New and Cool @ HFB 2013: Ab Solo
The product form the Abs Company, formerly AbCoaster, makes working out feel like a trip to the arcade.
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+.
In addition to our continuing coverage of product and retail trends from this year’s Health and Fitness Business Expo, SNEWS is shining the spotlight on new and cool brands and products that caught our eye on the show floor at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
The Abs Company’s Ab Solo
Sean Gagnon, vice president
Chester, N.J.
Product Launching: 2013
http://theabscompany.com
There was definitely a fun-masked-as-exercise element to the products at September’s Health and Fitness Business Expo.
The Abs Company, formerly known as AbCoaster, introduced its newest product, the Ab Solo, at this year’s show.
The Ab Solo, an abdominal crunch machine, makes workouts feel like a trip to Dave and Buster’s.
A user sits on the seat — which is at an incline facing downward with an inflatable tube-shaped, bumper seat back — and proceeds to throw medicine balls at a target. The product’s digital counter tracks how many times the target’s hit in a certain time period.
It’s reminiscent of basketball shoot games at arcades, only the user is trying to hit a target with a medicine ball rather than sink a basketball for points. The medicine balls even comes back to the user in a way similar to basketballs in shoot games: They slide down a slope right back to the user. The product comes with two six-pound and two eight-pound medicine balls.
“It’s popular because it’s fun and very intuitive,” said Sean Gagnon, vice president of the Abs Company.
The company formerly known as AbCoaster purchased Absolo Fitness Equipment in December 2012, rebranded itself and went to work redesigning what is now the Ab Solo.
“This was our Christmas present to ourselves,” Gagnon said of the purchase, adding that the company name change was essential. “We’re doing more than just the AbCoaster now.”
The Ab Solo is different from the original Absolo product in that it has a smaller footprint, three separate touch targets at which to throw medicine balls and a heavy duty steel construction. All these changes make for a stronger, quieter product.
Business has been good for the Abs Company, Gagnon said, because abdominal machines and workouts are a staple to most gym-goers.
“People are constantly looking to have flat abs,” Gagnon said. The company is always on the lookout for innovative abdominal products to acquire though he said there weren’t any specific acquisitions in the works.
For now it’s focused on promoting its latest acquisition.
“Every club has a version of the crunch machine,” Gagnon said. “This one offers a more efficient top-to-bottom workout.”
