DIY Gym Gear : How to Make Your Own Clubs
Looking for a new DIY project to tackle?
by Scott Andrew Bird
| Follow @scottbird
Filed in : DIY
Tags : ankle weights, balance, clubs & maces, DIY, Grip Work, leverage, levering, squat, streaming video, technique, tutorial, tyre
Indian Club swinging
Clubs are wonderful things. If you've ever tried sledgehammer levering, you'll be familiar with the concept - a heavy, unstable weight held at a distance; and moved under control. Different tool, similar feeling.
Of course, clubs are used for much more than that. For a peek into their history, and to get an idea of how they are used, take a look at these sites :
- The Secret World of Indian Clubs
Tom Black. - Treasures in the Attic [504kb, .pdf]
From the January 2002 issue of Tae Kwon Do Times.
Making your own clubs
The fun - from my point of view, anyway - also comes from the creation of the equipment. I love being able to use gym gear that I've made; it's a particularly satisfying feeling. When it comes to clubs, the thinking's no different. Here's how to make your own clubs.
The Equipment
Before you head down to the nearest hardware store, consider this : there are two basic techniques for making your own clubs - each with their own parts list. Here are the details.
Filled
Some of Fightraining's DIY clubs
- plastic toy club (hollow), usually available cheaply at bargain stores and service stations
- small bag of sand, cement or other heavy, granular material (if you've ever made a sandbag, grab the same stuff - works well)
- tube of plastic-friendly glue
- grip wrap or duct tape
The assembly process is fairly straight-forward. Cut a small circle in the base of the club's handle, insert a funnel and slowly fill it with the sand or cement. When the club is almost filled, swing it about a bit to compress the sand/cement at the top.
Remember to plug the hole you've just made (using a plastic-friendly glue).
To make the handle a little less slippery, add some duct tape or the wrap used on cricket bats and tennis rackets. If you made the nunchaku, it's the same stuff.
The final weight of the club can be easily adjusted using ankle weights. Just slip them over the handle and push them up as far as they'll go.
You Might Also Like...
Brilliant device. If your shoulders aren't quite as flexible as you'd like, grab The Rotater. Love it.
Already got one? Looking for something specific? Swing by the Straight to the Bar Store. It's all in there.
Tubing
The second technique involves making the club from scratch, using various lumps of metal and a bit of duct tape. Personally, these are the clubs I favour.
The parts list will depend on the size and weight of your intended club. To make the 9lb club shown in the video below, you'll need :
- 1.5" x 12" nipple
- 2" cap
- 2" x 10" nipple
- 2" to 1.25" reducer
- .75" to 1.25" bushing
- .75" x 12" nipple
- .75" cap
NB : if you're unfamiliar with the term 'nipple' in this context, it's just a length of pipe with a screw thread at each end.
Once the club is assembled, tape up the handle if desired. Once again, grab the duct tape or grip wrap.
To adjust the final weight of the club, either fill it with a fairly course material (tyre balance weights are ideal - and usually quite inexpensive) or add ankle weights as before.
Here's a great video showing this process in action :
What do you do with them?
Once you've assembled your clubs, you may be wondering just what to do with them. Here are a few ideas :
- The Barbarian Squat
- Clubbell Swipe Tutorial (streaming video)
- Clubbell Mills (streaming video)
Final thought on Making Your Own Clubs
As with any home-made piece of equipment, it's always great to see how other people are doing things. Once you've got your club assembled, post a pic to the Flickr group. Alternately, put a quick video on Youtube. Leave a comment below to let us know where it is.
Scott Andrew Bird is a writer, photographer and a guy who just loves this stuff. He's been at home in front of a computer for more years than he cares to remember (OK, 37) and is now making amends for years of many mistakes noted in the De-constructing Computer Guy articles (part 2) on T-Nation.
Find out what he's up to via Twitter, Facebook, the Daily 'Paper'; and of course his online home. Enjoy.
Like this? Check out :
DIY Equipment Ideas.
Stuck for ideas? Try these.
Things Which Deserve More Attention : Forearm Training.
This month's collaboration with Run to Win's Blaine Moore - Things which deserve more attention - continues with a look at one of my favourite areas of training, the forearms.
70 of the Best : 7 Years of Straight to the Bar.
This site - Straight to the Bar - has been around for an incredible 7 years (the first post was on Jan 17th, 2004), and to say I'm grateful is a gross understatement.
Thank you.
TGIF : weekly round-up (WE Fri 7 Nov 08).
A fantastic week here on Straight to the Bar.
TGIF : weekly round-up (WE Fri 4 Apr 08).
An excellent week here.
TGIF : weekly round-up (WE Fri 13 Apr 07).
A bit of light reading.
Of course, if you enjoyed these, I'd highly recommend grabbing the Strength & Fitness Newsletter. Delivered weekly, and absolutely free.
(there's also a Daily Update, if you're looking for an even larger dose of training-related goodness.)
NB : If you'd like to write a guest post for Straight to the Bar
, or if you'd like to join the team of Moderators here (I love hearing about everyone's training approaches) - get in touch. And if you've got a fitness competition or seminar coming up, add it to the calendar.Look forward to hearing from you.
Over to you. Leave a comment below, or send us a tweet :
blog comments powered by Disqus
Are You as Strong as You Could Be?
Grab the Straight to the Bar Strength Kit.
Training Guides, eBooks and of course the Strength & Fitness Newsletter. Absolutely free.
If you love talking about training, make sure you check out the Gymchats. There's a full list of previous shows here.
To give you an idea of what they're like, here's an example :
Gymchat 277 - Barefoot Running - Believe the Hype! (Steven Sashen)
Fantastic discussion.
NB : if you'd like to be interviewed on an upcoming show (or know someone who should be), drop us a line. It's great to find out how other people train. And if you'd like to add your comments and suggestions on the Gymchats in general, we'd love to hear them. Cheers.
what we're saying
NB : As well as leaving a comment or two beneath the articles themselves, you might like to swing by the Daily 'Paper' for a somewhat more frequent dose of training goodness.
ready to get in shape?
A dose of Online Personal Training is ideal. Your place, their experience.
As you'd expect, I work with a number of Fitness Professionals myself - including the wonderful Josh Hewett. If you're about to begin your own strength-training journey, swing by his site at :
top-form-fitness.com/online-coaching
Highly recommended. If you're looking to get serious about 'getting in shape', book some time with Josh. Fantastic guy.
setting up a home gym?
If you're getting ready to put together a solid Home Gym (fantastic thing), here's how.
And for more, swing by the full guide. Absolutely free.
images of strength
Want to see (and learn) more Feats of Strength like this? Dive in.
reading : Ferocious Fitness (Phil Ross, Marty Gallagher)
Remember this? Great book. Ferocious Fitness : A Fighter's Proven Action Plan to Develop Blazing Power, Animalistic Strength and Killer Conditioning is a distillation of Phil Ross' training wisdom, in the form of a superbly comprehensive book. We took a look at the digital version recently, and you'll be pleased to know that the paperback version is now available. Definitely worthy of a place on the fitness shelf. Phil Ross' Ferocious Fitness.
community
talking about If you tweet a lot about fitness and would love to be on this list, let me know.love your grip work?
Check out The Grip Authority. Fantastic site.
daily newsletter
For some people, this site's weekly newsletter (The Strength & Fitness Weekly - part of the Strength Kit) isn't quite frequent enough. For those I produce a daily version, which you can grab here. Absolutely free.
in the wild
It’s always great to see how other people train.
If you’d like to send in a photo of yourself in action (wearing one of the Straight to the Bar Shirts of course - the latest design is here), just upload it somewhere and send us a link. Cheers.
the future of fitness
Over the years we’ve looked at the fitness industry from a number of angles - discussing the history, present approaches and potential future trends involved. Fascinating areas.
When it comes to the last part - discussing potential future trends - things get a little, well, unusual. If it’s an interest you share, or you just want to find out the types of things we think are likely, check out the posts tagged ‘Futurism’. And of course, Gymchat 224 (Roundtable) - The Future of Fitness. Superb discussion.
air pollution & health
We discuss air pollution quite a bit on this site - particularly the various health impacts involved. If you'd like to dive in a little deeper, I invite you to check out the following :
- The 'Electric Cars' list on Twitter
- The 'Leave it in the Ground' newsletter
- The daily 'EVs in Australia' 'paper'
and of course :
Cheers.
checking out
Trap Bar Training 2 (Kindle Edition) This looks great.
We looked at the first edition a while ago, and this second volume looks equally superb. I'm about to dive in to it myself, and you can check out the details (and grab a copy) here :
John Wood's Trap Bar Training 2.
And for the full list of the Books & DVDs we recommend, swing by the Recommended Books & DVDs page. To check out what we're reading at the moment (and to make suggestions), join us on Goodreads.
See you there.