Yesterday was a wonderful day. I finished a large number of my new homemade pieces of equipment for our Functional Fitness bootcamps. Most bootcamp workouts utilize only bodyweight exercises, or maybe a Medicine Ball here and there. Not any more!
The Clubbells are going to be introduced to my weekday evening bootcamps in downtown Grand Rapids. I spray painted the weights on each one, ranging from 5 lbs to 14.5 lbs. Each bat is filled with cement – see The Low Cost Gym for instructions if you haven’t made one before.
The Slosh Tubes are too long (10 feet) to bring to work, but they will be perfect for our Sunday afternoon bootcamp with friends and church folks. We have the 29 lb and a slightly lighter 25 lb Slosh Tube for the advanced. And now, I have an 11 & a 9 pound Slosh Tube for women and the youth to try out. I achieved that by using 2″ pipe instead of the 3″. Remember, if you use a 4″ pipe, you will be up to around 50 pounds, so be ready for that if you go with such a diameter of PVC pipe.
To top things, off I now have a 50 lb and a 27 lb sandbag. I took some advice (thanks Larry) and used pea gravel. Apparently any leaking sand is not pleasant with a sweaty face if it falls on you in the middle of the workout. Therefore, pea gravel is used to solve that problem.
Let’s be honest here. If you have not tried to make and use one of the above pieces of equipment, you are totally missing out and are…well lame. First off, the cost is cheap (very cheap). Second off, the Slosh Tube and sandbags are great for working your core. You can replace any weight (barbell, heavy bar, dumbbells, etc) with a sandbag to achieve a core workout. The key with the sandbag and the Slosh Tube is the shifting of weight, which causes you to activate your core stabilizer muscles to maintain balance and control. The Clubbells are great for your back, shoulders, hips, and the core in general as well. You almost don’t feel the impact when using them, but after your workout, you simply feel stronger. They are awesome.
And don’t forget, if you have a Slosh Tube, a Clubbell, a Medicine Ball, and a Pull-up bar, you can do K-Element, an intense 12 week program, which will leave you in awesome shape!
In any case, a few new pieces of equipment will provide you with variety…and fun! Enjoy!
Great idea, love making equipment and these are fantastic idea, keep up the great work!
thanks, I appreciate it