Interview with Tom Miles, Co-Founder at EX-BELT

The EX-BELT is a brand-new piece of fitness equipment and is the very first of its kind. It comprises a carefully engineered belt that wraps around your waist along with a pair of resistance bands that are attached to two D rings. By simply holding onto the bands when carrying out an exercise of choice, whether it be walking, running or a home workout, the user applies extra resistance to their upper body.

The EX-BELT comes in 3 different sizes, is fully adjustable and the user has the choice of 4 different resistances to attach to the belt. It has been carefully designed and engineered and is manufactured in the UK.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
The concept of the EX-BELT emerged during the first UK lockdown when everyone was restricted to one hour of outdoor exercise per day, leaving many frustrated (including myself) with no fitness equipment at home and limited time to spend outdoors.

Having become a regular runner during lockdown, I began wondering if there was any way I could work my upper body simultaneously. I was not alone in trying to solve this, my father and I often discuss new ideas all the time, some good, some not so good. However, this particular innovation seemed to be one of the good ones! “What if we attach a set of resistance bands to a belt in such a way that they provide upper body resistance while you run?” We were both surprised and hugely encouraged to find there was no such thing available online.

A number of prototypes later, I came to realise that we were on to something unique and effective that had never been done before; this was all I needed to make the plunge into launching a new business.
 

 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
All this business knows is the pandemic. Having come up with the idea as a result of the first lockdown, everything has been achieved during the on-going restrictions. It will be interesting to see how the business evolves when we are not in a pandemic!
 

What can we hope to see from EX BELT in the future?

 
Since launching, the EX-BELT has become so much more than a running accessory, it has provided people from all walks of life with new and exciting ways to exercise. We aim to become the next “must have” piece of fitness equipment.

We are seeing more and more EX-BELT classes take place in many forms. It would be great to see EX-BELT classes become the new norm, as did other trends such as spin classes and boxercise.

In terms of growing the business, we are expanding globally this year with the US site going live imminently. If we receive a similar response to what we have had in the UK, then things will become very exciting.