The Story of the Kaizen Jammer Arm Adapters - bringing my first fitness product to market
In November of 2022, I officially started selling my first fitness product. I am not part of a large well funded company. On the contrary, I am just a dude who lifts weights in the basement. In an attempt to keep the cost down, most of my equipment was purchased used or built by me. So how did I go from lifting weights in the basement to a worldwide product launch? I leveraged social media to get the word out, establish myself as an innovator, and get my product idea in front of large companies around the word.
I will start out by saying that prior to releasing this video, I had already established a moderately large social media following (maybe 80K followers total between Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, and Pinterest) and that was instrumental in helping my post go viral. I won’t be getting into my social media strategy in this article, but it is something I have covered extensively on my podcast Do You Even Lift Bro?
Last year I made a unique set of jammer arms that fully articulate. It was a super cool project and created a lot of buzz in the home gym community.
I thought to myself “these are cool, but what about all the people who bought traditional jammer arms?”
I conjured up the idea of adding an adapter that would give the arms a second pivot point and allow them a fuller range of motion. I made my initial prototype out of wood. I tested them out and the idea worked.
Next I contacted a local fabricator to make them out of 11 gauge steel.
This steel version was good enough to test out with weights and proved that this could be a viable product.
UK based company Gympin commented on the post offering to make them, with their design skills and emphasis on quality, I knew they’d be a great partner.
We spent the next two months communicating and refining the design via WhatsApp, getting everything just right, until they were ready.
This first batch of adapters were specifically compatible with the Rogue 2.0 trolley arms. We really wanted to focus on matching the quality of Rogue.
Utilizing the key system on the 2.0s, we added the feature to allow the user to lock the arms into 5 different positions.
The key can also be used to lock the arms in the down position.
Adapters for Rogue 2.0, Monster and Monster Lite 1.0 adapters, Rep ISO arms, and Titan X3 lever arms are now officially available to order through the Gympin website. Coupon code KAIZEN10 saves 10% on your entire order.
Titan T3, Bells of Steel, Fray, and Sorinex versions will be available in mid-2023.
For more in depth information, check out the Do You Even Lift Bro? episode where Kyle chats with Gympin about the process and answers questions from the community. Also available wherever you get podcasts.