Photo courtesy of CLIMBR
CLMBR, a home climbing machine, raised $ 1.3 million through a crowdfunding campaign in January.
• February 2, 2021
Peloton bikes may have taken over living rooms and gyms as pandemic shuttered fitness centers, but a Denver company is jumping into the home fitness frenzy. CLMBR is a vertical climbing machine that works both your upper and lower body, mimicking a climbing or crawling movement – the “best kind of primordial movement a person can do,” says founder and CEO Avrum Elmakis.
“We basically kept that contralateral, creeping movement upright,” says Elmakis. “What I love about it is that not only does it involve the entire body at once, but it also does it in a very safe way. The user regulates his own movement and it can be very intense or not at all intense. “
CLMBR was founded in 2019 and started a crowdfunding campaign on Indigogo Late 2020. In addition to the campaign that sold nearly 600 climbers and raised $ 1.3 million, CLMBR has received funding from well-known investors such as Pitbull, Jay-Z and tennis player Novak Djokovic. Former Denver Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups is also an ambassador for the fitness brand.
There is great interest in CLMBR because there is nothing like it on the market. Elmakis – a longtime entrepreneur who founded TDBBS, a dog treatment company, in 2007 – when he moved to Denver 10 years ago, he switched to the health and wellness sector. He found Versa Climbers at a local gym and was interested in climbing, but noticed that there was no home fitness machine for such a workout.
When comparing CLMBR to climbing, Elmakis says the two are slightly different. Users get a full body workout on the machine or in traditional climbing, but CLMBR does not improve their grip strength.
CLMBR is equipped with a handlebar that can be adjusted to the height of each user in one inch increments. The handlebars can be held under, over, or neutral – up and down, much like holding a hammer – to exercise different muscles in your arms. Foot pedals also move when you maneuver your arms. When a user wants more leg workouts, they can focus on climbing their legs and putting their hands on a lower bar, says Christa Dellebovi, CLMBR director of training and education. To increase the intensity of a workout, users can extend their arm reach or choose one of 11 resistance settings.
Photo courtesy of CLMBR
According to the Indiegogo campaign, workouts with CLMBR burn up to 60 percent more calories than traditional cardio or aerobic exercise such as cycling, rowing, and running. “I think most people are like me in the sense that they want to achieve more in less time,” says Elmakis. “Would you rather work out 15 minutes or 30 minutes and get the same result?”
CLMBR is available in two models: CLMBR Connected and CLMBR Pure. CLMBR Connected was developed for the home user and has a large, interactive touchscreen tablet. This model also offers a subscription for $ 39.99 per month with access to 100+ on-demand courses of five to 45 minutes of training. The second model, CLMBR Pure, was developed for gyms or group classes and has a smaller touchscreen.
While the machine has a three by three foot base, making it a smaller footprint than most other exercise machines, it stands over 7.5 feet tall. So if you don’t have ceilings that are at least ten feet high, CLMBR won’t work for you. CLMBRs also have built-in wheels that let you move the 150-pound machine and a handy place to hold water bottles while you sweat them out.
Customers looking to take advantage of the home training trend with CLMBR can pre-order a device online for $ 2,499. If you’d like to try it out before buying, customers can find CLMBR at B8ta, a retail store on Cherry Creek Mall, is coming in July. CLMBR will also open its own store in Cherry Creek this June, where the company is headquartered – around the same time the machines are expected to arrive at home.
“We pride ourselves on being a Colorado born and raised company. We have an incredible road ahead of us, ”says Elmakis.
