Here's the story. I was out of college and didn’t have a consistent spotter to workout with. This meant I never got a good last rep, the most important one to gain strength! My max bench was steadily falling. Spotter options were; ask a stranger, pray to land on the short catches on the rack or use some kind of rack system. Well, I don’t trust others at the gym, the rack catches are too short, smith machines suck, and using a squat rack pisses people off. At home, I didn’t have the money or the room for a large piece of equipment in my garage. Searching the internet for a better spotter system revealed nothing existed. All I found were videos of benching fails. People were failing even with a friend spotting or a mechanical spotter. I knew there had to be a better way.
One day while lifting in my garage I spotted my vehicle jack stands. I thought if I could somehow make a stand using them I could adjust their height and rest the bar on them if I went to failure. This was NOT a good idea, and like the YouTube videos using stands it’s easy to miss them or they tip over. That’s when I realized if the stand hung from the bar you couldn’t miss it!
Over the next few years, while juggling a full-time job and having 2 more kids, I picked away at my idea. With a budget of tens of dollars, my idea went through around 10 prototypes. It was a struggle, I wanted something simple, small, safe, and affordable. My garage was for my cars and we didn't have room in our house for a traditional rack. As a mechanical engineer, I knew it was possible, although if you look at some of the prototypes I'm not sure what I was thinking. The new idea had to provide the confidence to let people max out their lifts, even while lifting alone.
Finally, after years of sweat and blood, the Launchpads were completed. I must also give credit to a few close friends and the manufacturer that I am now partnered with, for supporting and pushing me along my way.
What I didn't realize was that the years it took to make the Launchpads was the easy part. Marketing and sales are the hard part! I am NOT a social media guy, still no fb! With a budget of just a few bucks, I had to figure these things out. What you see here, the website, pictures, videos, Instagram was all done by me. It's not perfect, and that's just how it's going to be. Trying to hire things out gets expensive very fast.
The Launchpads are very proudly made in the USA. They are fabricated with US-made steel and help keep Americans employed. While they could be made for half the price overseas I am happy to keep them on US soil.
About me, Mike. My gym life started in high school with some of my best friends and it's the most consistent hobby I've had since. Working out in college was how I survived mentally. Sometimes we'd lift twice a day, to the detriment of my grades! Six plus years later I graduated as a mechanical engineer.
Since my dream was to work in Aerospace that's where I went. My first job had me designing repairs for damaged airplanes. Then I was designing mechanical systems for Navy jets and now I'm a flight test engineer, instrumenting and testing the world's newest Navy, Air Force, and commercial planes.
During this time I started a family and have a handful of great kids, an awesome wife who somehow manages everything while I'm gone for weeks to a random desert testing planes or on the opposite side of the planet supporting an airshow. We have a dog and enjoy spending 98% of our lives supporting our kids' numerous activities!
TO BE CONTINUED! Meanwhile, enjoy the LASER show!
|
The crazy cool laser!
Spent some time trying to figure out how to finish the bare metal. Photo-op at my buddies house. You can see my boat in the background, kidding! The End! |
