Exergaming Squat Trainer

For a while I've wanted to have one of the Stealth Squat Trainer devices where you can play games on your phone doing squat exercises (jumping over obstacles, etc.), but $99 for something that realistically I expect I wouldn't use that often seemed a bit much. So I made my own squat trainer, and I can use it with the same Stealth Fitness games.

There is something rather nicely immersive about jumping over obstacles in a game by doing a squat.

(I had previously adapted my wobble board to work with a phone and also use the Stealth Fitness app.)

Supplies:

• good quality 3/4 inch plywood
• adjustable webbing (I had straps I saved from discarded duffel bags)
• 1/4-20 bolt and locknut

Tools:

• 3D printer
• CNC router, scroll saw or jigsaw
• optional: sewing machine
• optional: buckles for webbing ends

Cut the main trainer board using the SVG file here, including the rectangular piece that goes behind a doorway. I used a CNC router with a 1/8" bit and Estlcam, but you can also print the SVG file and use it as a jigsaw cutting template. There is a labeled picture above to help you set up your CAM software or cut by hand.

The narrow slits are for webbing. The rounded rectangular shapes around the slits are optional, but if you can route them out about 4mm deep, they will hold the webbing buckles or whatever you use to stop up the webbing.

When I was cutting, my CNC router (MPCNC) ended up bumped out of its range of movement, and one of the handles was narrower than the other, and I had to manually cut the other to match. At the end of the cut it also went off track before I managed to stop it and I had to finish the cut with a jigsaw, and fix up the off-track cut by filling it with sawdust mixed with glue. (I've never cut an item this big, and it was right at the edge of my CNC router's cutting size.)

Sand and paste to taste.

I used two pieces of adjustable webbing from old duffel bag straps. One wasn't long enough. To join them up and remove unnecessary buckles, I had to unstitch an end, join them up, and restitch.

I then threaded each end through a slit--one slit in the part that hooks over a door and one in the main trainer board--and sewed on buckles to keep them in place. If you don't have buckles, you can just fold it over several times until it can't pull through the slit and sew it up (ideally in a T-shape).

Make sure that there is no way for the webbing to pull through or break, since you don't want to fall backwards while exercising.

You can get an adjustable bike phone holder and find a way of attaching a bolt to it (e.g., by drilling the back, adding a piece of wood with a bolt and epoxying it on, etc.), or you can 3D print a custom phone holder for your phone.

Or you can download my phone holder design which has a recessed hole for a 1/4" hex bolt, and can be adjusted for different phone/case sizes by using the Thingiverse Customizer.

I put a bolt through the phone holder, a washer between the holder and the board (optional, but makes it easier to change orientation), and then a locknut on the back of the board. I used a 3D-printable wingnut to make the locknut hand-adjustable.

Print four of the handle pieces. Screw them onto the board handle areas, above and below the board. The holes on the handle pieces are deliberately asymmetric so you can orient the above and below handle pieces in opposite directions and the screws won't run into each other (or you can use short screws).

Sand the edges of the handle pieces and the board to be flush with each other for comfort.

Hook the small rectangular wooden piece on the webbing over the top of a door or behind the side near a hinge. If the door opens towards you, opt for the hinge side for stability.

If there is a danger of someone on the other side of the door opening it while you exercise, warn them not to, or lock the door, for your safety.

Insert phone, run games (I use the Stealth Fitness app) and exercise.