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XVEST TRAINING
By John Davies

With a firm understanding of the concepts of our training firmly in place and the realization that true all-around athletic development will come via adherence to the “wheel of conditioning” it is definitely time to get to some real-world work with the Xvest.
First though, I need to quickly to point out one of the typical errors with weighted vest training is the simple, almost pedestrian use of it as a merely resistance with isolation movements (i.e. dips, chins). That is a grave error as it can and should be in used in many facets of training, from compound explosive lifts, to General Physical Preparation.

Within training circles, it is quite common to be asked, what is the “one thing” that should be done in training. And as I am so known to say “the one thing is the whole thing”, emphasizing that there are no short-cuts and no “one thing” that will perfect your training. Yet at the risk of sounding to bold, with complete adherence to our “training concepts” and “the wheel”, the use of the Xvest is quite possibly the most powerful tool in exercise training not merely for work within the gym but external use in passive daily wearing.

That is a decided “key” to training with the Xvest; the product can be used throughout your day in any setting with tremendous benefits. When employing the Xvest, the first step in our work is to wear it in our daily activities that you normally encounter. Starting slowly with roughly 5% of bodyweight for a few hours a day. While it may seem like a small amount, it will impact upon you and you need to gradually build up tolerance but also be careful not to disrupt correct biomechanics – remember at all time’s picture-perfect posture (re “concepts”) must be maintained. Quickly the weight will build and the vest will be worn throughout the entire waking day, including training. This has been shown to have dramatic impact on force development within weeks of starting this training. Extensive research, notably performed by C. Bosco in the mid 1980’s laid the groundwork of what he termed as a “hypergravity” training period and its impact is nothing short of startling. With common adaptation (considered at the neurogenic level) we gradually, over a period of months, build up to wearing up to 10-20% of bodyweight and the training effect has continued to improve.

In our next installment, we’ll take a look at application within training day environments.

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