How to Turn Ordinary Household Items Into Tools to Shape Your Body

Buying home exercise equipment can be expensive. A health club membership may be even more costly, particularly if you must drive to the gym. If you're a thrifty exerciser, you can avoid these costs by turning common household items into free weights or other exercise tools. You may be surprised at how many everyday products can benefit your fitness routine.

Things You'll Need

  • Canned food
  • Milk or laundry jug
  • Step stool
  • Chair
  • Rope
  • Broomstick or pipe
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Instructions

    • 1

      Grasp a pair of canned foods to use as light hand weights. Perform squats, lunges or stepups while you hold the cans, to add some extra intensity to those exercises.

    • 2

      Fill empty milk jugs or laundry detergent bottles with water or sand for heavier hand weights. Use jugs or bottles with handles to perform kettlebell-type swings.

    • 3

      Perform stepups while stepping on and off of a sturdy step stool.

    • 4

      Turn your back on a sturdy chair to do triceps dips. With your feet flat on the floor and about 18 to 24 inches in front of the chair, grip the edge of the chair firmly. Lower yourself until your butt is fairly close to the floor, then rise to the starting position.

    • 5

      Do a decline pushup with your hands on the floor and feet on the stool or chair.

    • 6

      Cut an old piece of rope to size and use it as a jump rope.

    • 7

      Remove a broomstick from its head and perform twists to work your core. Sit up straight, place the broomstick across the back of your shoulders and hold the ends, then rotate your torso as far as you can in both directions.

    • 8

      Place a broomstick or a spare piece of pipe on top of two sturdy chairs and use the pipe or broomstick as a horizontal bar, making sure it won't roll off. Lie underneath the bar and perform inverted rows by straightening your body with only your heels on the floor. Grasp the bar and pull your chest up.