While cable machines do allow users to perform a wide variety of weight training exercises, the devices can cost up to several thousand dollars. The $75 Hyperbell Cable system, however, reportedly lets you do those same exercises using your existing dumbbells.
Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, the setup is manufactured by Utah-based company Jayflex. The firm previously brought us a system that allows people to utilize the dumbbells they already own as barbell weights.
At the heart of the Hyperbell Cable kit are two steel cables of different lengths, for different exercises. They measure 70 and 90 inches long (1,778 and 2,286 mm).
One end of whichever cable is being used gets hooked onto a padded clamp that is securely fastened around the handle of a dumbbell. The other end hooks onto one of three types of included weightlifting handles – these include a straight bar, a pulldown rope, and a set of D handles.
The middle of the cable (between the user and the dumbbell) runs up through an included pulley hanging from an existing structure by a looped webbing strap. That structure could take the form of something like a third-party weight bench or chin-up bar, although Jayflex does offer two gadgets of its own that should do the job nicely.
Utilizing this setup, users can perform cable-machine-type exercises such as tricep pushdowns, face pulls, tricep extensions, standing rows, plus cable curls and crunches.
The cables and dumbbell handle clamp are rated for weights of up to 100 lb (45 kg), although users should also check the rating of whatever the pulley is hanging from. Jayflex claims that the clamp should work with "almost all regular and adjustable dumbbells," as long as their handle is at least 4.5 inches long (114 mm) and no thicker than 1.5 in (38 mm).
Assuming the Hyperbell Cable system reaches production, a pledge of US$59 will get you a complete setup – as previously mentioned, the planned retail price is $75.
You can see the system in use, in the video below.
Source: Kickstarter