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“I feel like I need some at home workout equipment.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, maybe a barbell, some weights, dumbbells maybe?”

“Do you want to get stronger or get the heart and lungs going?”

“A little of both would be great.”

“You got a tire at home?”

“Um…I think.”

“Then you got a workout.”

Making your own stuff

It’s easy to think that in order to be fit, you need the latest and greatest gadget or piece of equipment. Today we’re going to help you to make some workout equipment from stuff you very well may have lying around at home in the garage, and it’s going to be way more effective at getting your heart rate up than anything you’ll find on late-nite television.

What you’ll need…

– an old tire
– a pool fun noodle (with a small hole going thru the length of it)
– an eye-bolt with big/oversize washer and nut.
– about 15 meters of rope*
– a drill with a bit that matches (or comes close to) the diameter of the bolt.

– optional – a carabiner (threaded or not) for quick release of the rope

*you want to get a rope that fits through the noodle just barely, the thicker the rope, the less it will cut into the noodle, and the longer your set-up will last

How to make it happen

Get the tire and drill a hole in it. You should probably use an older tire that you’re not going to use anymore. Drill a hole straight through it. It’s probably going to smoke & smell a little, but it’ll be over soon.

Push the eye bolt through the hole. You may need to thread, or “screw” it in, since the hole you just drilled will likely fill in a bit once the drill bit is out. Once it’s threaded enough put the washer on it, through the inside of the tire and attach the nut.

I usually only make it hand tight, no need to try to fit a wrench in there. (in the picture, I have also drilled through a small piece of plywood as a huge secondary “washer”. I feel this makes it better to take a beating from multiple people throughout the day at the gym, but it’s by no means necessary.

Now take the fun noodle, and thread the rope through the center hole of the noodle. Thread one end through the eye-bolt, then tie the ends together.

– Optional, pop the tied rope through a carabiner instead, for easily taking the rope on & off the tire.

You’re done.

What to do with it

You now have one of the conditioning tools on the planet. Strap that fun noodle around you and run as fast as you can. For an added challenge, add some kind of weight inside the tire.

See how many 100 yard pulls you can do in 10 minutes! Talk about heart pounding!

This post was kindly written by our crossfit coach, and owner of CrossFit 1440, Max Shippee. His full bio is here.