2013 – 2014
Back in 2013, Kustom Kit Gym Equipment was founded by Christian Dyte with the aim of designing, manufacturing, and selling high-quality and heavy-duty gym equipment. The very first prototype was the Kombo Rack, which went on to become one of our best-selling products.
2015 – 2017
During this period, new products were designed until we reached a portfolio of over 50 pieces of gym equipment, all of which were made in the UK.
One of our first notable customers was the BDFPA, a UK-based powerlifting federation. We were entrusted to supply several products including our steel calibrated plates, combination racks, and powerlifting platforms for several of their competitions.
In 2017 it was decided that we had outgrown our initial premises and needed something bigger. Everything was moved to a much larger 3000-square-foot unit. This gave us additional space for more staff, more machinery, and more gym equipment.
2018 – 2019
Business continued to go from strength to strength and our reputation for manufacturing and supplying high-quality equipment was gaining a foothold in the gym industry. By now our equipment range has exceeded 100 products which included plate loaded and sectorized gym equipment.
Over the years we supplied equipment to the following customers:
- England Rugby, UK
- USA Powerlifting, USA
- British Army, UK
- Royal Marines, UK
- Gym Shark, UK
- British Cycling, UK
- Scottish Rugby, UK
- Oxygen Gym, UAE
- Ulster Rugby, IE
- Snap Fitness, UK
- Anytime Fitness, UK
2020 – 2023
In September of 2020, we acquired an additional unit immediately next door to our current one. This further increased our capacity, especially when it came to machining as we were then able to purchase a new lathe. This lathe allowed us to launch our custom steel dumbbells and gave us the ability to machine our own parts rather than buying them.
However, various factors throughout this period harmed Kustom Kit Gym Equipment. The cost of manufacturing in the UK began to spiral making it incredibly difficult to remain competitive in a very busy marketplace. This coupled with a downturn in sales only enhanced those issues.
In the Spring of 2023, the difficult decision was made to close the doors and cease manufacturing and selling of our equipment.
What Is Kustom Strength
Kustom Strength is a central hub where we share our experience and knowledge of all topics related to the health and fitness industry.
The blog was borne from Kustom Kit Gym Equipment and has been built up to target both passionate hobbyists and people wanting to improve their strength and fitness to lead a more fulfilling and healthier lifestyle.
Even though we no longer manufacture gym equipment, we are still passionate about the health and fitness industry and keen to share the knowledge we have built up over the years.
Who are we?
Christian Dyte
Christian Dyte is an ex-powerlifter who has in the past competed for the British Powerlifting Congress. While he no longer lifts in a competitive capacity, he still maintains a passion for fitness and regularly works out at the gym and partakes in the contact sport, MMA.
Christian gained a wealth of experience when powerlifting learning about technical lifts that include the bench press, deadlift, and squat. His own raw personal bests for each stand at 310kg deadlift, a 300kg squat, and a 180kg bench press giving him a combined total of 790kg.
He contributes articles and blog posts for Kustom Strength where he is able to share his knowledge on things like powerlifting, weightlifting and other strength-based sports.
Kim Dyte
Kim spent several years competing for the UKFF where she successfully placed within the top 10 at the British Finals back in 2011.
Since then she continues to maintain a healthy lifestyle by lifting weights and strength training. However, she puts less emphasis on building muscle as she would have in her bodybuilding days and prefers to concentrate on muscle maintenance with a keen interest in mobility and flexibility training to keep her body healthy.
Kim writes much of the content for Kustom Strength to share her experiences within the bodybuilding community and spends a lot of time researching health and fitness to build on her expertise.