_^30/08/2023

Does Thou Even Hoist, Brethren?

This entry is two parts, one where I talk about anxiety, time and money, and the other where I talk about the actual process of making the weights. If you are not interested in the former, skip to the latter.

Anxiety, Time and Money

I’ve went to the gym in high school for a short period of time, also in college. The idea was always appealing to me but the act was not. Mainly because of two reasons;

1. Social Anxiety.

   I was a pretty socially awkward and anxious teenager and to some extent I still am.

   I tried conquering it by going to the gym but it didn’t work. I went to gym for 4 days a week and 2 of them was on the weekend because I could get in at 8 in the morning -the owner’s dad was a cool dude, he would come in early so I could get in-. On the weekdays I even started greeting people and making small talk, which was a huge improvement but still challenging. On the weekends I would go in, do my workout and leave. Stopped going after an injury, really wish I didn’t.

   I believe, facing uncomfortable situations is beneficial -to a certain point- but there should be a reason or at least a motivator for it. If I didn’t went to school I could do my workouts everyday at 8 in the morning and wouldn’t improve anxiety-wise. In college, I thought that’s exactly going to happen and it did. I went to the gym as early as they opened and left as soon as I was done. Though everyone had a flexible schedule so it was packed all the time. The anxiety was too much and I stopped going. Again, I wish I didn’t.

2. Time-Cost.

   I really dislike real-life version of time sinks. My workout is approximately 30 minutes long. The main difference time-wise between going to the gym and working out at home is the commute. The closest gym to me is 15 minutes away on foot. I work out 6 days a week so that’s 3 hours a week or 6 days a year. 6 whole days mind you. It’s 18 work days. Another way to look at it, it’s 3%~ of my day, week, month, year.

   Got 2 main “suggestions” from people about the time-cost;

   1. Fill the time of commute with something else. Works if you have to commute. Even the possibility of doing my workout at home makes me not want to go to the gym.

   2. “Well, you can’t do everything at home.”, or “Everything has a time-cost.” True, if you can’t change the circumstances. I can change the circumstances, so I will.

So the solution is, for me, is to build a home gym. Home gym is a generous term. I don’t even have a bench or a squat rack. Would it be nice to have them? Sure, more than nice in fact. Do I need them? No, me think so.

The Making of the Weights

I will be explaining my process of making the weights. There’s a lot of tutorials out there, I’d recommend checking them out first.

Materials:

• Cement
• Aggregate
• Sand
• Water
• Duct Tape
• Cardboard
• PVC Pipe

1. Creating the Concrete Mix.

In terms of volume, 1 part cement to 2 parts sand to 4 parts aggregates. I would highly suggest adding some cuttings from woven polypropylene bags if possible as it the concrete more shock resistant. No matter the ratio, the concrete will be brittle especially if you don’t use any reinforcement. Didn’t use any reinforcement for the first batch and all of them broke on the first drop from knee height. So, beware.

Measure the weight of the mix before adding water because it will be the weight of the final product. I can’t give you an exact amount of water to add because it depends on the type of cement, sand and aggregate you use but be consistent across all the batches.

2. Creating the Molds.

I water-proofed the molds with duct tape. I used cardboard for the molds. Cut a 10 cm wide strip of cardboard and duct tape it to the base of the mold. Also, cut a 10 cm PVC pipe and glue it with hot glue to the center of the mold for the hole of the weight. Make sure the walls are sturdy and the base is flat.

Works fine for 3 to 4 batches. In time, the water will seep through the duct tape and the cardboard will start to warp.

Apply WD-40 to the inside of the mold to make it easier to remove the weights.

3. Pouring the Concrete.

Pour the concrete and make sure there are no air bubbles. Tap the mold on the sides to get rid of the air bubbles.

4. Increasing the Density. (Optional)

You can add steel or iron plates/bars/shots to increase the density of the weights. General rule of thumb; the concrete weights will be 3 times larger than the steel/iron weights. In general, this doesn’t matter since you can make the weights as large as you want and it doesn’t make a difference when you are squatting or benching. But if you are planning on having dumbbells, it might be a problem.

5. Removing the Weights.

If you are impatient like me, you can remove the weights after 24 hours. Be careful when removing the weights, they are still fragile, do not use them in the first 48 hours. Ideally you should wait 28 days for the concrete to cure. The final weight will be accurate after the full curing time. As long as you were consistent with the weight of the mix and the amount of water you added, the actual weight of the weights will be close to each other and I wouldn’t worry about how much they weigh.

Conclusion

I made 8 individual weights, 26 kilos in total. Made 2 molds and 4 batches of concrete. It took me 15 days to make them (making the second mold took some time).

Pound for pound, it’s the cheapest way to get weights. After some consideration I decided to buy 90 kilos weight set. It was 10 times more expensive than making them myself but still cheaper than the gym membership. :^)

With more planning on the molds and the process, I really believe one can make a great set of weights and some people already did. If you are interested in making your own weights, I’d suggest checking out this video where you can see Stix and Stone’s molds in action. They are expensive but they are reusable and they look great. I imagine, someone with a heatgun and a lot of patience could make similar molds from 15-20L plastic bottles.