The Big Ass Dumbbell

At some point everyone who's is serious about lifting will run into the problem of not being able to find a dumbbell heavy enough for one arm rows. A lot of gyms only carry up to around 130 lb. dumbbells. Some get as high as 200. But unless you're at a legit black iron gym you probably won't even find that. Of course, at homemade strength our gym is our garage, or living room, or backyard. Very few people want a rack of dumbbells in their home.

SnM: Supplements Not Miracles

Since I am going to be posting several supplement reviews in the near future, I decided to write this precursor to what I will call my SnM series. Because while it may seem obvious when you think about it, most people really believe, or at least suspend their logic so they can proceed to blindly hope, that what they buy at Vitamin Shoppe is going to be their secret pill to massive gains. As if Beta Alanine is the missing ingredient, the reason why you're still benching 175 lbs. for the last three years.

Quest Chips Review

When Quest chips came out I was definitely interested in trying them. But I didn't want to order a few bags online and no stores near me had them. However, the other day I went into Vitamin Shoppe and they had them, so I picked up one of each flavor. In the interest of putting out some useful but non-labor intensive content, I decided to do a review of them for you guys.

How much money do I need for food?

I have already made a similar article to this, which you can check out here. However, this one is going to be more focused on the hard limits of how cheap you can make your diet, and how it becomes exponentially harder to eat all your food when you approach the extreme end of low cost dieting. I'm well aware that most people who visit this site are looking for ways to save money. That's basically the whole premise of what we do here.

My Pull Up Bar

There are dozens of different ways to mount of pull up bar. It's a project that's really unique to your situation so there's no way to give a design that everyone can use. That's why I haven't done a project for it yet even though it's a very important piece of lifting equipment. But I finally decided to just shoot a quick video showing you what I did to install a pull up bar in my home gym.

DIY Neck Harness

The most well known commercial neck harness costs around $40. For what amounts to a few straps and carabiners that's quite a lot. I decided to try to make my own. I did it for less than $10. I use it mostly for strengthening the muscles to reinforce proper posture. There is another DIY design out there but I decided to try to make mine look a little more professional.

Deadlift Platform

Lifting platforms are cool. But they take up a lot of space, they can't really be moved or stored, they weigh hundreds of lbs., can potentially cost over a hundred dollars, and they require a truck or trailer to get the rather large materials home. I came up with a smaller, lighter, cheaper, and portable solution. Though it is designed specifically with deadlifts in mind, that is all I need it for. And it only cost me $15.

Lifting Belt Storage Rack

Another project that I made from scrap materials. It's a glorified shelf / coat rack but I made it to store my weight lifting belts and other small gear. I previously had these lying on the floor so this storage solution is an improvement.

DIY Sandbags

I have wanted to do some sandbag training for a while now. My goal was to use things around the house in order to make these completely free. Lest I get some complaints, I know it's not best sandbag option out there. I'm not saying it's good for any purpose you might want to use a sandbag. I'm just showing you what I did to make some basic heavy bags for free. These weigh 50 lbs. each. I've had them for a month now and they have been working well for my purposes so far.

Dip Belt Weight Rack

Loading up weights on to a dip belt can be a bit of a hassle if you're using more than one plate. I realized this when I did a chin up session consisting of ramping singles and had to do a lot of weight changing between sets. My solution was to build a rack to hold the weights for me. This makes getting the belt on and off easier and makes loading the weights on to the belt a lot easier.

The Pinch Gripper

Video of me putting together a pinch grip tool made from scrap parts I had in the garage. I designed it to utilize what I had but it should give you an idea so you can change things if you want to buy better parts. It is made to work with a loading pin. In particular, the DIY loading pin on this website. If you had to buy the parts it would probably cost $5 to $10 depending on what you need. It cost me nothing.

Loading Pin

This is my idea for the simplest cheapest loading pin that I could come up with. A commercial loading pin is around $50. There are DIY options out there using pipe that would probably run around $25. My design is a bit unorthodox but it's less than $10 and it functions well enough for what's I have used it for. I mean, for that which I have used it. It requires basically no work and thus no time to make, besides the time spent buying the materials from the store.

Concrete Weights

I have been watching Craigslist for months, if not years, just waiting for a great deal on used iron weights. And I'm still waiting. Obviously you have to get legit weights at some point, but until I find that cheap stash of 45s at a garage sale or something I make due with with what I have. Casting my own weights out of concrete has made it possible to keep progressing while I continue the search for used weights.

Fat Grips With An "S"

...because we use proper grammar and all that.

This isn't the fastest project but it is really cheap. Made from 100% duct tape it's not space age state of the art rubber. But it gets the job done all the same. These have all the versatility of the commercial product at a fraction of the cost.

Mini Platform

Trying to clear out some wood in the garage I decided to build a mini platform, if you want to call it that. I will be able to use this for deficit deadlifts, as well as rack pulls, and squat lockouts, if I so choose. I'm sure there are other uses but that is what I can come up with right now. Though I don't actually show you how to build it, I think you can figure it out based on the video if you want to make one yourself.

Foods to Eat to Build Muscle on a Budget

Homemade strength requires more than just weight training to accomplish. You also need good food and plenty of rest. So today I'll cover the second part of the equation: food. Specifically, food when you're on a budget. What should you eat if you're on a budget but still want to build a lot of strength and muscle? The common impression is that as a weightlifter you have to eat like a bazillion grams of protein and $50 worth of supplements pre, post, and peri-workout a day, but that doesn't mean it's true.

EFS Lever Belt Review

I've been wanting to do this review for a while and finally sat done and got it done. When Elite Fitness first started carrying this belt it was on sale. I believe it ended up being less  than $40 shipped to my house. Even so, I'm going to pull no punches. That's cheap for a belt but it's  not that cheap. Even though this is half the price of most belts I was expecting  more. In hindsight I should have just gone with a normal priced belt from Inzer or BestBelts or some  place like that. Read on for the full review.

Roll Out The Ab Wheel

It's been a long time since I posted last. I recently made an ab wheel out of scrap parts I had around the house. This is the first video demonstration on the site. It's not so much intended as a project, it's just me sharing what I did. If you had to buy these parts it would be more expensive than a commercial ab wheel. If they're in your garage already then have at it. Maybe this gives you some ideas about how to make your own or inspires you to think about re-purposing old gear you may have collecting dust.

Dip Belt

I'm sure you've seen this on the net before. I did not create this design. This is going to be a bit of a hybrid post. Part DIY project, part review of a DIY project. I'll show you how to make this popular internet design, as well as review it so you can decide if it's right for you before you go through the (minimal) hassle of making it.

Dip Stands

Today I'll show you how to construct a space saving dip station. You can use scrap wood to keep the cost down. This is another project that can end up being free or very cheap, while at the same time recycling old material. These are an addition to the saw horse safety stands. This was an old project but I have since refined and significantly improved it.