GRYPiT® at Elevate 2018

Stand G07

Science lends a guiding hand in GRYPiT® designs

Biomechanist Martin Haines explains the principles behind the design of GRYPiT® handles

“GRYPiT® has studied the biomechanical interaction between the arms and the hand and traditional gym handles to calculate optimal positioning.

“The handles are ergonomically designed to ensure wrists are as close to neutral positioning during training as possible.

“They are intended to cradle hands to heighten comfort and reduce risk of injury, limiting the likelihood of grip and muscle fatigue.

“To truly understand grip, first we need to understand the hand, wrist and forearm,” Haines explains. Anatomists have strived to classify the infinite range of actions of the hand, he adds. The broadest categories of gripping, non-gripping and hooking can be sub-classified into power and precision grip.

“The key consideration in optimising handle design is to optimise force transmission,” he continues. “The purpose of the gym handle is to transmit force from the user’s musculo-skeletal system to the item of equipment being used.”

In designing the range, GRYPiT® has embraced key guiding principles, Haines stresses. These are:

“Maximal hand, to minimise surface stress to the skin;

“Grip strength – greatest when the wrist is in the neutral position;

“Grip strength – least when the wrist is flexed as the fingers’ flexors are shortened;

Neutral position, which limits need for unnecessary muscle effort to grip and reduces risk of conditions such as carpel tunnel syndrome.”

The results of this appliance of biomechanical science are, he states, ”the best handles for fitness equipment in the world.”

Media inquiries to:
Speedmediaone
Greg Rhodes - M: 07711 604295 - E: greg@speedmediaone.co.uk

GRYPiT® at Elevate 2018

Stand G07

GRYPiT® unveils next generation of gym equipment handles at Elevate 2018

Gym handle designers and manufacturers GRYPiT® extend their range of cable equipment products with the release of bicep and tricep rope handles at Elevate.

Developed to deliver optimum positioning between the arms and hands during training on cable equipment, GRYPiT® handles are transforming traditional thinking about what is an often neglected aspect of equipment functional efficiency.

The latest generation of GRYPiT® handles, available in sets or singles, features resilient, hygienic polymer to deliver safe, comfortable and hygienic training without any need for gloves.

Designed, engineered and made in Britain, GRYPiT® handles have introduced an era of ergonomic precision into training with cable equipment, delivering a safe, scientifically sound alternative to traditional steel handles.

Backed by UK-based fast-response aftersales and service plus a five-year warranty against manufacturing defaults, GRYPiT® handles offer users safer, more secure grip and biomechanically superior training.

“In designing the range, GRYPiT® has embraced guiding principles, stresses biomechanist Martin Haines, who has assessed the functional performance of the handles.

“The key consideration in handle design is to optimise force transmission,” he continues. “The purpose of the gym handle is to transmit force from the user’s musculo-skeletal system to the item of equipment being used.”

The ergonomic design ensures wrists are neutrally positioned during training to reduce risk of compression injury, limiting likelihood of grip and muscle fatigue.The outcome of this appliance of biomechanical science is, he states, ”the best handles for fitness equipment in the world”.

GRYPiT® Managing Director Graham Taylor adds: “In field tests, the fitness sector has given us very positive feedback to our bicep and tricep rope handles.”

“Excitement and expectation surround their launch and we’re eager to demonstrate the ergonomic precision of both these and all our other gym handles.”

Specified by national fitness and leisure operators such as Edinburgh Leisure and DW Fitness, the GRYPiT® range comprises crossover handles, triceps press, row, biceps, lat pulldown and biceps curl.

Media inquiries to:
Speedmediaone
Greg Rhodes - M: 07711 604295 - E: greg@speedmediaone.co.uk

GRYPiT® at Elevate 2018

Stand G07

GymFit grips cable future

An East Midlands gym is pioneering innovative equipment handles that it believes will transform the efficiency and safety of cable-based training.

GymFit independent gym in Ripley, Derby, offers the promise of providing “absolutely any fitness goal” in the heart of the community, running a wide selection of equipment and experienced, fully qualified and friendly staff.

It provides more than 100 stations, from plate-loaded units to free weights and selectorised machines within three weights rooms and a cable equipment area, while running Disco Spin, HIIT circuits and Cardio Fitness strength and functional training.

Opened 18 months ago, GymFit is stocked with mainly StarTrac downstairs and a mix of makes upstairs. “A gym has been on this site for 25 years but the previous one focused on bodybuilding,” explains co-owner James White.

With membership nudging 1,000 and spanning the 14 to 60s demographic, the latest occupier is clearly serving a wide community base in its Derby catchment.

Now its fitness armoury includes a full set of GRYPiT® precision-engineered polymer handles that are creating a flood of interest and activity among members, he reports.

“Everyone gravitates to GRYPiT®," states James, who specified the handles after trialling them at GymFit. “The low row is particularly popular, so too are the tricep bar and lat pulldown.

“We encourage everybody to use the handles, pick them up and have a go,” he adds. “Although they are radically different in design and feel from traditional products, GRYPiT® handles are “intriguing” rather than “intimidating”, our members say.

“The handles hold you in the correct position and engage good form without need for coaching, another major benefit,” he says.

“For cable flys, the crossover handles are perfect adds James, 30, a qualified personal trainer who entered the industry straight from the University of Derby, where he had graduated with a degree in sports science.

Some handles also perform more than one function. “The biceps' narrow grip doubles as a really effective reverse tricep and the lat pulldown is a great wide-grip row too.

“I had never felt the need for a different grip for the lat pulldown or low row so confess that I was a little sceptical at first but once I’d tried them I knew we just had to buy them and the decision has certainly paid off.”

Some handles also perform more than one function. “The biceps' narrow grip doubles as a really effective reverse tricep and the lat pulldown is a great wide-grip row too.

“I had never felt the need for a different grip for the lat pulldown or low row so confess that I was a little sceptical at first but once I’d tried them I knew we just had to buy them and the decision has certainly paid off.”

The handles have the potential to impact other specialised sectors of fitness, adds James, believing that they will prove “extremely useful for injury prevention work for elite athletes and biomechanical support work in pre-season training”.

Manufactured and engineered in Britain, the GRYPiT® range currently comprises lat pulldown, triceps, biceps, crossover handles and row.

Major fitness operators such as DW Fitness and Edinburgh Leisure have already specified the handles in their new and refurbished gyms across Britain. Independent gyms are now following suit.

www.grypit.com

Media inquiries to:
Speedmediaone
Greg Rhodes - M: 07711 604295 - E: greg@speedmediaone.co.uk

Get a handle on the future

Gym Owner Monthly

Every so often, the status quo shifts. It just has in the gym, Greg Rhodes reports.

Spinning is a world phenomenon now. Thousands of gyms run classes across the UK and abroad but it wasn’t always so.

When Polaris unleashed the Schwinn fitness brand in Britain in the late ‘80s, the equipment distributor pioneered a style of gym cycling that would transform the exercise landscape – eventually.

The indoor cycling programme developed by South African professional cyclist Johnny G exploded on to the fitness sector in a whirl of wheeling, high energy routines and inspirational instruction – of which he was the unrivalled master.

Though difficult to grasp now, Spinning took its time to change the mindset of gym operators. “When I saw Spinning in the US, I knew it was a must for Britain,” recalls Graham Taylor, the then managing director of Polaris.

“Despite a high-powered marketing campaign to launch it here, operators and owners were initially cautious of an untried concept that would take up valuable floor space in the gym.”

Eighteen months would elapse before the floodgates opened, as they did for another UK-first rolled out by Polaris – the Schwinn Airdyne, with its iconic `big fanwheel`, and the Bowflex home gym.

Taylor went on to dominate the marketplace with the innovative machines, later introducing other leading brands such as Trotter and Bodyguard and forming his On Site Fitness e-commerce business.

Still alert to tomorrow’s trends, Taylor is once again opening the doors of fitness innovation on what is a forgotten corner of gym provision – cable equipment handles.

Now at the helm of GRYPiT Ltd, he and a development team have spent the last couple of years perfecting a selection of gym handles to suit every requirement of pulley systems.

A world away from traditional steel bars and handles, the GRYPiT® robust, polymer moulded range reshapes thinking about role and function.

The first products off the UK production line - triceps and biceps bars, lat pulldown, crossover handles and rower handle – all carry a common quality.

They ensure the hands are correctly aligned in the `neutral` position when training to help reduce risk of stress-induced conditions such as carpel tunnel syndrome, lessen likelihood of grip fatigue and promote improved performance.

“I was keen to test the handles independently before going public,” Taylor explains, “and put them in the hands of biomechanical and movement specialists, PTs and the general public."

“The universal feedback was that GRYPiT® handles brought a fresh dimension to training with pulley systems and were safer in use than traditional bars and handles because they channel the hands into the correct position for optimal work, reducing the risk of potentially debilitating conditions.”

Those responses proved the trigger for Taylor to go into full production. Sets are already out there, in operator Edinburgh Leisure sites across the Scottish capital, in JD Gyms and DW Fitness as word spreads about something truly game-changing in the fitness environment.

“The fitness sector has looked at just about every aspect of gym provision except handles,” states Taylor. “I believe it will not be too long before operators and owners recall what their pulley equipment was like before and think: `Why have we waited so long for this.”

Sometimes the obvious is all it needs to change the game.