Introduction
We talked with Britton from Vendetta Strength about his journey so far as he’s getting into the home gym space, the jammer arm mounts, what’s next, the ultimate goal, and more.
(0:08) Mechanical Engineering & personal background
At only 27 years old, Britton is a reactor coolant engineer by day and a gym equipment designer by night.
Britton’s day job is spent working as a mechanical engineer at a nuclear power plant. When he first graduated from college, he spent the first few years of his career working on robotic tooling in assembly lines for some major automotive companies. He was able to get experience in college when he competed in the SAE Baja challenge, where he built a 1-seater Polaris racer from the ground up.
(1:45) The foundation of Vendetta
His design background from college and working design through the automotive robotics side of his vocational journey have clashed with his home gym journey. Britton found a way to work design back into his life but now in his home gym. In late 2020 Britton started to tinker and create, and things have continued to grow as he has begun to design a few unique pieces.
(3:22) The jammer arms
Britton’s jammer arm adapter design has 15 different starting positions at 15-degree increments and can be locked in at any place. With his unique design, Britton has demoed some new ways to use the jammer arms on his Instagram but says that he’s excited for others to get them and start tinkering with creative ways to put them to use.
With these mounts, you can accomplish a seated shoulder press, bench press, incline bench, dips, sit-ups, leg raises and reverse hypers without needing to rig up a way to hold them at the correct height and in the proper position.
(5:24) Equipment needed for design
Britton uses 3D designing software on his computer and a wide variety of specialty tools (grinders, welders, saws) to build his prototypes to design a new product. He assembles their designs into the final product when all his designed pieces come in. He then sends items out to be plasma or laser cut and uses McMaster-Carr for parts.
(8:05) Other attachments to go with jammer arms.
First came the jammer arms, then came all of the attachments that go with them. The first one Britton highlights with us are the removable handle attachment that is ‘extremely’ adjustable, more adjustable than other handles on the market. He is also working on a pad that will attach to the jammer arms that will have a ‘multi-mount’ to work for various movements that you would need a pad/bench for.
(9:45) Current catalogue
Currently, in the works, Britton is working on six different products. Three are centered around the jammer arms, while the other three are stand-alone. Britton shared one of those products with Jake and Adam off the air, his flywheel he is working on, which he says will be an affordable option.
(13:42) The feeling of getting beat to the punch
Seeing other companies release products he had previously thought of is what finally drove Britton to start working on pushing his ideas and designs out. He was able to talk about a product that he sidelined a while back which was recently introduced, and that was the rack attached leg extension/leg curl. Ultimately, it drove Britton to pursue releasing his products, but he did share that it’s not a fun feeling.
(15:00) The big picture
The big picture for Britton would be to turn Vendetta into a full-time gig. Until that day, he shares that for now, he plans on spending as much time as he can building new/unique products and shipping them out to consumers.
(16:35) Time management
These days Britton is getting his workouts in early, heading to work until that 5 o’clock bell rings, then it’s home to be a family man. As the night winds down, that’s when he heads down to the basement to start tinkering. With having every other Friday off work, he can spend those days dedicated to Vendetta, and the weekends are also consumed with his passion project.
(18:41) Advantages of working in different industries
Starting in college, Britton started picking up the skills he uses at Vendetta now. From making mistakes in his early design days designing his Baja racer to working with robotics and designs in the automotive field and expanding his design practices, all of his experiences have put him on the fast track to designing his gym equipment. That doesn’t mean he is not making mistakes, but he embraces the mistakes as things to learn from.
(22:15) Dream collaborator?
Britton would love to collaborate with other small American-made companies. One in particular that he mentions is Surplus Strength. By teaming up with other small companies, he says that everyone can benefit and help support each other.
(23:37) What’s next?
Britton polled his followers to see what their wants were for the next release, and these were the options: the flywheel, adjustable leg rollers, adjustable rack pad, and multi-mount seat pad. From the looks of the data, the flywheel was the big winner. Britton showed Jake and Adam the device in action off the air so that it could be making its way to market within the year. When will we see an affordable, adjustable, portable flywheel coming out from Vendetta?
Keep your eye on Vendetta strength, which you can follow on Instagram at Vendettastrengthandathletics and Vendettastrengthandathletics.com. The episode can be listened to on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts!