compared to the conventional weight group. This study used elastic bands attached to bars and plates rather than using them in isolation.
We aimed to closely mimic the experience from the scientific study, allowing X3 users to train with increased force for enhanced muscular gains. You don’t need to be a “student-athlete” to benefit from variable resistance training.
While discussing the Cornell Athlete Study, we often heard the puzzling argument that “variable resistance training only showed such strong improvement because the athletes were already highly trained.” The commonly held belief in athletics suggests that it becomes easier to improve performance once an athlete is already highly trained; however, this idea lacks solid evidence.
Nevertheless, research conducted on a middle-aged, sedentary population has shown that even low-intensity elastic band training can be just as effective as traditional weight training.4
There are no hidden advantages to training heavily in weak ranges of motion. In fact, training with variable resistance allows for better muscle recruitment, where you can generate more force. Contrary to some claims we’ve encountered, it’s a misconception that “the weakest range of motion is where you train the muscle.” This statement is not true.
Strength Output Potentials By Range of Motion Research on muscle recruitment, specifically potentiation, during maximum-effort bench press reveals important insights about performance. At the weakest point in the range of motion, known as the “sticking point,” failure to lift is not only due to mechanical disadvantages but also a significant drop in muscle recruitment, as indicated by electromyography measurements.
One study suggests that the sticking point occurs in this weak range of motion because of “diminishing potentiation of the contractile elements during the upward movement together with the limited activity of the pectoral and deltoid muscles.”5 Researchers have observed that during the weakest range of motion under high loads, individuals are unable to recruit as much muscle tissue as they can in other areas of the range of motion. This limitation serves as a protective mechanism of the nervous system, designed to prevent injuries to the joints by avoiding excessive force when in an awkward position.
However, upon reflection, it becomes clear that if we cannot engage the nervous system to achieve high levels of muscle tissue involvement during high-load activities in a weak range of motion, then that specific part of the exercise likely does not provide substantial training benefits for the muscle tissue.
Articles In The Popular Press
- Band Training for Big Gains (T-Nation.com)
- Get Big Fast with Variable Resistance (MensFitness.com)
- Variable Resistance Training = BIG Gains (FlexOnline.com)