Update 9/15/20: I started lifting barbells with some sincerity immediately after this post over a year ago. I’ve come a long way since then. The instructions below are included in my book Martial Grit which released last month. If you dig this post you’ll dig the book.
The finished product!
Original Post from Aug. 2019:
Full disclosure — I’m not a young buck trying to win Crossfit competitions. I’m just a martial arts instructor in my late fifties augmenting my martial arts with strength training a few times a week.
Space is limited in my home gym so I lift only dumbbells.† Many people say dumbbells will only take you so far. So I decided to put some barbells under a lean-to behind the shed along with my Ironmind sandbag.
I’m crazy frugal so I did this DIY and on the cheap. Below find the price breakdown and the photo set showing the how-to.
Now all I have to do is learn how to lift the doggone thing without hurting myself!
| DIY Auto Tire Barbell Breakdown | Weight | Cost |
| 2 each 205/65R15 Tires with wheels (Craigslist) | 2 x 44 lbs = 88 lbs (39.91 kg) | $10.00 |
| 1 used Weider 6′ barbell (Play it Again Sports) | 18 lbs (8.16 kg) | $24.99 |
| 2 scraps of 2 x 10 lumber from another project | approx 2 lbs (.9 kg) | $ – |
| 10 1/2 x 1 1/2″ lag screws | approx 1 lb (.45 kg) | $ 6.00 |
| Totals: | 109 lbs (49.5 kg) | $40.99 |
-
- Cut two squares of 2×10 lumber. Draw an “X” corner-to-corner to find the center of each. Note: the wood is gray because it’s a painted scrap from a previous project.
-
- Use an “L” to drill a straight pilot hole for your paddle bit.
-
- Drill your 1″ center hole following the pilot hole.
-
- Prop up your block with a couple of bricks so that the wheel will make contact with it (the back side of a wheel is deeper than you think)
-
- Center the wheel on the block.
-
- Drill 5/16″ pilot holes for the lag screws which are 1/2 x 1 1/2″
-
- Use a socket adapter to put the lag screws through the wheel into the wood block.
-
- Repeat the process for the second wheel.
-
- The finished product!
†If this is your first visit to this blog, my “home gym” is the Cabal Fang Temple — ground zero for Cabal Fang Temple, Inc., a 501 (c)(3) federally-recognized non-profit educational corporation (I’m founder, president and head instructor) providing free martial arts, fitness and personal development services to those who cannot afford it. I’m also the sole proprietor of Bobcat Martial Arts, a for-profit martial arts venture teaching Frontier Rough & Tumble and Vigny-Lang Walking Stick Self-Defense.
†
Robert Mitchell Jr. 