Hardware Exercise Equipment

phayze · Post by **phayze** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:35 pm

Gruntbrain's Grotto has an awesome collection of information on homemade exercisers of immense variety, for anyone who's interested. The idea of using simple, readily available materials for working out seemed like something that would appeal to other Shuggers, so I thought I'd share.

I particularly liked his suggestions for a variable-weight, sledge hammer (scroll down a ways to see it). It reminds me quite a bit of Reinhard's original shovelglove concept art. Don't know if I'll go as far as actually building one, but I'll probably be tempted when it comes time to upgrade from my 10#er . . . . next Christmas. :p

Mike23 · Post by **Mike23** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:58 pm

Now that is one great site! I see homemade versions of a lot of equipment I've purchased over the years. You're right, the hammer looks very intriguing. Though I'm not particularily handy with tools, the materials are so basic and the instructions are so clear that I see a new 16# hammer in my near future. I'll let you know how it goes and if I run into any unforseen problems.

Thanks for the info.--Mike

fungus · Post by **fungus** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:18 pm

I've been looking around for a bigger hammer but I can't find one anywhere. I don't live in a country where amazon.com will deliver monster hammers to my door so I'm stuck.

I've been thinking of buying a set of adjustable ankle weights and gluing the little lead bars to the head of my hammer. Seems like a very simple way to increase the weight.

Maybe I could just ignore the time limit and do more reps...but I miss the days when shugging was a real effort (was it really only two months ago?)

phayze · Post by **phayze** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:51 pm

I've thought about adding ankle weights to my sledge, but I've never felt confident in my ability to fix them down. Some epoxy would probably do the trick, but I'd rather not do anything permanent if I can help it. Maybe you could just place then weights where you want them and use the Handyman's Secret Weapon to hold them down.

fungus · Post by **fungus** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:15 am

phayze wrote:I've thought about adding ankle weights to my sledge, but I've never felt confident in my ability to fix them down. Some epoxy would probably do the trick

I was going to use my hot-glue gun.

You can remove that by warming it up again (eg. with a hot-air gun).

fungus · Post by **fungus** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:26 pm

I think I've found the perfect way to upgrade a hammer (and with only about $5 of materials!).

I'll post about it when I actually do the upgrade (so I can take pics...)

Mike23 · Post by **Mike23** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:17 pm

I don't know if you saw this from a post I did a couple weeks ago but it is another option available to you. Good luck.

http://www.bigsteel.iwarp.com/Articles2 ... Ideas.html

fungus · Post by **fungus** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:44 am

Mike23 wrote:I don't know if you saw this

Yes, I saw it.... My idea is much simpler and neater (though it won't be adjustable...)

Post by **reinhard** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:57 am

This is cool stuff, but be careful. Even if you can get the extra weight to stick without flying off, I'd be nervous about adding extra weight to a shaft that wasn't designed to support it. But let us know what you do, fungus. I promise I won't wag my finger after the fact.

Fungus, is it just amazon, or will no one deliver? Hammersource.com also has a good selection and I've gotten good feedback from at least one person who ordered there. You might also be able to request it through your local hardware store. What size hammer are you currently using?

Also, though it's not completely satisfying (because it's a less realistic simulation of tool use) you could move your hands further down the shaft a bit to increase the leverage. This will make it much, much harder. Probably as hard as you will ever need it to be. You could use a piece of masking tape as a positional marker if you want to make it easy to tell in the heat of exercise where to put your hands and sort of quantify this.

Reinhard

fungus · Post by **fungus** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:41 pm

reinhard wrote:Fungus, is it just amazon, or will no one deliver?

I don't think anybody's going to deliver a hammer to Spain.

reinhard wrote:Also, though it's not completely satisfying (because it's a less realistic simulation of tool use) you could move your hands further down the shaft a bit to increase the leverage.

I tried adjusting my hands but it makes things's a lot more awkward, less controlled. I think more weight is a better.

reinhard wrote: I'd be nervous about adding extra weight to a shaft that wasn't designed to support it.

Hammer handles are strong.... I don't think I could even flex my handle with my bare hands let alone break it, and I'm only adding 20% extra (at the moment!)

If the guy in the link above hasn't had any trouble after all his drilling and tapping of the handle then I'm pretty sure I won't.