How do you make bodybuilding weights to keep training?

4 ways to make your own weight training equipment

Maintaining your body and your health is essential. You want to develop your muscles through weight training? Are you already a fan of weight training and do you consider it vital? But like any sport, it is important to keep a regular training rhythm in order to benefit from its advantages. This is not always obvious, a weight machine is often expensive and gyms are the ideal place but many people do not always have the time, the possibility or the budget to go there.

And in times of confinement where people don't have access to gyms, you'll have to be ingenious to keep progressing. So make your own weight training equipment out of water bottles or a broom handle, ideal for weight training at home. In addition to saving money, you will help protect the planet and you will have the necessary equipment at any time (during a confinement for example) to improve your physical condition. We present you 4 methods to make your own weights.

Build a slam ball

Simple to use during bodybuilding or fitness exercises, the slam ball is known for its ability to develop your muscle mass on certain muscles (not all). Depending on the exercises practiced, and the slam ball allows you to work different muscle groups, in particular the abdominals and shoulders.

To build a slam ball, you will need:

• 1 old balloon
• 1 funnel
• sand
• duct tape

Get an old football or basketball and cut a hole in it with a cutter or chisel. The hole should be no bigger than the spout of a funnel. Then insert the spout of your funnel into the hole. Pour sand or fine gravel into the balloon until it is full or reaches the desired weight. You can then use tape to close the hole around your balloon or a patch or even tape to seal it.

Your slam ball is ready for your weight training sessions! Here are two examples of the most interesting exercises to do with this ball in order to carry out your bodybuilding session:

Exercise for your abdominal muscles

On a mat, position yourself on your buttocks at a 45 degree angle. Grab your slam ball and lift your feet off the floor. Rotate the ball on each side of your body. This exercise will work your obliques. Do it alone or even in pairs by throwing the ball.

There are of course other exercises to do with the slam ball that can work on endurance and cardio.

Find here the complete program for your abs with and without equipment.

Exercise to work your shoulders

Stand with your back straight and in the same way you would hold a disc to perform the front raises, you can replace the weight with the ball. The goal is to hold the ball in both hands and raise it to a right angle with your body. If the ball is not heavy enough, make the exercise more difficult by pausing at the top of the movement and lowering it while controlling the load. This exercise will work one of the shoulder fascicles. For the one-arm lateral raises, put the ball in a plastic bag and use the handles to perform the movement.

Make dumbbells out of sand bottles

Collect plastic water or soda bottles and fill them with gravel or sand. Be careful to fill them with equal weight so that your arms work in the same way. Then you can use them as dumbbells, which are essential in weight training. Ideal for an exercise of musculation at home for all the upper body. You can work your biceps, triceps and shoulders...

Build a curl bar with backpacks.

To build a curl bar, you will need:

• 2 backpacks
• 1 wooden or strong broom handle
• Bottles of water or sand according to your possibility or even canned goods

Start by filling your bottles with water so that their weight is much heavier. You can fill your bottles with sand if it is easier for you. For example 6 bottles of 1 liter. Then place them in your two backpacks and hold them on the ends of a broom handle.

Hang one bag on the end of the handle, then the second bag on the other end. They must be placed symmetrically for a good muscular balance. Most importantly, the weight on each side should be the same. Fill the bags with three bottles of water each, or more if needed, which you will have prepared beforehand. You can add or remove bottles, allowing you to adapt your training.

Ideal for a biceps isolation exercise. The curl bar is suitable for strengthening the arms and shoulders and more generally for sculpting the upper body.

You can also adapt the bar by removing weight and do the lateral raises. And even do some rowing.

Make a Bulgerian bag:

To build a Bulgarian bag, you will need:

• 1 bolster case
• Plastic bag
• sand

Get a pillowcase. Close one end by tying a knot, then fill your bags with sand and insert them into your pillowcase. Then close the second end in the same way as the first. You can keep it flat or fold it into a circle by tying the two ends together. It should weigh between 5 and 10 kg but adapt it to your abilities so as not to hurt yourself. If you are a beginner, start with 5 or 10 kg. Weigh them with a scale before closing them. If you don't have enough sand, be ingenious, go to a castorama and buy some gravel for example.

The Bulgerian bag is a multifunctional tool, it allows you to work in plyometrics, strength and even cardio. It will allow you to work in repetitions the upper and lower body. Thanks to its unstable shape and the distribution of the loads, you will be able to carry out a dynamic training and strength exercises varied. It also makes it possible to muster the back and to improve its tonicity. Its various angles of use are interesting and one does not find them with bars and dumbbells which are generally used in vertical way. Inexpensive and essential for your training.

The exercises to do with it are varied. You can place the bag on your shoulders, do squats, lunges...

Do you want to build TRX straps for yourself? By reading the following article, you will have the opportunity to do so: Strengthening muscles with the TRX

If you can't afford to buy equipment, you are now ready to become a do-it-yourselfer and find solutions to build muscle at home. Before each session, don't neglect a good warm-up to avoid injury and protect your muscle fibres. It is the same for the nutrition which must be millimetre so that your progression is done. These two last ones will also allow you better results and will increase your capacities to progress.

Do you want a calibrated nutrition to complement your bodybuilding sessions?

There are other solutions if you have cement bags lying around or turnbuckles that can be useful as elastic bands, so let your imagination run wild when building your own workout gear, but be careful. You can even build a jumping box. Don't make excuses, there is always a way to do it and I would even add that sometimes changing the way you train can be good. In any case, to help you out, this article can be useful during this period.

If you have other ideas, please share in the comments.

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