3 Household Items To Use Instead of Weights

Don’t Buy Expensive Weights. Use these Household Items Instead (And Save The Planet)

It’s always a good idea to include strength training in your fitness routines. Strength training normally involves weights.

But they can be expensive, and you need space to store them.

So go green instead and don’t cause resources to be used to make dumbbell weights for you.

There are 3 things around the house that you can easily use instead of weights – and you can vary the amount of weight they provide really easily too!

1. Instead of Weights Use Canned, Bottled, Bagged or Boxed items

A can of soup makes a great replacement for a one pound (half-kilo) weight to use in doing bicep curls.

Then as you progress, just use a heavier canned or bottled product.

Need a two pound (1 kg) weight? Grab a big bottle of ketchup – easy-peasy!

Need a heavier weight to do weighted lunges? No problem. A one gallon milk jug weighs around 8.5 pounds. (A 5-litre bottle weighs 5 kg).

Tip:  Make it weigh even more by refilling it with sand once it’s empty – you’ll get an even better workout and challenge your muscles even more.

A bag of flour or rice can easily weigh 5 pounds or 2kg. Pop it on your chest when you’re doing crunches.

Grab a bottle or box of laundry detergent for one-arm rows; it can weigh up to 10 pounds (4 kg). Most of the bottles even have a built-in handle – perfect to use instead of weights!

2. Instead of Weights Use Bunjee Cords

You might already have these in your garage – the stretchy cords that you use to tie down things when hauling or carrying things on your car or bike.

Just tie loops on each end – one for your hand and the other for your foot.

• If your bunjee cords are long enough, you can put a loop in each hand and step on the middle of the cord to work both arms when you’re doing bicep curls.
• If you have short cords, you can put a hand in the loop on each end and stretch it to work chest and arm muscles.

Be sure to work it slowly in both directions so you get the full benefit.

3. Instead of Weights Use Socks

(Yes, you read that correctly!).

Consider filling an old pair of socks (as long as they don’t have big holes) with pebbles or rice. This will give you a stylish weight (if you choose cute socks) and a dumbbell that’s really easy to hold.

Bonus – Use Your Own Bodyweight

And here’s a bonus tip that you can use instead of weights – you can always use your own bodyweight.

• If you have stairs in your house, a 140-pound (64 kg) person burns 175 calories by walking up and down stairs for 30 minutes.
• For tricep dips, use a kitchen chair and your bodyweight.

Bonus Tips for Strength Training

Here are some quick tips to improve your strength.

1. With strength training, you should leave at least one day between exercising the same set of muscles.
2. Strive to do two to three sets of each exercise in your routine with 12 to 15 repetitions per set.
3. A 20 to 30-minute session three to four days per week is all you need to get firm and toned.

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Have you tried any of these alternatives to weights? What else do you use? Let me know in the comments below.

Warm regards,

P.S.  Don’t forget to see what you can do to help slow climate change – click here (it’s free)

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