Short · checked 29 September 2026
The smart resistance band that cancelled its Kickstarter at 117 percent.
A Boston-area smart resistance band that reached 117 percent of its $50,000 Kickstarter goal in April 2016, then was cancelled by its creators a day before the campaign was due to end.
LiftUp's listing, captured in July 2019 and placed in Boston, promised "Strength training made convenient and approachable." Still in private beta, it described smart exercise equipment paired with an app for home workouts, automatic tracking and progress reports, built around healthy habits, "not gimmicky 30-day beach bodies."
Three years earlier, a company release dated 24 March 2016 announced a campaign, launched the day before and running to 22 April, for what it called the world's first smart resistance band: a portable band in hardwood and aluminum that connected to an app for guided workouts, real-time feedback and automatic counts of reps, strength and calories. Kickstarter had named it "A Project We Love" within hours, the company said. "Strength training is a fundamental part of a healthy lifestyle, but it's often perceived as either too intimidating or too inconvenient," co-founder Nick Sulham said.
On Product Hunt, where the makers were listed as Sulham, Chris Shuptrine and Hunter Ashmore, Ashmore wrote that Sulham had the idea while traveling often as a consultant and finding resistance bands boring.
Kicktraq's record of the campaign, run from Cambridge, Massachusetts, shows an update on 10 April headed "You Did It! LiftUp Hit 100%!" and a stretch goal two days later. Then, on 21 April, came a backers-only update titled "Campaign canceled, but LiftUp will live on." The campaign stopped at $58,589 from 271 backers against a $50,000 goal, 117 percent, and is marked "Cancelled by Creator."
In June 2016 getliftup.com said "LiftUp is coming soon" and invited sign-ups for upcoming rounds of beta testing. By July 2017 the address showed a blog whose newest post, from April, recommended strength-training Twitter accounts. We found no later record of the band, and getliftup.com now serves no site.