Originally designed as therapeutic aid, the patented secret of the XCO-TRAINERs® is located at the heart of the device. Contrary to inert dumbbells, special granules inside the XCO-TRAINERs® act as an oscillating mass. By dynamically swinging the XCO-TRAINERs® back and forth, the oscillating mass is propelled rocket-like from one side of the bar to the other.
Extracts from a study carried out by the Medical Institute of Physics at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany). The aim of the trial was to establish whether the “bulk mass” in the shape of granules provides more efficiency than a solid mass.
What is the XCO® effect, then?
The XCO-TRAINERs® (XCOs) require precise motion sequences at all times. Only if a dynamic movement is maintained so as to provide adequate impulses at the reversal points, does the “oscillating mass” accelerate as it should and produce the typical motion characterised by a rhythmic shifting of the granules from one end of the bar to the other. While training, you feel and hear that shifting motion.
Due to the characteristic dynamics you want to exploit, XCOs act as a kind of “motion challenge” for the person exercising with them, and provide a minimum level of intensity when handled correctly. All the time, the person exercising benefits from kinaesthetic and auditory feedback indicating that their motion sequence is correct. This ensures that the quality and thus intensity of movement remain on a constantly high level even during extensive walking trips. In addition, when exercising with granules-filled XCOs, you gain more momentum for the same amount of exertion which, in exchange, makes it easier to trigger the technical dynamics.
Dumbbells of the same weight do not require an impulse-giving motion sequence as described. They offer no incentive for particular movements nor provide control of the feedback mechanisms, so that no comparable degree of intensity can be achieved and/or maintained over some time. Furthermore, the same acceleration (needed to achieve the same intensity) results in stronger forces that are experienced as unpleasant and put additional strain on the musculoskeletal system. The ensuing disharmonious, jerky movements are characterised by brief, high strength peaks. Download of the complete study in PDF format
