Prophet's "Poor Man" Gym

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Prophet, Jul 17, 2005.

  1. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    You know what I get tired of hearing?

    I get tired of people saying things like "I cant afford a gym membership", "I can't afford weights" and "but the gym is too far away!".

    :rolleyes:

    No excuses people!

    The purpose of this thread is to celebrate the resourceful strength trainers out there. The ones who do whatever it takes to lift. Please comment on how you've overcome obstacles in your lifting life.

    Personally, I would fall victim to the above "lazy-man" statements, ...if I was lazy! Luckily that is not the case. Below is what it took for me to be able to lift.

    First of all, I needed something heavy, and something heavy that could be incremented. I toyed with the ideas of sand, water, concrete or rocks. I decided rocks would be the easiest. I went down the street to where a house was being built, with a bucket in each hand. I then loaded up the buckets with good sized rocks and walked back home ( I should add it was quite the farmers walk getting those home!). I made several trips in order to get around 200 pounds of rocks.

    Next I needed a barbell. So I went looking and found an old pipe used for the umbrella of a deck table. Score.

    So now, I thought, "how do I use these rocks?" I needed a way I could attach them to the umbrella pole (poor mans barbell). My first Idea was to put them in study plastic bags, but NO plastic bag is sturdy enough. Then I found 2 identical backpacks (hurray for little brothers).

    I proceded to load the bags with rocks and weigh them on a scale.

    [​IMG]

    Next came the task of figureing out how to use this whacky barbell set. I tried to deadlift at 1st, but the backpacks raised the barbell to high of the ground to start. So, I found a box sturdy enough to support the weight of me and the weights.

    [​IMG]

    Worked perfectly ;)

    Now, when It came time to squat, I tried front squats for a while. All well and good, but when it came time to back squat, I needed a rack. Plain and simple.

    Voila, the poor mans squat rack. I have to start off in a deep squat position for this to work.

    [​IMG]

    Next came the benchpress.

    I found an old tool box near by, placed a towl on it for comfort and made a makeshift pillow on a box. 2 boxes created the base for the backpacks. And then I was ready to bench :p

    [​IMG]

    When It came time to do pullups, I figured out I could place that very same umbrella pole inside 2 holes at the corner of the fence. BAM, pullup station.

    [​IMG]

    Now, With all this benching I've been doing, I NEEDED to row. I looked around and found an old pully from a clothes line. I had to find a way to hook it to the roof. I decided to go with ducttape and nails. The ducttape to hold it initally, and nails to the side, then bent over underneath it so it wouldnt move. Then, I needed rope. I found a spool of sturdy twine in my garage and ran it back and forth about 5 times so I had a rope made of 5 lengths of twine. I put a backpack on chair, and hooked it up. At 1st the chair would move when I tried to pull, so I put a piece of wood by the legs to stop that from happening.

    [​IMG]

    A close up of the pully (note the incredible quality craftsmanship)

    [​IMG]

    Now all that needed to be made, was a farmers walk device. Which was easy enough. I just took socks, placed them around the handles of the backpacks to make it harder to grip, and off I walked :woo:

    [​IMG]


    So, I hope If anyone that reads this, that is one of those "I cant get to the gym" types.

    BUILD A GYM



    -Prophet, July 17, 2005
     
  2. Nevada_MO_Guy

    Nevada_MO_Guy Missouri_Karate_Guy

    Outstanding! :D

    But....a pink towel? :eek:
     
  3. Ren-shi-shin

    Ren-shi-shin New Member

    Very fun and cool Prophet.
    Of course, the other option is bodyweight exercises, with a set of home-made paralettes.
     
  4. nForce

    nForce Banned Banned

    there cant have been that much weight in them bags? =O
     
  5. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    I can get over a hundred pounds in each, depending on the rocks I use :p
     
  6. GhostOfYourMind

    GhostOfYourMind Bewaters lil Iron Monkey

    LMFAO!!!! Prophet, that's THE best, and MOST innovative thing I've ever seen in the exercise world. I gotta say, you are one smart person, and that's pure genius, and probably cost you VERY little, if anything at all. I'll have to try that back squat trick! AND the pullup trick. Geez, I can't express how innovative and creative this is. Ok ya'll, no more excuses, start liftin' some iron (or rock in this case...:D).
     
  7. Radok

    Radok Love myself better than U

    What are you planning to do when you can rep out more than 200?

    Those are extremely good ideas, and show incredible work ethic, btw.
     
  8. Song1

    Song1 New Member

    heh. nice work there mate.
     
  9. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    Use 4 backpacks :p
     
  10. inteq9

    inteq9 165lb of TROUBLE!

    Man... you are BROKE :)
     
  11. blessed_samurai

    blessed_samurai Valued Member

    Prophet, I have to give you a high five on this setup. Gosh! I think you're both broke and bored. ;)

    Let's see, I've collected a keg (free if you know a liquor store clerk or they are like $25 empty)and you can fill it up with water (and beer later for the party) to do keg carries, keg clean and presses, etc

    I have a 20X25 inch tractor tire that you can use to do flipping with (tire dealerships will give these free)

    I have a couple of 5 gallon paint buckets filled with free weight for farmers walks (you can find these at any construction site)

    Then of course, I have an old set of cement free weights and a bar I can use for oly lifting, overhead pressing, deadlift and squat variations

    I have a sledgehammer ($8 dollars) and combined with some burpees (free) makes an excellent GPP session

    I now have a harness that was an old military backpack (free) that I will be using to attach a chain to the car and the harnass and drag it (the chain will run me about $20-25 for a good length)

    Then of course I have my gym membership ;)
     
  12. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    You and your fancy memberships to exotic rich people clubs ...that have heavy stuff.

    Some great ideas there blessed, I'm thinking about making a sled ;)
     
  13. flaming

    flaming Valued Member

    inteq9 prophet is not broke he is clever. I use a rucksack full of weights for my weighted dips and pull ups. i have to arrange them so i dont end up with a bruised back hmm i could put it on front ways. Anyway great homemade gym and could you show me how to make some parelettes for handstand pushups ive tried chairs and there a bit wobbly. Or am i just being lazy ;)
     
  14. harhar

    harhar I hate semaphores

    bwahaha this is fun but if I lived in a house, I'd sell the couch and TV for a barbell set.
     
  15. Kinjiro Tsukasa

    Kinjiro Tsukasa I'm hungry; got troll? Supporter

    Old Swedish saying (but here it is in English):

    "Use what you have, and you'll never be in need." :D

    Clever idea!

    For those of us who aren't ready for the heavier weights yet, how about dumbells made from plastic one-gallon detergent bottles, with sand in them? Keep adding sand as you outgrow the lighter weights. :)

    By the way, if you want a squat rack where you don't have to start from a deep squat, how about using bar stools instead of regular chairs? (practically every kitchen in the US these days has bar stools in it. ;) )
     
  16. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

    And if I lived in a house, I'd lift the couch. ;)

    Very clever Prophet (and I've got that same scale). But please, for the love of all who exercise (and as a personal favor to me, there, I'll owe you one), just be careful with that "bar". It wasn't meant to support loads, so there's a chance it'll give out without warning. Ditto for the pulldown set-up.

    Other than that, 26,000,000 MacGuyver points for you. With that squat set-up, you can also do a Super Yolk Walk (simply walking with the loaded bar). The fact that the bags swing add a more dynamic, stabilization element to the movement. Think of it as a distant cousin to the Farmer's Walk.
     
  17. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    :D
    Appriciate the comments.

    Regarding the "bar" we actualy have 3 of the exact same bars, so you know I tested one to the max :D (bent at 453 pounds).

    As for the pull down setup, that could go at any time :eek:

    And also, regarding the fact that the bags tend to swing on every lift. This was something I was weary about, but now have grown to like it. It works my stabilizers quite well. I'm seeing a good amount of hypertrophy in all of them (looks kinda funny, but neat :D )
     
  18. GhostOfYourMind

    GhostOfYourMind Bewaters lil Iron Monkey

    What the heck kinda umbrellas do ya'll use up in Canada? Geez, 453 lbs... O well, my Oly 7' barbell will take more than that...:p (J/P mate :D) I seriously am thinking about using your squat idea, and pullup idea though:).
     
  19. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

    Seriously? Good times all around then. :woo: Get squatting, bro (but still carefully). :D
     
  20. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    Yeah, the way I tested was like this: I hung bags of rocks on the very tips of each end, and had a very thin fulcrum in the center (so all the pressure would be applied to a very small part of the pipe). So I'm willing to bet it would be able to take more weight with my traps as the fulcrum :p
     

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