Thursday, June 2, 2011

DIY Kettlebells!

5 Minute Homemade Kettlebell

This is a very simple, and cheap way to make a homemade kettlebell. I designed this one to comfortably hold 1.5 pood (55-ish lbs). I've also gone up to 2 pood (75-ish lbs) for KB swings, and added even more weight for sumo deadlift high pulls. The beauty of this design is that you can change up the weight if / when you want, but you don’t have to.  The whole thing cost me around $15, and I had it put together in the time I had while I waited at three stop lights on the way home from the store.


Materials needed
:

Supplies
  • Steel Piping
  • 1 ½” Floor Flange
  • 1 ½” x 6” Pipe Nipple
  • (2) 1” x 4” Pipe Nipples (you may want to cut these even shorter)
  • 1” T fitting
  • 1” to 1 ½” Adapter
  • 1” connector
  Tools
  • Hack Saw
  • Sand Paper
  • Tounge-and-groove Pliers (2 sets, if you have them)
Miscellaneous
  • Various "Change Plates"
  • 2" Lynchpin or R-Clip (optional)
  • 1-2 Barbell Collars (Optional) 
 
Instructions
    • First, securely connect the connector to the adapter and the bottom portion of the T fitting use the Pliers(s) to fasten them securely
    • Next, securely connect both 4” Pipe Nipples to the ends of the T Fitting. Again, Use the Pliers. Here, use the hack saw to cut off the threading (if you choose). Sand the metal edges  - as they will cut your hands! (you may also choose to tape the entire handle)
    • Then, loosely connect the adapter to the 1 ½” Pipe Nipple.
    • Finally, securely attach the 1 ½” Floor Flange to the 1 ½” Pipe Nipple. Use the pliers


That’s about it! The whole thing weighs roughly five lbs. At this point, I added five – 10lb change plates, and hand-tightened the handle to the weights. The weights should be somewhat snug, and won’t move much while swinging.

If you choose to use less weight, you could either place barbell collars above the weights, or drill a hole through the pipe, and insert the Lynchpin / R-Clip. This will help avoid the weight from moving when swinging.


















Enjoy, and if you have any questions, let me know!

1 comment:

  1. I will be making one of these very soon. Thanks for the instruction.

    ReplyDelete