Homemade Medicine Ball

In the last post I mentioned making your own sandbag. I think that’s a fairly simple idea, just buy a bag of sand and wrap some tape around it for support when you throw it. But something I did awhile back, and needs a little more instruction, was make my own medicine ball.

Now, there are a couple of variations on how to make one of these and, I got my instructions from the CrossFit discussion forums. Check out that link here: http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=25440

After looking over various ideas I finally settled on the simple basketball idea. I went to Target and bought the cheapest basketball they had. I also bought a bag of cement from a local hardware store. Other ideas I’ve heard were sand or even kitty litter. Taking a knife I cut a small hole near the air valve and carefully poured in the cement using a funnel. I used duct tape to cover up the hole and wrapped it around the entire ball a few times just to be sure. I practiced a few ball slams and some wall ball with it and it worked perfectly! Only one thing, it was a little heavy to let others use. I weighed it on my scale and it came in at 23lbs. I advise you to weigh the amount of cement you use prior to filling in the basketball so you don’t make the same mistake.  Also, sand and kitty litter both offer different weight for the same amount of space taken in the basketball and may give you a lighter weight med ball. 

You may want to make more than one med ball for various exercises.  I plan to go a little lighter next time and try for closer to 10lbs. For wall ball I suggest women use between 5-12lbs. med balls and for men between 10-20lbs.  For slam ball or sandbag toss I’d suggest 15-30lbs for women and 30-50lbs. for men. 

Homemade Kettlebell

Flipping through Timothy Ferriss’ new book The 4-Hour Body I came across his instructions to make your own kettlebell.  It looked really simple so on a recent trip to the hardware store for paint supplies I decided to get the equipment needed to create his handle.  The instructions call for:
One 3/4″ x 12″ pipe threaded on both ends
Two 3/4″ x 4″ pipes threaded on both ends
One 3/4″ T fitting
One 3/4″ Floor flange
Total: $14.21

It was even easier than I thought it would be to put together.  I screwed the two 4″ pipes into the T.  Screwed the 12″ pipe into the floor flange and I was done.  All I need is a few weight plates to put on and I’m good to go.  I’ll probably add some athletic tape to the handles just to make it a little softer.  As you can see in the second picture it’s easy to unscrew the top to slide weights on and off.

Kettlebell minus weight

Kettlebell in two pieces

I have already made some homemade rings for dips, get-ups, and pull-ups and also a 20lbs. med ball.  Adding the kettlebell to my equipment is another step to finishing my home gym.  I hope to have it all together by summer so I can do some workouts in my backyard.  My basement is ok but not high enough to get full extensions on my pull-ups.