Homemade Gym “Rings” or “Handles”
August 1, 2009 by Admin: Joe Hashey, CSCS
Filed under Muscle Building Articles, Synergy Pictures, Unreal Strength Building
Phil Goetz, a Synergy Athletics reader, generously sent in some photos of homemade gym “rings.” I can immediately see a ton of uses for these.
Last year, I made homemade blast straps. I bought the nylon webbing off of ebay, made handles and had to have them professionally sown together. Then I melted them a little bit for extra support. Kind of a pain.
(I just searched through hundreds of pictures and couldn’t find one that showed the nylon ones! I’m glad Phil sent some over!)
These handles that Phil sent over could be used for the same thing, but 10 X more versatile. Why is Phil’s better? Because you can switch out the handle to multiple thicknesses. Also, no sowing, welding, hammering, etc required! I bet these cost under $10, with the carabiner being the most expensive part (but you can also use for other things).
Connection
Full “Ring” or “Handle”
Possible Exercises (just stuff off the top of my head right now)
- Recline (Supine) Rows
- Unstable Pushups
- Scarecrows
- Bodyweight Triceps Extensions (Shown here with thick rope)
- Thick Grip Pickups
- Hammer Pickups (just changing the clip – Hammer Grip Pick Up Video)
- Dips (have to check the balance on this one)
What other uses can you guys think of???? Please post them up in the comments!
Thanks Phil!
- Joe Hashey, CSCS -
PS. Anyone have something else cool and simple? Please shoot some photos over to coachhashey@synergy-athletics.com !
Double PS. Thanks agian to those that filled out this Synergy Athletics Poll. Homemade equipment was one of the top things you requested, so hopefully this helps.
Is that pvc or wooden handles?
Thanks guys!!
Looks like PVC to me, maybe Phil will stop by and answer that.
My older ones were short pieces of black iron pipe, but I bet PVC works find and is cheaper!
It’s PVC, easy to find and cheap. someone you know has a spare piece in their garage or basement.
and yeah, dips are great. I have clips further up the chain (first picture) so I can quickly switch from pushups to dips or supine rows.
Phil just mentioned Pull ups as well. I can see that they would work great for neutral grip pulls. Also, you can take something like this and put it on the tip SIDES (not from the usual pull up bar most have) of the power rack for some wider pulls.
Ill try to get up a picture soon of what Im talking about!
Joe
Ascending pushups (I do this with one of my contraptions). Start with feet elevated and keep going to till you are doing incline pushups. Use as many levels as you see fit.
You can try some recline bicep curls..
looks a like a cool set-up
Joe,
Thanks for posting that, I love these discussions because it sets off little triggers in my mind.
When you said ascending, I also remembered you can stick your feet in these like sturrups and perform jackknifes (face down for some serious core training) or lay face up and perform hamstring curls on them!
Thanks for making that light bulb go off Joe!
Joe
could do some one hand deadlifting with them on cinderblocks. Maybe even some swings on a cinderblock.
I use the same set-up in the gym but with just standard cable handles. As strength coaches we sometimes screw around in the gym coming up with some really odd exercises. We hung chain from the top of a squat rack and had the handles attached at the bottom a few inches off the floor and then we put our feet in the handles and did squats-very challenging. We also did some adduction exercises while standing on the handles. It was fun but I don’t train my athletes this way. Just thought I would post it if you wanted to try it and have a little fun.
just noticed a similar set-up at http://www.straighttothebar.com/newsletter/2009/08/monday_3_august_2009.html
I’m biased but I like mine better
phil
Homemade equipment rock. I have a nice collection of homemade sandbags and tire sleds. I’m hoping to put a pullup and dip station behind my shed at home.
I like versatility of the handles that you mentioned. I might have to add a couple of these to my homemade collection.
Nice work Phil and Joe.
homemade eqiupment does rock Jamie!
Phil – I like your better too, very versitile.
Joe