The Wee Kettlebells

When my niece Isabella was about 2 1/2 yrs,  she would watch me do my workouts with the kettlebells.  Of course, in her enthusiasm and curiosity, she would want to do the exercises as well. When she got to the point where she talked about exercising with kettlebells (outside of when we were actually around them), I decided it was time that she had one as well. So I made her a kettlebell. I found some wooden spools with some thick rope attached to it at the Salvation Army. I then got a sock, poured dried beans into it (like a bean bag), wrapped the sock around the string and then duck-taped it all. Now over a year later, with Olee showing the same excitement  and my wanting to encourage that  enthusiasm and his desire to participate, made him a kettlebell as well (with an extra wooden spool I had). In the next while, I’ll make one for my nephew Diego to add to the bunch.

The Ab Wheel

Another good tool for working the core in combination with the rest of the body. You can start on knees, role out and back in. Eventually work up to standing position, rolling right out and back. Teaches full body tension, requiring the body to work as one unit. Good challenge;) Bought it for $5 second hand at salvation army.

The Telephone Pole

The telephone pole in the back alley has become a great piece of equipment. We’ve marked a spot at 10ft for our Wall Ball’s. Better than “thunking” against the house in the early morn when the family is still sleeping. We are also using it to tie our resistance (rubber) bands to for sprint starts.

Olympic Weight Plates

These are a must (at some point). You’ll want to introduce Olympic and power lifts into your routine as they are really important in building relative, functional strength. Now these lifts can be done with both the Olympic bar/weights and Kettlebells. Both add a very different  dynamic. But, unless you have whole collection of double Kettlebells, the bar will allow you to move thru them cheaper and more incrementally, to higher levels of weight. As Chris mentioned, some time was spent trying to get a good deal. But in the end, the place we were buying them from was competing in selling brand new weights with those who were selling them second hand. That and most people won’t sell them separately from the  other equipment they’re selling. So we bought them, at $0.48/lbs, from the fitness depot.

Weights

YEAH! I am sure that Shane will tell you more about this but last night we bought a few waits for our Olympic Bar! I am so excited that I can hardly wait for the next workout.

We purchased the bar about two months ago and since then Shane has spent an enormous amount of time looking for weights. The bar was used and we got it off our beloved Craigslist for $10! What a deal! and since then, he has been looking for another deal with the weights. So after a month a bit of looking around with little luck, yesterday, we decided to just buy them new!

Considering that we are poor family men we would buy what was most essential for us now! We got 2 x 5 lb, 2 x 10 lb and 2 x 25 lb. This means that we will be able to go up to 40 lb on each side before we need to get the 45 lb.

SOOOOO EXCITED!

ae

ps: pictures are coming. I had to wright about this before I had a chance to take some shots!

The Rower

One of the key pieces of cardio equipment used by Crossfit and extensively by Gym Jones is a rowing machine. Now getting the Concept II Rower (I believe thats the one they use) is out of our reach. In fact, not sure where we’d even put it. So we went and found ourselves one of these older portable rowers for personal home use. And we found it for …….$10 second hand. It’s in great working condition and although it doesn’t count distance or calories, we just adjust our measuring stick to counting the number of strokes or rowing for a particular period of time. Does the job. Was found on craigslist. Have also seen a bunch at the salvation army

The Rings

Rings are Crossfit staples. They allow you to do a variety of exercises (namely pull-ups, push-ups and dips) with a greater degree of difficulty that requires a whole other level of upper body strength, while still just using your body weight. Kind of like yoga, where doing these movements develops strength that allows you greater control over your body, rings are great to throw into the mix, in increasing functionality. We bought these at IKEA for $15.00 in the kids section. They are good for at least 250 lbs (just make sure whatever you attach them to is good for at least 250 lbs;)

ARC’TERYX – Amendment

It has been brought to my attention that I forgot to mention a fabulous store/friend who has been invaluable in helping us get gear! In shopping around for gear there have been people like Katie from Specialties West on Granville Island.

She almost forced us to buy a specific brand of shirts for hiking, which have become one of the most important part of our gear for hiking. There will be more about this but we just finished a good hike and we used said shirts in a variety of weather conditions, spanning from light rain to snow in semi-alpine conditions. I only had the shirt for most of the trip. It was only for the 30 minutes that I had to put anything else on.

The moral of the story is that there is good people willing to help and there are discounts to be had… but it all adds up!

ae

The KettleBells

 

These hunks of iron add a whole different dynamic to your workout. They challenge your balance, coordination, mobility, not to mention all the teeny, tiny muscles that can otherwise go unnoticed during isolated movements, being compensated by the bigger, pretty ones. These were the only weight resistence tool used for nearly 2 years, before moving into the system we use now. They are about $100.00 and go up as the weight goes up. But so completely worth it! One weight will give you all you need for months to come, as you learn all the nuances to make it more challenging. Purchased these thru DD, although there are many other places that sell them.

The Balls

 

Medicine balls are some of the ingredients that this recipe calls for. We’ve got a 20 lbs ball and a 5 lbs ball. 20lbs ball: Bought an old basketball for $1, cut a small slit in it, filled it with sand, super glued the slit, then duct taped this baby. 5lbs ball: Bought an oversized tennis ball (a ball for kids), $1, slit, sand, superglue, duct tape. This one is great for slamming, it’s really sturdy. We avoid slamming the basketball, because as you will read on the net, they break a little more frequently than one would want. So for slams, we use “The Sledgehammer”:). We’ll be getting an old volleyball to make a 10lbs ball. Balls were bought at salvation army.