Adapt CABL Trainer

A New Way to Train.

Streamlining Fitness

The Adapt Cable Trainer makes exercise readily available outside the commercial fitness environment, its compact design eliminating many of the barriers that prevent the uptake and use of conventional home fitness equipment. Its multi-use functionality provides the benefits of full-body training and rehabilitation, while the innovative wall-mount design adds stability, frees up floor space and positions the trainer so that it is instantly ready for use. The sleek form was ultimately engineered to be unobtrusive, seamlessly integrating into any home or workspace.

The design allows a cable extension of 1.4m in any 3D direction from the wall, and together with the 6 force settings and 9 mounting height options, it provides a wide variety of exercises targeting all major muscle groups. This allows it to cater for applications from lighter weight exercises and rehabilitation to complex movement patterns and major muscle group workouts.

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2020 Good Design Award Gold

2023 NY Product Design Awards Silver

2023 FIT Sport Design Award

Focus Areas

User-Centred Design
Industrial Design
Form and Ergonomic Models
User-Interaction Models
Product Engineering
Prototyping
Design for Manufacture
Test Rig Machine Design
Cyclic Testing

Year

2020

Client

Adapt Fit

User adjusting resistance level on Adapt CABL using intuitive dial at the bottom of the product

Woman attaching Adapt CABL trainer to rail system at desired height.

Design Achievements

Size

Weight

Integration

Ease of Use

Typical cable trainers are often bulky, using weights to deliver resistance which makes them heavy to ship, install and move. In turn, the Cobalt team developed a product that overcomes these challenges. The Adapt Cable Trainer is compact, easy to install and avoids the use of physical weights.

The Cobalt Design team had to innovate, creating a patentable mechanism that allows an ultra-compact, low mass form factor. As a result, the product’s overall size and mass were drastically reduced by using nitrogen-filled struts, which provide the same force as cast-iron weights at 1/10 of the mass.

Cobalt’s final design solution exercises a restrained approach in developing the form and appearance of the Adapt Cable Trainer to ensure it could integrate into a variety of domestic settings and to create a simplicity that invites confidence in use.

Not only have we designed a solution that meets the above needs, but it also is incredibly simple to use via two interaction points highlighted by polished rings: for height adjustment, and resistance level. To further enhance the user experience, the mechanisms were rigorously tested to ensure minimal noise and a smooth feel during use.

The Team We believe good design happens by expert people working as a team.

Libby Christmas Project Leader

Davis Tolley

Craig Burton

Rob Cuzner

Thao Nguyen

Ben Goodwin

Nathan Scanlon

Warwick Brown

Graeme Marshall

Daniel Farmer

Woman exercising with rope attachment on Adapt CABL trainer

A Refined Solution

The simplicity and sophistication of the user experience was a major design objective, acting as a driver for both the mechanical configuration, design language and human factors design. For example, only two simple and intuitive adjustments are required to set up the Adapt Cable Trainer for any given exercise, and the fresh aesthetic creates an appropriate departure from the typical expectations of ‘steel and sweat’. The design ensures all interfaces are intuitive, and new exercises can be set simply by sliding the unit on its track and selecting the desired force via a dial.

Man exercising using Adapt CABL equipment.

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Adapt CABL internal resistance system design

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