Frugal Fitness "Tip of the Week" and links page
As this is a chapter in one of my books, it is a
subject that's dear to me.
While I have come up with an idea or 2 of my own along these lines, I am putting some links here to sites that are in my opinion the creme of the crop. I will also post stuff sent in by you folks.See the frugal links page for others ideas.
We are always looking for homemade and DIY fitness equipment
ideas
OK,
I am putting up pics of all my personal DIY stuff that
I came up with with pics & brief descriptions.
Dave's stuff:
Frugal/DIY strongman stuff
July 21st
Frugal find on Craigslist!
July 16th
Ghetto dip station,etc
Check out my latest find:
June15th
A York course using Iron Boots:
June 7th 2010
the Prowl-a sled project
Awesome Craigslist find
even better than making or buying cheap is getting
something free from Craigslist! Like my newest
strongman aquisition, the big tractor tire:
Made this in a couple hours on Saturday, finally got
to it!!
I made these up last fall, my first DIY Strongman stuff:
atlas stone alternative until I get/make the real thing:
Stay tuned! More to come soon! Stop in at forum to discuss diy details, talk about using these things, stuff you've made,etc.
DIY LEVER SYSTEM for POWER RACK!!!!
Seeing the site that shared the power rack quad blaster, and several other power rack accessory ideas,
inspired me to build this power rack lever system.
So simple, yet the possibilities are mind boggling.
I really should patent it, but anyone with a little DIY
know how would build their own after seeing the demo
anyway.
My new lever system attachment for power cage, shown with bench for pressing station
The lever arm( base of an old bench, slipped over rack pin)
Chain hoist piece with 1 in, bar & collars for loading
plates onto, held in place by collars on std bars which
are inserted into main lever piece.
Squats with lever system
The incline bench that was originally on the base, attached & secured to lever arm with pin raised for inversion. Drop down a hole or 2 for inclined situps
Showing getting into inversion position with help from
swing attachment( yard sale special)
Showing the bolt that secures the bench seat to the lever arm
Remove 1 bar from lever to do T-bar rows
These are handy attachments for a number of things
Suspension pullups
Sissy squat setup( I saw this on Home Gym Bodybuilding.com, which was one of my influences)
Easy forearm roller using push down bar univ. attachment. Use caribiner to clip chain on & twist it up.
Reverse Hyper using various pieces of old benches
I used a piece from a leg extension attachment as the lever arm for weight.
I attached a chain at the bottom of lever to attach my feet straps to.
Preparing for action
Dual bullworker chest press ( I have several of these purchased from thrift stores at around $5 ea.)
Dual BW partial deadlift
Dual BW full deadlift
Dual BW lat pulldown
Platform banded deadlift setup. The platform consists
of 2 2x6s with a piece of particle board screwed on top
loop the bands around the ends.
Here are my Farmer's Walk bars, using Kettlebell
attachments from York Barbell, slid onto std barbells.
Very simple
Easy to change weight,too.
Here is a youtube clip of the lever system shown above:
See the training tip of the week link for squat demo on it! More to come soon!!
I setup a mini trampoline rebounder for my home-made med ball( basketball, cat litter & fiberglass patch)
Seated for a new angle. Try about 50 of these in a hurry!
Here's a photo from my Autometrics book; a complete manual on how to workout in your car.
I took a very ridgid rubber gasket, looped it over the headrest to hold an exercise band in place.
Pop out some band presses when stuck in traffic, or waiting for the wife to get done shopping,etc.
https://www.createspace.com/3371152
to purchase
For videos & discussions on the above & much more;
Check out the training tip of the week, video clip of the week, forum links on the left hand panel, as well as my youtube channel ( IFISHNHUNT/Christianiron's clips)
See more details on the forum equipment section
July 28th
Recent buys
Well, I picked up a "6 second abs" unit for $3 at a yard sale last weekend, and then a "Bodydome" for about $15 at the Hellertown Family Thrift the other day. I just can't resist a bargain. I posted a webmd review( very brief) on the forum equipment review section. Still have not posted there
about the 6sec ab thingy.Looking for users/comments/reviews on the forum
if you guys have these!
June 30th
York Barbell fitness store has some great deals going on
For those in NJ, see the new advertiser in equipment
section on the forum for boxing, martial arts and similar equipment.
June 17th
DIY Kettlebells
I just posted pictures of 2 different styles of these at the
forum
http://christianiron.com/forum.aspx
The details on construction are available at Grunt & Shen's workshop
( THere's a link further down this page)
Look under the homemade equipment page under
Isotonics.
Lots of other cool project ideas there,too.
May 27th
Another Craigslist find!!
Well, after much searching, I have finally picked up a full
power cage setup, complete with pulley system,
Olympic weight bar and several accessory bars for the
pulley system.
The cost?? a c-note!
Craigslist sporting goods section is a great place for fitness bargains!
May 20th
Folks, I would love you to send in your frugal fitness ideas to be posted here.
I'm sure I'm not the only frugally minded fitness enthusiast.
Anyway, this week I had another thriftstore find.. a nice package deal with a
high quality jump rope with a built in jump counter, ankle and wrist weights
that have velcro fasteners. Total price 3.98 + tax Can you beat that?
May 1st
More outside training on the cheap
Yesterday, John and I Did some pretty crazy stuff.
First, I put a little over 30 lbs in a backpack for adding
weight to our BW moves and sprints.
Next, I attached a rope to an old plastic sled and placed a
50 lb sandbag in it.
We put the pack on, walked down my steep driveway, and
then sprinted ( well, sort of) back up. At the top, we
grabbed the rope and pulled the sled from about 1/4 down
the driveway.
We did this for 5 sets. Awesome!
We also did good mornings and squats with the backpack
and the sandbag, in addition to some chins or modified
chins on my tower that I picked up at a local yard sale for
20$$.
Followed by jumping on my thrift store purchased mini trampoline, and
BW squat -jumps.
Pretty good and pretty cheap routine. Next time, I will take
some vids for the site!
April 23rd
Yard Cardio
Late again!
Oh,well.
So I just got one of those heart rate monitor watches for
my birthday... pretty cool!
After establishing my initial fitness level the other day, I
was anxious to try it out on an actual workout.
Yesterday, I needed to get some lawn mowing and general
yard work done, so I decided to strap on the monitor and
consider it a cardio workout.
To my amazement, for an hour of work, mostly using a
fairly dull manual mower, I burned over 600 calories, and
had an avg HR of just under 150.
Talk about a frugal workout dream!
$0 on gas, accomplished a more attractive yard, and
burned up over 600 cals all at once!
April 10th
Alternative rack
Another cheap alternative to a power rack is a good pair of
saw horses.( adjustable height). These can hold a lot of
weight safely, and can be purchased new for 20-30$ or less.
Also, don't forget your local thrift store for cheap fitness
equipment. This week, the one I frequent had an older
bench,with a fairly large asst. of plastic/cement weights, a
bar and 2 dumbbell bars on sdale for $14.95, and a total
gym type unit,
in really good shape for about $10!!
Happy Easter!!
March 6th
Well, once again this week, the good old thrift store came through.
I picked up a bullworker x5 for 4.95$
Why they call it x5 is beyond me, as it does not seem ant
harder than the original version. It has straps instead of
cables, though, which would make some exercise more comfortable to
perform.
I also saw a $5 exercise bike and a Nordic track rowing
machine for 35$, along with a couple of other items I passed
up on.
Feb13t
Another fabulous Thrift store find
I picked up this Apollo exerciser( like exergenie) for about $4 last week.
It came with all the accessories and is in great shape.
Here it is shown without its cover, just to show the simplicity of design.
Basically a nicely machined stainless pin with an eye at the top and an
adjusting cylinder at the bottom. You push the cylinder up to adjust the
tension.
There is obviously a rope that is twisted around the cylinder. The more
twists, the more tension.
This picture shows the cylinder cover with the tension graduations
Feb 5th
Spring is coming. You may want to consider your local parks and recreation
areas that can serve as a free gym.
Playgrounds with those crazy kids toys on the huge springs, swing sets,
monkey bars, parallel bars, etc. all can be used to get in a workout.
Also keep in mind that many high schools or even middle schools have
AWESOME gyms that can be used by locals after school hours for free or very reasonable rates.
January 27th
Thrift store finds
Don't neglect your local Salvation Army or other Thrift store for some great
fitness equipment buys!
I picked up a really nice, sturdy bench that easily shifts from flat to upright
and many intermediate positions, in like new condition. The price? About 5$!!
I've also picked up free weights at about 10cents/pound, various bars and
collars, jump ropes, boxing gloves, bullworkers and more at terrific prices.
Besides, the money goes to a good cause for something that might have
ended up in the landfill, so its a win-win proposition all around.
January 19th
Cheap Home-made weights
OK, folks, again please forgive my not keeping up
with this as I'd hoped.
Anyway, have you seen the coffee commercial where the
guy is doing curls with the plastic coffee container, and says
"you can even lift weights with it"
He's right! Except, coffee's too light. When you have emptied the container,
fill with sand and you have a nice cheap dumbbell alternative.
In fact, Laundry bottles and similar containers that have handles
can be used to make dumbbell and kettlebell alternatives with
sand or even cement. Sand goes for about $3 for 50 pounds.
Containers are free. Do the math!
December 5th Frugal Tip
Here's an idea for making your own "bodybar" on the cheap.
Get some pvc pipe, with end caps to match. Fill with sand and cap ends. Use
diff.sized pipe for heavier bars, and/or add water to sand, or even lead shot,
concrete, etc.
Nov 26th
This week I read an article about using towels to workout with when your
away on a business trip,(or any hotel stay, for that matter).
Using a heavy duty towel, you can drape a loop over the top of a doorway,
closing the door on the ends of the towel. Now you can use the towel loop to
do pullups.
You can also put one end of the towel in the side position of the closed door,
and use it to do bodyweight rowing motions ( check for strength before
commiting fully to leaning back with full bodyweight.
Of course, you can always do bodyweight moves such as pushups, deep knee
bends, isometrics, KSHD and VRT moves anywhere with
no equipment needed.
Nov 19th
Grip update!
Last week, I shared about my making myself a cheapo thick olympic bar.
I used it for some deadlifts and curls last Thursday, and my hands and
forearms were still a little stiff on Monday!
There are other easy ways to make any bar a grip building device. Wrap a
wash cloth or towel around a dumbell handle, or try putting a pool noodle
over a standard bar.
Wrap a towel around your chinup bar before doing a set. For other great grip enhancing concepts, see Shen & Grunt's Workshop @ the link below, they
have 2 pages dedicated completely to grip!
There are several other links with yet more ideas. Check the links out!
Nov 12th Frugal fitness tip
There may be info on this available in one of the links below, but I wanted to
make a 2 or 3 inch bar for training with weights. I've been reading about the
concept and wanted to try it without laying out big bucks for the store bought
variety ( though I advise buying a real one if you have the cash)
I happened to have about a 4 foot length of 2.5 inch OD PVC pipe laying
around, which I decided to experiment with.
I took off one end ( Collar) from one of my olympic bars, put the pvc pipe
over the mid section of the bar, and shoved "insulation" from a pool noodle
between the bar and the pipe to make a pretty tight fit.
The problem with the concept is the pipe is not centered on the bar very well,
but it does work.
I read somewhere that others have used tape around the bar, which in
retrospect would probably work better.
Also, Galvanized steel pipe, conduit, or aluminum are alternative outside pipe materials.
These bigger bars are designed for enhancing grip, but make any lift more
difficult and challenging in other ways, also.
The plan is to use this for deadlifts, rowing, curls and benches at least part of
the time, and when I do the same moves with a standard bar, it should feel
much easier. I'll let you know how this works out, and please drop me a line if
you do this
kind of training, or have a better cheap design alternative, etc.
If you have other frugal tips or equipment designs, please send them in &
I'll post!
Links
Ross Enamit's Homemade equipment list:
Grunt & Shen's Workshop is ever growing, and may be the best of all.
Here is the URL:
"My Gym" homemade sleds, other equipment
"29 things to do with a barbell in a corner"
Homemade weight vest on the cheap
Lean & Hungry Fitness, glute/ham developer & more
Ways to squat without a squat rack
A page on Dave Draper's site on homemade fitness
"My strength Training equipment site"
Fight Training site
Free info as well as lots of DIY stuff
The Starving Student Power rack
JV's Tightwad Farmer's Walk apparatus
Jawbone Journal
Introducing the Stonebell
Warrior Journal
More ultra cheap ideas!
Make your own equipment blogspot