GMX7 is a SwimSwam partner.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Despite a shortened season due to the pandemic, Queens University of Charlotte won both the men’s and women’s NCAA Division II swimming and diving championship for the 6th straight year this past weekend.
Queens head Coach Jeff Dugdale credits the X1-PRO by GMX7 as being an asset, providing both feedback and resistance training, which helped his student athletes prepare for competition.
“We finally got our entire team back in January,” said Dugdale. “With such limited pool time we had to formulate a different approach to the season and create a training program that would help our athletes swim faster, increase discipline in their lane and prevent injury.”
Queens men’s and women’s swim programs started using the X1-PRO in June and incorporates it in their training program twice a week.
The X1-PRO is a small, 6-inch-long, resistance training device that weighs less than 4 pounds and clips into the end-point connections for a pool’s lane lines. It can then be connected to the swimmer via a leash and travels on a line back and forth up to 50 meters in length at the adjustable resistance the swimmer desires.
“We only have one on campus pool and another that’s three miles away. The X1-PRO is the only tool that’s versatile enough to move between pools and provide countless benefits to our athletes,” said Dugdale.
The Queens Royals creative use of the X1-PRO also caught the attention of David McCagg, a 7-time gold medalist, former world record holder and founder of GMX-7.
“Jeff is absolutely one of the top coaches in the world. He’s very innovative and is doing some amazing things with the X1-PRO, taking it to a higher level,” said McCagg.
According to Dugdale, they love their X1-PRO’s at Queen’s and use them in very innovative ways.
“As my mentor, David Marsh always said, ‘successful coaches must be creative and figure it out,’ “said Dugdale.
“We’ve taken the X1-PRO, which is well known by athletes, trainers and coaches for its resistance and started to use it for feedback, helping our swimmers identify crossover in their backstroke or coming out of the water too much in their breaststroke,” said Dugdale. “We had two All Americans this year in the breaststroke and I absolutely see improvements in our swimmers, in and out of the water thanks to the X1-PRO.”
Queens athletes are not the only champions training with the X1-PRO.
Currently, more than 75 anticipated Olympians from 15 countries across the world are training on the X1-PRO in hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics with more to come.
From reigning 100-meter butterfly world-record holder and 2-time Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel, to 6-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte, who holds the world record for the 200-meter individual medley, the X1-PRO, assembled in the USA by GMX7, is quickly becoming a necessity for all levels of competitive swim, especially those collegiate swimmers working so hard to get to the very top of their sport.
Development of the X1-PRO began in 2018, and it was tested extensively at the University of Florida prior to becoming available to the general public earlier last year.
About GMX7
Founded in 2018, GMX7 is based in St. Petersburg, Florida and is dedicated to changing the world of swimming by empowering competitive swimmers with the best aquatic resistance training devices ever created. GMX7 was founded by David McCagg, a 7-time gold medalist, former world record holder and winner of multiple national championships. The first device on the market by GMX7 is the X1-PRO.
Designed by ROBRADY Engineering, the X1-PRO has already been the recipient of several international awards including the 2020 International Design Excellence Award, 2020 Red Dot Award and most recently the Good Design Award in 2020.
GMX7 is a SwimSwam partner.