There are a couple kettlebell exercises that I won’t get into yet, but I wanted to talk about the big lead weight. Frankly it is just a big fad concocted by the stores to get you to buy a high priced item, over, and over, and over again. If you know me, you know I’m in AWE of this thing! Big stores sell a $1,000 set for something easily made for $50. Marketing genius!
Ok, so this store with a big red target that will go unnamed charges about $100 for the 53lb kettlebell. That is a bit agressive for me right now, so I would need a smaller one and to get larger ones as I worked up. This was WAY too much, and I knew there had to be a better way. My friend, Peter Soros, told me an idea to use free weights and pipe pieces from Home Depot to make a variable weight kettlebell, so the DIY’er in me took over.
First I went to Play It Again Sports and bought 52.5 lbs of weight for $0.59/lb.
4x 10 lbs
2x 5 lbs
1x 2.5 lbs
Then I bought some pipe from Home Depot. I really liked the black pipe (badass!), but the black rubbed off on my hand before I hit the counter, so galvanized it is!
1x 3/4″ Flange (for the base)
1x 3/4″x10″ for the stem
1x 3.4″ T joint
2x 3/4″x4 1/2″ for handles
2x 3/4″ caps (because I’m a perfectionist and had to make it pretty. bonus: keeps hands from sliding off)
I left off 12lbs for me to “grow into”…and because I wasn’t smart enough to take the pipe into Play It Again Sports and make sure that they would all fit on the pipe. You probably guessed it, There is some filling in my future if PIAS won;t let me exchange them. Here’s to hopin’!
Tip: To keep the weights from sliding (just in case) I would get a slightly shorter stem and use a 3/4″ coupler to a really short 3/4″x1 1/2″ piece between the stem and the T joint. Save your fingers! I’m also planning to use duck tape for the handle after I play with it a bit and make sure I like the handle length.