Dr. Darden, I’ve been using HIT since the ‘90s using many of your (and Arthur Jones’) books and articles along the way. I recently took time off to rehab a nagging shoulder injury. My PT introduced me to the X3 Bar and variable resistance through the use of bands. I immediately liked it because it shares a few principles with HIT, such as slow controlled reps and a one set to failure protocol. Many of my nagging injuries and soreness have disappeared and believe it or not I’m making muscular gains…and my joints love it! I don’t want to get into the debate about X3/bands vs weights. I am going to use both moving forward and integrate them where possible. My question is twofold: Do you or anyone here have experience integrating the two methods of training? Has anyone applied HIT to X3 Bar/Band training? Thanks for your time!
Chris Masters
I don’t see why it couldn’t work out for for hit training bands have the most resistance when stretched maximally so work really well when doing negatives or static holds!
Mr. Masters,
I have read and own the X3 book. Interesting read for a top seller. I have many resistance bands from mild to wild! The variable resistance is real and a hallmark of nautilus and Arthur Jones. I use about 250 resistance band strength plus 450 lbs on leverage leg press.
If you have a cam this functions as variable resistance.
A cheap easy way for variable resistance is stage reps!
Variable resistance is extremely important.
After I gave up my hockey career due to injuries I got into bodybuilding. I quit hockey about 25 years ago and still have nagging injuries so I looked into the X3 bar and decided to give it a try for a change of pace. It’s been over three months and my old injuries feel much better. I’ll get back to the weights but I’ll stick with the bands for a while. As for using the bands for HIT Arjan Meijer posted a video on YouTube of his workout using 30-10-30. I’ve been doing it for the past week.
Interesting take on 30-10-30. Thanks for posting.
Love that band-assisted Sissy Squat idea — it’s a keeper!! Awesome Workout! I notice you weren’t using the X3 bar; what are your thoughts there?
Best,
Scott
Yeah, Arjan didn’t mention the X3 bar but I wanted to comment since he had the video about bands and 30-10-30 and Chris asked about the X3 bar for HIT. I use the the X3 bar for some of the exercises. But it is expensive and not necessary. Just get some good strong bands.
Oh, and yeah the sissy squats with the band are a killer. I just hook it around my power rack.