Homemade Wrist Roller/Loading Pin

Yesterday I alluded to one of my favorite forearm exercises/implements from this grip-training article, the wrist roller.

Making the handle is easy, as it's just a stick with a rope attached to it. The loading pin (the thing the weights hang from) is a bit more involved (at least the way I approached it, anyway). Here's how I made mine:

• Go to your favorite hardware store, get a pipe nipple that fits your weights (more on that in my dumbbell handles post), a cap for the nipple, an eye bolt, and some hydraulic cement. Bring a weight to the store to make sure the nipple fits, and that the "eye" of the eye bolt can go through the weight as well. Also bring the carabiner that you'll use to attach the loading pin to the wrist roller cord and make sure it fits the eye bolt.
• Screw the cap on the nipple.
• Mix up some hydraulic cement and pack it into the open end of the pipe nipple. Don't dawdle, as the hydraulic cement sets fast.
• Push the eye bolt into the cement, and let the whole thing set.

Hydraulic cement expands when it sets (presumably not fast or hard enough to break the pipe, but I still stayed clear of it while it was setting), and the whole rig feels very secure. Nonetheless, I make sure to keep my feet clear of the weights when I do the exercise.

To use, load it up by sliding weights over the eye bolt end, use the carabiner to attach to the cord of your wrist roller, and start rolling!