So, the Show and Go program I'm doing right now calls for ab wheel rollouts and iso holds. I didn't have an ab wheel, so I substituted Olympic barbell rollouts. They worked fine, but my barbell isn't a professional version and rolling on it loosens the bolts that hold it together. One time, after I was done, an end even fell off! I'm more careful now about checking the bolts, but still, I think an actual piece of equipment would be better. Naturally, I headed out to the interwebs to see what was available. I found a plethora of cheapo ab wheels. Some had an upgrade of two wheels side by side. None of those were interesting to me. There was one or two that looked like something I wanted, but they were expensive and I was still going off of a picture.
So, I went to Lowe's and bought some supplies to make my own ab roller! I liked the idea of a handle that allows a shoulder width grip rather than the narrow grip of the cheapo wheels. Also, I wanted a wider base, because really, I don't think the extra instability of a narrow wheel base is necessary or even desired. Here is what I came up with:
And for size reference:
The wheels were the most expensive part. They were about $8 a piece. But, they have ball bearings and rubber tires (instead of plastic), which was two things I really wanted. I may upgrade it at some time by adding bicycle handle bar wrap, but for now the PVC handles seem pretty comfortable! I don't know if the lock washers are overkill, but it seems to work fine the way it is. Once I decided on length and bought the parts, it took about 10 minutes to cut the parts and assemble. Pretty easy!
Shopping list:
1/2" PVC pipe, cut into 3 pieces (shortest PVC pipe was 5' long) - $1.33
1/2" threaded rod, plated, 3' cut to fit the rest of the parts when put together - $3.87
1/2" hex lock nuts, qty 2 - $0.38
1/2" washers, qty 6 - $0.54
1/2" lock washers, qty 2 - $0.14
6"x1.5" center hub mower wheels with ball bearings and rubber tires, qty 2 - $15.96
Grand total: $23.78 with tax
Not bad! (Actually, I have 6 extra lock nuts, for $1.14, since I changed my mind on construction. Ha!)
