DIY Fitness Equipment Thread

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Hapuka, Jun 6, 2014.

  1. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    Since exercise equipment can be really expensive for some of us, I wanted to dedicate this thread to sharing designs and plans for exercise equipment that can save money and still offer a great workout.

    Here is the poor mans version of popular TRX that works just as well.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkkCgNCOdb8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkkCgNCOdb8[/ame]
     
  2. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

  3. matveimediaarts

    matveimediaarts Underappreciated genius

    Cool thread! Hope it stays bumped so's I can read it when I get time. Thanks.
     
  4. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Not a great picture, but here's a budget Yoke for strongman stuff:

    [​IMG]

    It's basically any 2" thick pipe cut to whatever specifications you want.

    2 empty oil drums someone has discarded, can be replaced with kegs or similar if needs be.

    About six pieces of short chain, again depending on your length.

    Then you fill the oil drum/keg/similar with sand/water/concrete/barbell plates/etc.

    By all accounts it's nightmarishly hard to work with even by yoke standards.
     
  5. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Also someone might want to link Mitch's article about the chi ishi he made as they work really well and cost virtually nothing.

    For Farmer's walks, I've got a couple of jerry cans from my local chinese takeaway that they would otherwise have thrown away (mine were soy sauce containers). You can fill them with pretty much anything to make adjustable farmer's walk weights.

    Like this one:

    [​IMG]

    You can also make a great barbell out of two large empty pain cans, a bit of cement and a nice, thick bit of wood or metal pole at a fraction of a price of buying a barbell.

    I wanted a medicine ball for a long time because they look fun. Though I haven't used it for some time, I did manage to get a small tractor tyre (stands close to 3 feet high) for nothing from a local farmer who didn't want to have to pay to get rid of it. Pick it up and throw it, it weighs approximately 30kg and didn't cost me a penny.

    Honourable mention for a larger tractor tyre I managed to get hold of for flipping, cost me £20 because I was being generous but is a massively useful training item. Again, since most places actually have to pay to get rid of them, they're usually perfectly happy to get rid of one to you if you ask nicely and normally have a decent pile to choose from.

    I'll raid my shed later, see if there's any others I've forgotten about :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2014
  6. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

  7. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

  8. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    Been a while since I posted anything in this thread, but I know what I'm going to be building for my next project

    [ame="http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=txBR6OnNdSA"]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=txBR6OnNdSA[/ame]
     
  9. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

  10. Karatebadger

    Karatebadger Valued Member

    You could replace half the people in my office with those!

    Interesting.
     
  11. zombiekicker

    zombiekicker bagpuss

    Haha
     
  12. zombiekicker

    zombiekicker bagpuss

    I walk up here 226ft quite often, it's free and a good intense cardio workout
     

    Attached Files:

  13. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Might be useful for someone to post weight equivalents of different materials, e.g. 1 litre of water/sand/gravel/dragon scales = 1kg.
     
  14. zombiekicker

    zombiekicker bagpuss

    A beer barrel is good if you can get hold of one for lifting
     
  15. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    On sloths point:
    Old protein tubs filled with cemement and set with a thick rope inside work well for storngman/ Highland games stuff. Can be used for throwing or pulling.
     
  16. zombiekicker

    zombiekicker bagpuss

    Bags of ballast are a few quid from b and q , carrying one of them round the garden is pretty good
     
  17. Karatebadger

    Karatebadger Valued Member

    If you find a protein powder jar with a nice diameter lid then you can use them filled with water as cheap and cheerful nigiri game (gripping jars).
     
  18. SWC Sifu Ben

    SWC Sifu Ben I am the law

    This is a small selection of some of the home made gear I've had over the years.

    Pictured here are:

    Home made Indian clubs - 3lb and 5lb
    Table legs - 10lb for use as large clubs
    Aluminum prop swords - for use as leverage based dumbbells and for sword work (no idea how heavy)
    Buckets - 2.5 gallon filled with water for bent over rows to hook on to the silver bar (also for laying on for a DIY bench as show with the footlocker only as a head rest)
    Broken pull up bar (silver) - hook buckets on for bench press, bicep curls, bent over barbell rows, overhead press, shrugs, etc

    [​IMG]
     
  19. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    A few old plastic dumbbells that nobody wanted, taped together with silver tape and an old obi from Aikido, wrapped around a several inch thick piece of wood and you have a makeshift wrist roller/makiage kigu. Not hard to hold, but after a few reps up and down, you start to feel it....
     
  20. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzVc-Lh0c0U"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzVc-Lh0c0U[/ame]
     

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