PLOT TWIST

     Keep in mind that I am writing this a year after I wrote what was "the fun part": The manufacturer refused to make more Uclips!!! It turns out manufacturing Uclips was a nightmare using conventional sheet metal manufacturing. The reason being that symmetrically bending thick steel requires custom equipment. To make the prototypes the manufacturer used step bending, which is much more expensive than regular bending. They did not tell me or their colleagues so for the next 3 months we were trying to make Uclips the wrong way. Essentially the problem was that the main holes did not align, so the bar could not slide in.

 

 

THE LIFE SAVER

During these 3 months I got a lot of worried customers, one of them gave me a call Benjamin Elster :

Ben: "Hey man, why are Uclips taking so long to ship out?"

Me: (depressed voice) " Hey Ben, I'm sorry but... I don't know how to make them anymore..."

Ben: "Look, I run a fitness business and I can help you make them"

Me: (surprised) "If you can fix my ever-lasting problem, I will happily take it!"

In a couple months, he had helped me make the first batch of Uclips, and they were awesome!!

 

IMPROVEMENTS: 1.0

When the first customers got the Uclip 1.0, the customer feedback was great and we quickly sold out! I was sincerely grateful for my customer base, but there were still improvements to be made:

• Reinforcing and stabilizing the D Rings or make another hole for carabiners
• The protective lining needed to stick better

     So, we made the D Rings double bolted, thicker, and had the protective lining be custom made with adhesive all over instead of using glue. This was a better alternative than having a second hole in the Uclip, because otherwise the carabiners would take up too much space when hung and the lining would not be supported by the countersunk bolts. The two bolts stopped the D Ring from rotating about a single bolt which inevitably stabilized the D Rings. We also figured out that a reason the lining was pealing was because it was gripping to the bar when loaded. A detail we adjusted by making the diameter of the lining slightly bigger than the clips.

 

 

IMPROVEMENTS: 2.0

  After receiving more feedback from the market, I found that customers using the product for heavy landmine rows and belt squats still experienced the lining coming off. Determined to solve this issue, I focused on making it unmovable. Originally, the idea of the U clip came to mind by envisioning it as a hand shaped like a U with a hole for barbell sleeves and D-rings. This led me to the concept of creating a "glove," and here's the result:

 

FUTURE PLANS

  The next steps for Uclips involve developing new products that align with the brand's commitment to maximizing versatility. I'm also exploring a partnership with Powerblocks to create a U clip specifically designed for their customers. Finally, I plan to expand to the UK, Canada, Australia, and Europe to reach and serve as many customers as possible.

 

Thanks for reading my story, and I hope you have a great day!

Eliott

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Everything above was written around June 2022
Update: 09/18/2025

A friend of mine reminded me I should update this aha. So... We're no longer trying to develop a Powerblock-specific U clip, as the market is just too small. However, we did expand to the UK, EU, Canada, and Australia! 🥳 (U clips only)

First, I developed Smile Handles and Back Bars, which I consider to be innovative without being "inventions" per se. They're a lot easier to sell because they're a combination of concepts people already know about, and people seem to like them—so that went well!

The Smile Handles were initially meant to combine with the U clip for landmine rows because most handles were too long for a full range of motion. But as I was developing it, I noticed people at the gym holding the knobs of cables for isolation exercises and thought it was weird that we still don't have D handles that can be used as hammer grips. Originally, it only had one eye bolt, but when doing rows you could feel the imbalance, so we made it symmetrical (Smile Handles were going to be the "B Handles"). So I asked our manufacturer to make a fully steel handle like this:

When I received the sample, it hurt my hands like crazy when used as a hammer grip, and because the middle handle was simply screwed to the eye bolts, you could not curl without friction. So I went back to the drawing board and made this new bad design:

I wanted to wrap a strap around this instead of the traditional straight D handle but with a double D-ring strap. Basically, like this:

But the problem with this design and regular D handles is that when you're rowing heavy and your grip gives out, it tilts to one side or the other. Using the Angle Sum property of triangles (shoutout to college for being useful), I knew that if I could fix one strap on both ends of the handle, it would not budge when going heavy. So I made something like this:

 

Now, the problem was that if I wanted a knurled handle, it had to be from a steel tube. So I split up the middle part into components and asked the manufacturer to make a sample. A detail I wanted—after destroying my hands with the first sample—was that the knurled handle had to freely rotate with respect to the strap, and the stops had to be the same diameter as the tricep pushdown rope stops. And I sent her this CAD model:

From that CAD file the manufacturer sent me this:

From that CAD file, the manufacturer sent me this:

And people really like it, so I'm happy! :)

As for the Back Bar, I wanted to make a product that combined several products I like: a deadlift jack, the MAG grips, multi-grip attachment bars, a flat grip, and I wanted the ability to use this for landmine rows. The best way I can describe what was going on in my head is with the picture below:

 

 

Originally, I wanted to have fixed neutral grips instead of a multi-attachment bar in the middle of the Back Bar. But when I asked for feedback, people requested more flexibility, so I went with the multi-grip. It's also better for people who have dual cable systems, since they can attach it simply without the need for a connector.

I then designed a simpler Viking Press. I wanted something sleek and robust. The one thing I did not like about other Viking Presses was that they did not allow for gripping in the corner. So I asked the manufacturer to bend a tube and weld it to the loading tube for maximum strength with minimal components (this is surprisingly expensive to make):

As I'm writing this, the I Bell is on pre-order, and it's taking off nicely. It's also more of an improved product than an invention. I would say the I Bell is my "dumbest" product yet, just because when I was looking for products to help grow my forearms, they typically did not have a way to simply work wrist flexion and extension. So I thought to myself, "Well... if I make a sphere that I can load, then I'll be able to hit any angle I want." And that's how the I Bell was born.

I'm also in the process of launching a product I'm calling the W Grip. If you're reading this before 10/15/2025, then you'll be aware of the launch before we announce it haha.

Until next time! Cheers,

- Eliott