Although you can spend hundreds (and even thousands) on fitness equipment, you don’t have to put yourself in the poor house just to have what you need to get into shape. In fact, some of the best fitness equipment can be made out of ordinary, household items.
Here are a couple do-it-yourself pieces of fitness equipment you can make out of things that you likely already have in your home:
Hand weights
There are a number of items you can use for hand weights to do bicep curls, chest presses and more. Some of your options include water bottles (if you want weights around one pound each), bags of flour (great for five pound weights) and empty paint cans that you can fill with rocks and sand (to make your own specific weights).
Stairs
Going up and down stairs is a great way to tone your thighs and get a good cardiovascular workout in the meantime. Obviously, if you have a set of stairs, you don’t need to build any as you can just use those, but it is simple enough to nail together some boards and make a stair yourself.
Cardio Slide
If you like to ice skate, this homemade fitness option is for you. Simply put a piece of plastic down on the floor and wear slippery socks so that you can make gliding motions, sliding back and forth. Just be careful that you don’t glide right off the plastic and onto your backside.
Flexibility Bars
You can use broom handles to help you stretch by lifting them overhead and behind you to stretch your arms and upper back, or by using it to keep your balance while doing leg stretches. A tree branch from your yard works the same, just make sure it is thick enough to hold up.
These are just a couple homemade fitness equipment ideas. Look around you and you’ll likely see a lot more!