JayFlex is a fitness brand headquartered in Springville, Utah. It was founded in 2018.
The night Ethan and Kinsee Abbott were in the hospital to deliver their baby, Ethan had Kickstarter deadlines, which he finished on the computer while they waited. "We like to say she had her baby and I had mine," he told EastIdahoNews.com in 2018. His was CrossGrips, the first product from JayFlex, the home gym company the Abbotts now run from Springville.
They had been newlywed college students with no money for a gym and no room for equipment. Ethan bought scraps of wood and copper pipe at Home Depot and built prototypes at night. "There was sawdust all over the carpet and glue on the table," he said.
CrossGrips are two L-shaped steel grips that hook over door trim for pull-ups, and the Kickstarter raised $170,000 by KSL's count. RYZE-UPS, pull-up handles that fold to the size of a book, drew nearly $250,000 in pledges in 2020.
The first CrossGrips came from a manufacturer in China, and by 2021 KSL reported every JayFlex product was made in Utah. Ethan had quit his corporate job to run it full time. His first two products both hang from a door, the one piece of gym equipment every apartment comes with.
The HYPERBELL Kickstarter launched on May 18, 2021, with a $20,000 goal and 30 days to reach it, and it got there in 30 minutes.
