I’ve been pleased with the various bits of strength equipment that I’ve made over the last 6 months, which include a thick bar, farmers’ walk bars, a sandbag and a sled. There’s an enormous amount of satisfaction that comes with working hard on a project for a couple of hours or so and then enjoying the fruits of your labours with a brand new gym workout!
Here’s a list of some homemade gym equipment tutorials that I hope you find useful.
- Sleds – I made a sled recently using a car tire and a bit of plywood. Rob Russell has made a deluxe version using two car tires, some wood and two dumbbell handles. If you have access to concrete and know how to use it, then this version (also using a car tire) might be best of all.
- Sandbags – I made a sandbag a long time ago out of an old army kitbag and it is still in use. However, for a more detailed explanation of how to make sandbags from various materials, try this article.
- Plate rack – I have made a plate rack of my own but it isn’t really a space saver. It’s more of an organised way to keep the plates so I don’t end up just piling them around and tripping over them. This plate rack is a real space saver and I’m very tempted to make something like it myself.
- Plyometric boxes – Again, I’ve made my own plyometric boxes but they are completely square-edged so if you use them for jumping onto you run the risk of taking a layer of skin off your shins if you miss. I actually use mine more for checking depth on squats (they are exactly 13″ and 12″ high), for creating a rack when I’m floor pressing or bent-over rowing and for resting my feet on to do press ups. If you want to make your own plyometric boxes and want an angled side, check out this tutorial.
- Atlas stones – This tutorial looks absolutely amazing and I wish I had the gumption to get the materials together that I need to make one of these and just do it. I could make several and pretend that they were lawn ornaments…
- Weight for height – I don’t really have the space for or interest in flinging heavy objects around but this looks like a good tutorial on making a weight-for-height implement if you’re interested in highland games.
- Thick bar – I have made my own thick bar but there are a number of other ways it can be done. Check out this video tutorial for one.
- Thick dumbbell – here’s an explanation of various ways you can make a thick-handled dumbbell.
- Farmer’s walk bars – I’ve made my own farmers’ walk bars out of dumbbell handles and two sturdy pieces of wood but there are other methods.
- Parallettes – if you’re interested in gymnastics or you just want something sturdy to do press ups off, check out this explanation of how to make yourself a set of parallettes.
- Medicine ball – a homemade, superheavy medicine ball. Just what the doctor ordered.
- Weightlifting platform – for the really dedicated, here’s a tutorial on making your own weightlifting platform.
- Power rack – and for the completely insane, here is a completely different approach to getting a power rack for your home gym. I can’t in all honesty recommend it but you pays your money you makes your choice.
- Slosh pipe – no list of homemade gym equipment would be complete without Dan John‘s slosh pipe. Don’t know what a slosh pipe is? Find out here.
And as a bonus, here are some other pages of links to homemade gym kit:
If you have a really great page of links I’ve missed, or you’ve made something really cool that you think I should try, please let me know.
And don’t forget to check out my homemade gym stuff page for more recent things I’ve made.
Wow these are some great ideas. I had no idea you could use so many normal items to work out with. Thanks for the help!