X3 Bar for Cheap

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Throughout the years, I have worked on finding what I thought was the best workout routine for me and my lifestyle. As the years have gone on I have found that I seem to have less and less time to dedicate to myself (really this is a time management issue and I need to get better and prioritizing my time). I know that I am not alone in this and I have found that I have been giving less effort to making sure I am staying fit and healthy enough to do the things I love to do. Exercise is just a part of the health equation, although this was the part I found was lacking in my life as of late. So I dedicated some time to research to find something that I could do in my busy schedule without feeling like I was spending hours and hours away from my projects and family.

What I found was probably not too different from anyone else, Dr. John Jaquish seems to be all over social media with his new product the X3 Bar. If you haven’t seen or heard of it let me tell you a little about it. Basically, John did a lot of research and found that if you use variable resistance your muscle growth produces at a rate that is 3 times faster than using other methods.  He has a lot of science-based studies on his site for reference which is pretty interesting. One of the best parts for me is that each daily workout is around 10 minutes is all.

I was very interested in using his product after looking over the studies that he references until I found the price… At this time the X3 Bar is selling for just under $600 and for me, that was too much, especially when I am basically trying this out to see how it goes. So I put on my problem-solving hat and went to work on a solution and came up with a DIY version that is proving to be very good.

The Bar

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I can’t deny that the bar for the X3 bar looks to be built very well, but I went ahead and did some digging and found this bar on Amazon that would do the trick. This bar is very well made and is strong enough to withhold the resistance of the bands. The metal construction will hold up well, the only issue I found was how to connect the bands, on the X3 bar has a hook that holds the bands flat when in use and the GoFit Bar has small carabiners on it which won’t fit wide bands the way I was hoping for which led me to the next solution find.

The Hooks

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So I searched as much as I could handle to find a hook similar to the one that is found on the X3 Bar but I’m pretty sure that those were designed especially for the X3 system, so I put on my thinking cap to find a different solution. What I found was larger carabiners, make sure to get real ones so that they can withstand the tension that is put on them (not fake ones, make sure they are for climbing use). These are some of the largest with the best price that I could find. The goal is to use the “top” section that is the widest part of the carabiner to hold the band, keeping the band as flat as possible. I like the blue ones but there are a couple of colors that allow you to customize your look.

The Bands

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This leaves the last part that I purchased, the bands. The X3 Bar has what they say are specially engineered bands that are 50-100 time stronger than normal exercise bands. I’m sure they make a great band product but I have found that these bands have a similar strength rating that the X3 Bar bands state they have.  I use the green and purple bands from UPowex for most of my workouts. I have considered purchasing this stronger band from Draper’s Strength for when I feel that these bands aren’t enough for me (which may never happen since I can double up the bands for more resistance).

And there you go!

Now the X3 Bar comes with a board that you use to stand on while doing some of the workouts, I made my own from some scrap wood that I had at the house. As far as the workouts go they can be found on Youtube.com for free. As of the time of this writing, your all in cost would be $89.24 for the whole system which in my book is a big win compared to $600. Let me know if you have found anything better or if this has worked for you like it has for me.

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