I created 6-Pack-Strap while I was in college. I had committed myself to getting into the best shape of my life. My first step in this process was to start properly hydrating. I began always carrying a glass water bottle with me (I did not like how plastic bottles made the water taste). From there, I started going to the gym regularly. First, just a few times a week. Then I began going every day, then I started doing two-a-days in the gym. At the same time, I was experimenting with my diet. I tried every possible diet. I tried vegan, carnivore, and everything in between. At the same time, I was consuming all the fitness and weightlifting content I could get my hands on. I was learning about the philosophy behind the different fitness regimens and all the techniques and exercises for stimulating muscle growth. I was feeling great. I felt like I was learning constantly and was always excited to try the things I learned in the gym and kitchen.
I committed further. I began taking an exercise and physiology class. In that class, I learned the technical details of how muscles work and grow. In that class, I learned that only two things stimulated hypertrophy (muscle growth): increasing time under tension and increasing resistance weight. I took those findings and applied them to my training.
The more I learned about muscle hypertrophy, the more unsatisfied I became with exercising my core. The weight training exercise machines and equipment only targeted my upper abs, while my problem area was my lower abs. My upper abs were usually visible, but my lower abs were non-existent. The only exercises that targeted my lower abs were bodyweight movements. The movements felt great; they were some of my favorite exercises, and they were universally agreed to be really healthy movements. However, I quickly built up a tolerance to them, and after just a few days of doing them, I was spending more time doing them than in the rest of the gym. I hated exercising for time under tension. For some reason, the core was the only major muscle that people accepted as only being able to be trained by time under tension. The bodyweight ab exercises became boring as well. Progress was difficult to track, and I often felt like I left the gym with my abs untested. I would become very frustrated. I would cuss through my workouts because I was so frustrated by my lack of progress. I wanted a 6-Pack! No one could recommend a surefire way to train your abs. Why were there no agreed-on best ab training exercise devices?
I committed further. I would spend nights researching the best ab exercises. From my research, I learned that the vertical hip lift movement was the movement that best stimulated the rectus abdominis. Not only that, but that movement also targeted the lower abs. So now I knew the movement I wanted to do.
Next, I went about finding a device to help me weight this movement. First, I tried to find equipment in my gym. I spoke with trainers and asked for recommendations, but I found nothing. Next, I hopped on Amazon and other fitness websites; again, there was nothing!
Whatever, I knew the movement, and I knew how to weight it. Using a bunch of makeshift parts, I built a strap that could securely hold a weight and tighten enough around my leg so that it would not slide down.
It was awful. I would have to twist it, pull it, and jig it to get it to work. But when I did, it did work. I was able to do the ab exercises the way I wanted.
After using the device I made, I would feel a sensation in my core analogous to that felt in your bicep muscle after doing bicep curls. The exercise was clean, obvious, and fast. After doing it, my core felt isolated and exhausted. It was unbelievably satisfying. Also, I was excited to improve, knowing that once I got good at my current weight, I could quickly increase it and continue to improve.
It was perfect. After three weeks of using the device, I noticed a line forming under my lowest right ab muscle. I couldn’t believe how fast it worked and how quickly I was seeing results! I had done it! I was getting a six-pack!
I kept at it. I continued using the device and continued to see better and better results. I also realized that the device was useful for a variety of exercises. One day in the gym, a girl tapped me on the shoulder and asked if she could use the device. I explained to her that I had made it and it was not fitness equipment (really, it was just sweaty and gross, and I was embarrassed to lend it to her). As I explained that to her, a light bulb went off in my head! It was fitness equipment! I had made a piece of fitness equipment!
