Competitive swimmers training at SPIRE Academy boarding school are now working out with the XI-PRO, an innovative aquatic resistance training device from GMX7 that is revolutionizing how these athletes train in the water.

Weighing in at less than five pounds, the X1-PRO device is six inches long with adjustable resistance that clips into the end-point connections for a pool’s lane lines. It is connected to the swimmer with a 3mm double braided polyester sailing line, allowing it to travel back and forth up to 50 meters in length. The X1-PRO’s patent-pending design provides smooth, bidirectional resistance, allowing the swimmer to train with adjustable resistance through limitless workout options.

“The X1-PRO is an easy to set up, simple to maintain resistance training tool that every swimmer can benefit from,” says SPIRE’s Director of Aquatics Thad Schultz. “It’s also a great tool to use with low resistance to work on correcting technique, improving stroke awareness and developing faster, more powerful starts, turns, underwater and breakouts.”

“Introducing the X1-PRO to SPIRE’s training program is helping our student athletes perfect their stroke efficiency and alignment with zero drag,” says Coach Shultz, “Giving them an entirely new opportunity to gain a competitive advantage.”

According to Shultz, integrating state-of-the-art technology like the XI-PRO into its swimming training program is an example of how committed SPIRE Academy is to innovation and customization for its student athletes. “By coupling Swimming Training with a commitment to maximizing each student’s personal development and preparation for multiple career options, SPIRE Academy is the best place to get ready to excel in school, at work and within life itself,” he says. “Students live, go to school, train and compete on SPIRE’s Campus, the largest multi-sport facility in the nation.”

SPIRE’s 9-12th grade college preparatory, accredited, cross curricular, project-based program is designed with the progressive learner/thinker in mind. The high school academy features a blended learning combination of college preparatory academics, along with unique personal development and career preparation features.

The X1-PRO is the first device brought to market by Tampa-based GMX7. Founded by David McCagg, a 7-time gold medalist, former world record holder and winner of multiple national championships, and designed by ROBRADY Engineering, GMX7’s X1-PRO has already received several international awards, including the 2020 Design Excellence Award and the 2020 Red Dot Award for product design.

“What makes the X1-PRO better than anything before it is that a swimmer can take it with them wherever they go, clip into the existing swim lane markers and add resistance to their training at the level they are comfortable with,” says Coach Schultz. “It’s portable, versatile, and does far more than any other device on the market. In a word, it’s revolutionary.”

SPIRE International Swim Ambassador Caeleb Dressel (two-time Olympic champion, 13-time World Champion) is currently using the XI-Pro as part of his training regimen. Dressel, who is projected to win 6-8 gold medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, recently smashed two world records and took home MVP honors while competing at the International Swimming League in Budapest, Hungary in November of 2020. The 24-year-old swimmer from Green Springs Grove, Florida had already broken Michael Phelps’s world record in the men’s 100-meter butterfly in South Korea earlier in 2020.

“Michael Phelps set the standard as the greatest Olympic athlete of all time,” says GMX7’s founder and CEO David McCagg, ”And now Dressel is dominating the swimming world, shredding world records and earning the title of the greatest swimmer on the planet today. The times he is producing are leaving all of us in the swim world speechless.”

SPIRE International Swim Ambassador and 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte is also currently training with GMX7’s X1-PRO. Lochte, a swimming legend with 90 major international medals to his credit (54 gold, 22 silver, and 14 bronze), has high praise for the X1-PRO, calling it a “game changer” and “the best resistance tool (he’s) ever trained with.”

Dressell, Lochte and SPIRE’s competitive swimmers are not the only topnotch athletes working out with the X1-PRO. At least 75 Olympic hopefuls from 10 countries around the world are currently using the innovative aquatic resistance training device to train at a higher level than previously possible.