GoDa Fitness Innovations

A bit of personal history first.

Sometime in late 2015 I began training with Danny Daley, a personal trainer. I was trying to get back into shape after having gone through some very difficult times in the past with a brain tumor in 2006. My progress over the time after my two and a half years of recovery (2009 to 2015) was underwhelming at best. I tried a number of things and with different trainers and I was getting nowhere. I desperately needed to do something different. That’s why in 2015 I found Danny and my life has never been the same. 

Danny’s own history uniquely qualifies him to do what he does so well. He only did on-site training at the time and made use of anything he brought with him along with what was available at the site where he was training. I already had a modest gym setup in my home, so Danny tried to incorporate any available equipment. Danny likes the use of landmines as part of his functional routines, but he seldom incorporates them, primarily because the opportunities don’t always exist to do it on location, and so he rarely uses them. He did with me though. He likes to use the utility of a landmine, but since I didn’t exactly have the right equipment, and Danny’s efforts to simulate their use was digging pits into my foam mat flooring with my standard barbell. I realized what he was trying to do, but my current equipment just wasn’t suitable.

Now I didn’t know anything about landmines at that point. I didn’t know of their existence and for sure never saw one, so I was oblivious as to what they were about. However, having been a trouble shooter in my work career and basically an inventive kind of guy all my life, the solution was obvious.

With somewhat of an idea in my head, I made a couple of visits to the local hardware store and just using PVC and bolt hardware I created one using just some simple tools in my garage.

The next training session, I showed it to him. He was genuinely surprised and remarked at how simple and smooth it worked. Now that I was finished doing what I had done, I was content to move on from this project like I have always done in the past, but Danny had a different idea. He said this was worth developing and pursuing with a patent, and encouraged me to take this idea to the next level.

The more I studied my invention, I could see that there was substantially more that could be done with its concept. So with a pencil and paper and more trips to the hardware store. I began its configuration. I had all the rudiments I needed, but this story is just beginning.

Forming a team with the two of us, the beginnings of the GoDa Fitness Innovations business venture was under way. I made several more copies as we assembled the rest of a core team of the GoDa F.I. genesis.

Landmines, Fitness, and Gyms.

I didn’t learn this until later, but for people in the fitness world, use of a thing called a landmine is nothing new. In fact, they have been around in some form since at least the 1800s.

The average person might envision only something used to blow things up on a battle field, so a unit of exercise equipment is probably the farthest thing from their mind, as it was first for me.

Landmine popularity has grown somewhat and has been used in a few gyms and for fitness enthusiasts, but to date, the ones in use and for sale today have the same inherent problems. Very little has been achieved to truly improve on them from the ones a hundred years ago.

Maybe part of the reason is that landmine fitness equipment currently on the market is primarily targeted for gym use and utilizes Olympic style bars and weights. Olympic bars and weights are great for lifting ample amounts of weight, but Olympic equipment is bulky, often more expensive. The bar is certainly heavier, and unless you are already accustomed to using Olympic equipment, you are probably not as likely to use it in your home, especially if you’re not a body builder.

Some trainers use them, if they are available in the gym where they train, but education and introduction of their use to the general public is minimal, because of their limited popularity with the majority of the non-bodybuilding community. In fact, most people I have talked to have never heard of them.

Advertisements for these in catalogs and magazines usually show some strongly, well built man or woman in an exercise position, but they do not typify the average person wanting to get into an exercise curriculum. 

They look at this person in the advertisement and think, ‘I don’t look like that. I don’t want to look like that. I just want to get into better shape. I want to look good when I look at myself in the mirror and I want to be healthier’.

Often the this same person has no interest in going to a gym, due to time constraints, availability, or cost. Maybe they are overweight and maybe largely out of shape, and so the thought of going to a gym atmosphere to most people can be intimidating. They feel out of place around people who regularly go there and are in good condition, or they are unfamiliar with the uni-task type of equipment, don’t want to ask anyone for the proper way to use, and/or wait for the equipment to be free for them. 

Using free weights in a gym can be problematic for anyone not familiar with their profusion of possibilities. Sometimes people using them in a gym aren’t acquainted with proper techniques, and just sling weights around. However, without the correct understanding of the best way to use free-weights, a person can do more harm than good and sometimes result in serious injury.

Finding a fitness trainer is the best way to get appropriate instruction, but location, availability, and cost can be limiting factors, and not all trainers are created equal. As I have found, there can be a substantial divergence in a trainer’s knowledge and dedication to a particular client’s needs, so the one you can get may not always be the one you need. Some are very good and some are less so. As a result of all these conditions, many people just don’t feel the effort is worth it.

They may be inspired at the start of the year and sign up at a gym, but within a couple of months at best, they stop going. They are sometimes still required pay for their membership they have quit using, but they have no intention of returning there. They just pay their monthly fee and write it off as a bad investment in themselves.

Or they never make the move to start, knowing this is exactly what is going to happen. It could be they have tried this scenario before and know the result. And this fact alone keeps many from pursuing the exercise they need.

There may also be factors particular to your situation. You may be disabled in some way, limiting your mobility, function, or ability, making the use of gyms and their equipment to require some sort of accommodation or assistance.

You may also need specific training for a particular sport or recreation activity not easily adaptable to most gym environments. 

So, they do what is easiest. They go buy treadmills, steppers, and ellipticals for their home, which studies have show cannot offer a proper workout, burning calories and giving a fully functional workout, and exercising all parts of the body. The country is loaded with equipment like this which has long since become a bedroom drying rack for laundry.

Sometimes they buy home fitness dvds or game consoles and within a short period of time these begin to gather dust, because they have no better effect of getting them in shape than going to the gym.

Maybe they have given up hope. They know they need to do something, but nothing they have tried short of dieting seems to make a difference, and this is never enough. There are no reality or inspirational television shows which can make a difference in ‘their own’ particular situation, so why try?

I have run at the local high school track for years and I have seen the same people there for a long time. They know they should do something so they walk the track. This certainly is something, but in all the years I have seen them there they have not improved in the slightest and look the same as they did on their first day. If that’s all they want out of exercise, then I’m OK with that if they are, but I want more for me.

Diets don’t truly work and are not a long term solution for most of us. Without some form of raising metabolism, results by dieting are temporary and never last. A balance of eating smart, enough sleep, and proper exercise is the best way to make a difference in losing weight, feeling better, looking better, and improving the inner you.

Most of us would rather just do our workouts in the privacy of our own home, but getting a gym quality workout there is not an easy path. Although time is saved by eliminating the time spent traveling to the gym, space, the proper balance of equipment, and budget can be mitigating factors. Just getting motivated to workout even at home can be a challenge if you have a ways to go to getting in shape.

So what does it take to get the best gym class workout available at home, removing as many of the undesired variables and restrictions as possible?

Now back to my own story.

As I continued to develop my device, I thought about my own past training efforts. I didn’t care for the big gym experience the same as other people. I didn’t like the commute to and from it, and once I was there I was in competition for the equipment. In my case, the cost wasn’t as big a factor, but the struggle from start to finish wasn’t what I wanted, which was just to work at getting in shape without all the obstacles. My workouts with Danny changed the way I look at my own goals and what I needed to do to reach and exceed them. This is particularly true now that I am older.

Enter my invention and the GoDa F.I. team.

The company GoDa Fitness Innovations, that Danny and I created has taken an old idea and made it possible for just about anyone, including men, women, kids, the disabled, and even specialized athletes, to get a better gym quality and affordable workout, safely, in the comfort and security of your own home. 

The GoDa FIT replaces and greatly extends the functionality of existing landmine units, making it possible to replace uni-task gym machines and perform the kind of functions they cannot.

Its compact design makes exercising with it intuitive, easy, and encourages proper technique. It removes the need for a spotter for certain exercises, and used standard barbells and weights, so it fits most budgets nicely, and is lighter to use. The GoDa FIT can operate in a minimum space footprint, making it ideal for homes, apartments, and even work offices (if you are so inclined). It is also quite portable, giving it the ability to take with you, if desired.

Because of the way the GoDa FIT is designed to function, less weight is needed, and changing weights becomes less necessary, but also faster and easier. You will find that you can extend your workout time, while at the same time making the time required for your workout more efficient and meaningful.

Your desire to make it work for you is the only limitation.

Let GoDa Fitness Innovations lead you to a better you. 

You can do this and we can help.

Over the past three years I have made eight revisions with enhancements solving problems revealed during its development. I now have two separate patents submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for it and we are soon moving forward with a Kickstarter program to offer to you what I originally intended only for my own personal use. We are still exploring creative ways for you to take advantage of my invention and I hope soon you will be as excited about it as I am.

Come see us at GoDa Fitness Innovations and discover the future of landmine training.