After a couple failed attempts I figured a homemade slammable medicine ball was impossible, but it looks like I was wrong. What you need is somebody that actually knows what they're doing to apply themselves to the problem. Pierre Auge graciously posted his instructions to Crossfit and gave me permission to repost them here:

Actually its pretty simple as long as you're up for some hard work and have some tools.

You'll need the following:

• A drill with a medium fine bit. (1/8")
• A funnel with the narrowest nozzel you can find. (to fit in the 1/8 " hole)
• A rubber/epoxy high pressure tire puncture plug. (Not silicon, it has to be either rubber or epoxy, or rubber with an epoxy resin.)
• Epoxy resin based high pressure sealent.
• Sandpaper (or die grinder if you're lazy and want to chance weakening the ball)
• Radial tire patch (some cordura or old canvas might work too)

Get the toughest Basketball you can get, drill a hole in it. Sit there for about 2 hours pouring sand through this stupid funnel. (Or you can use a machine like I do) Weigh the ball as you fill it.

When the desired weight is achieved use the tire puncture plug to fill the tiny hole. Trim the excess that is sticking out. Use the sealent on the area in and around the plug. Wait until dry and hard. Now put some air in the ball with a pump. Go back to the area directly around the plug and start sanding with your sand paper until the area is quite rough. Take the radial tire patch slather the area with some more resin and put the patch into the resin. Put more resin on top of the patch. This should give you a good seal after it dries for a few hours. (Overnight)

If you are willing to take on this endeavour all the power to you but it took me several attempts to get this to work properly. But on the other hand its worth it because you get a very tough ball.

Hell I've seen an entire company of guys wail away at these things one troup after another and they are going strong.

Thank you Pierre!

With a hole that small I wonder if my Home Depot play sand would even go through (even new in the bag it is slightly damp and clumpy) or if I'd have to buy finer sand from a garden center. Just something to consider if you're going to tackle this yourself.

As for affordable off-the-shelf medicine balls, I bought an 8-pound Danskin ball from Walmart for around $16. It has a smallish diameter (maybe around volleyball-size?), minimal bounce, and a slightly nubby surface. It works great for a variety of slams. You can also get a 10-pound Danskin ball from Amazon for $23 (buy something else at the same time to get over $25 and be eligible for free shipping). Same size and bounciness as the 8# ball, but with a smooth vinyl surface. I haven't had the 10# ball for very long, but the 8# ball has held up well to some good slam sessions, including hitting a rough concrete seam on my basement wall a bunch of times. In addition to slams, balls of this size/weight are good for holding between your feet or knees for weighted pull-ups and dips, and in your outstreched arms for Russian Twists.

UPDATE, 1/9/06: I originally tried the Walmart ball on Ross Enamait's recommendation, but he just pointed out to me that the ball I picked up is not the same as what he found there. Walmart used to carry the Stamina Products 10# ball for $16, but apparently Walmart doesn't carry that product line anymore. As you can see from that link, you can buy them direct for $20, and it might be a nicer ball than the Amazon/Danskin one I have (for the textured surface, if nothing else).

I'm going to be away from the machine for a few days, but thought I'd leave you with a quick exercise idea. I have lots of equipment stuff I want to write up when I get back. Until then...

If you read my bit on The Evil Wheel and decided you had to have one, here's something else you can do with it: Bear Walks. Wheel on the ground, feet on the ground, hands on the wheel. Start walking. Sprints are worse. Tabata Sprint Evil Wheel Bear Walks are very, very hard (careful of your wrists if you these on uneven ground).

Yesterday's Infinite Intensity workout was intervals followed by "Core Training #3". This included my first efforts at an exercise called a "Turkish Get-Up." It's pretty easy to describe. Lie on your back, with a dumbbell extended overhead, elbow locked (like the top of a bench press). Now stand up, keeping the DB locked out overhead (so when you are finished you are standing and the DB is pressed overhead). Then reverse the process until you are lying down again. Once you're down, that's one repetition (for that side of your body). I started off with what I assumed was a reasonable weight and was immediately humbled. The movement highlights weak links in short order, as you have to stay tight through your core, your balance is challenged, and your shoulder has to hold that weight locked out through 90-degrees of rotation. "Core Training #3" (out of the 10 core workouts you do over the course of the program) was a very interesting workout, as at the time I couldn't really decide if I was working the right muscles, but when I got up in the middle of the night I could feel that the entire girdle from my hips to my shoulder blades had just gotten worked.

Anyway, it seems like a movement that is worth adding to your arsenal. Just keep that elbow locked, especially on the way back down, as the DB is aligned with your head for a good part of the move. You have been warned.

Update: Via the Crossfit forums comes this excellent demonstration from the Art of Strength folks (WMV, 7MB).

Two uses for a deck of cards (besides actual card games, that is):

1. Deck Workout: shuffle 'em up, put them face down, and turn the cards over one at a time. Perform the exercise indicated by the suit:
   • Spades: bodyweight squats
   • Hearts: pull-ups
   • Diamonds: push-ups
   • Clubs: four-count chinnies (left-right-left-right-ONE, etc.)
   Do repetitions in accordance with the value of the card, doing one for aces and ten for all face cards. You might want a multiplier in effect for the squats. And it certainly wouldn't take me long to resort to jumping pull-ups following this protocol.
2. Use the cards to keep track of circuits. For example, to keep track of the 10 circuits in Work Capacity 101 you'd deal out 10 cards, and turn one over after each time you finish a circuit. When they're all flipped, you're done (in oh-so-many ways).

Some fellow Ultimate bloggers are working the Air Alert III vertical leap program. Looks killer.

Two quick Ultimate variants before I hit the sack: Durango Boot and Schtick. Both of these might be fun to play in the gym, since the outdoor season is well and truly over here. Thanks to Seigs for the lead; I had never heard of these before.

A few days ago I mentioned a DIY pull-up bar as an alternative for more expensive models. I just ran across an inexpensive off-the-shelf model though, that looks almost exactly like the one I own. The only differences appear to be that mine was by Champ's and this one is by Everlast. Also, mine had red pads and this one has black. Otherwise I'd say they are identical (from looking at the pictures, at least). Read the user reviews, as they raise the following potential issues: cheap construction (mine has lasted great), possible marring of surface just above the door due to scraping (yes, I get a bit of this), marring of door trim surface due to color rubbing off the black padding (haven't noticed this with my red pads), and door sizing issues (description says, "fits most doorways up to 32 inches"). $25 is quite a price though.

One of the exercises that factors into my current program is standing rollouts on The Evil Wheel. A demo of how standing wheel rollouts should look is towards the end of Ross Enamait's Low-Tech, High Effect video. Ross makes it look easy, but this is an insanely difficult exercise. Not only is the abdominal strain the most intense of any bodyweight exercise I've tried, but it also hits just about every muscle from your shoulders to your shins.

The problem is, how does one progress to such an exercise?

First, safety: stay tight throught your body, and DO NOT let your back arch (i.e. your stomach drops). I haven't done this, but I can feel from the strain in my back as I get close that it would be bad, bad, bad.

As for the progression:

1. Do rollouts from your knees to start.
2. When you start doing standing rollouts, face a wall. When you rollout, the wheel will hit the wall, catching your descent. You can then reverse the motion.
3. As you get more comfortable, move further and further back from the wall.

Power Rings are also a fabulous tool for learning this movement (note that version 2.0 of the rings are available for preorder, and $55 is a great price (limited time offer)). On rings the same move is called a Standing Jackknife. The exercise and progression are simple:

1. Position the rings as close to the floor as you want. Bend at the waist, grab the rings, and push them away from you until you are fully laid out.
2. To make the exercise easier, raise the rings and/or start with your feet closer to them.
3. To make the exercise harder, lower the rings and/or start with your feet further away.

One of the great things about using rings for this is you can vary the resistance mid-set simply by stepping to/from the rings.

Two things I printed out for bedside reading:

• Richard Dawkins' letter to his (then?) 10-year-old daughter on believing (he's often too atheist for little ol' agnostic me, but is still compelling).
• Malcolm Gladwell on Project Delta and the quest for the perfect cookie.

I think I got both of these from Jason Kottke.

As I've noted, I'm new to dumbbell work, but it factors into the program I'm currently following. Lots of whole-body moves like snatches, clean-and-presses, etc. It's going pretty well, but as I press the DB over my head, especially on some of the more "explosive" moves, if the DB cocks the plates whack against my forearm, very close to my wrist. I expect I'll correct this as my control improves, but in the meantime I've developed bone bruises on both arms, which make for an uncomfortable workout after awhile. So here's my solution:

1. Have a daughter.
2. Sign her up for youth soccer.
3. Steal one of her shinguards.
4. Strap it to your wrist.

The fit is perfect, and you get to feel all protective of this young creature whose leg is the size of your arm.

UPDATE: Having finally tried a real GHD, I have come to realize what a poor substitute this is for the real thing. I'm leaving the page up so as not to break links, but I can't recommend this approach. It was a better idea in theory than in practice.

The Crossfit folks love the Glute-Ham Raise, and it is one of the exercises featured in Infinite Intensity by Ross Enamait (my current program). So of course this warranted further investigation on my part. Really, you don't need to do any research beyond reading The Glute-Ham Developer (PDF, 787KB) by BFS, which is a description of the machine, includes a history of the exercise, a compelling list of benefits, and a variety of other exercises you can also perform on the apparatus (abbreviated "GHD"). The more you read, the more such a device seems like a must-have.

The problem is that GHDs are a bit pricey. Some Crossfitters recently shopped around, and there's always Froogle or eBay. Enamait's home-grown approach is to put a towel on the floor under his knees, secure his ankles, and do them that way. The pressure on my kneecaps scared me off trying them that way, so here's what I came up with:

I'm not recommending you build one of these, as it's surely structurally unsound, will break, and will maim or kill you. But here's how I did it just for curiosity's sake...

My Swiss Ball serves as the rounded pad. To anchor my feet I made two T-shaped attachments from 3/4" threaded galvanized pipe and screwed them to my basement door. Each T is composed of a floor flange, a 5" nipple, a T fitting, two 12" nipples, and pipe insulation for padding (make sure you buy the right size - the insulation should provide two measurements, one for the copper pipe it fits, and another for steel). To affix to the door I drilled all the way through and used bolts, washers, and wingnuts. The wingnuts make it easy to remove these or shift them to different positions. You might think you'd want to permanently affix the flanges to the door and just unscrew each T to move it, but you can't really do this as when you go to unscrew one T it will hit the other.

A couple assembly notes:

• You can just screw everything together by hand, leaving the flanges off. Then attach one flange to the door. Screw on the T assembly. You'll be able to use the "arms" of the T to get lots of leverage, making it really tight. Then get your feet in position to figure out where you want the other T to go, and affix the flange. Remove the tightened T via the wingnuts, and then screw the other T really tight. Reattach the initial T when you're done. One thing you might want to consider which I didn't do is epoxy the threads to make the assembly permanent (not the wingnut threads, of course).
• You might want to use smaller than a 5" nipple for the "upright" of the T. You'll want a fairly snug fit, and if your door has panels like the one above it can be tricky, as it's a squeeze to get your foot in, but then it's loose once it's in position because you're on a panel. I ended up screwing a couple boards onto my door to make the fit snug (not shown, as this was today, post-photo). Shorter than 12" nipples for the "arms" might solve this as well, as you wouldn't span different "depths" on the surface of the door.

So far using it is a mixed bag. It's great for back extensions and full range-of-motion situps. Jury is still out on the Glute-Ham Raise though. Part of the problem is that I'm not strong enough to do these under the best of circumstances, which makes other mechanical problems with my setup hard to diagnose. It seems hard to figure out where exactly to put the ball in relation to my hips and knees. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to come up with a satisfactory solution, given that a proper GHD has a fixed pad you can push against, whereas the ball can roll/slide away from you if you try to replicate the mechanics demonstrated in the document above. The ball is also slippery when sweaty, although draping a towel over it seems like a workable cure.

In conclusion, I'm happy with it for some exercises, but not entirely for the exercise I was shooting for. I'm not sure if this will change with practice or not. I'll keep posting other notes on equipment, although between this and the medicine balls I'm not off to an auspicious start on the homemade front.

This insane David Belle/Parkour video (WMV 4.7MB, hosted by this fellow) crossed my aggregator this morning. You have to get a bit into it for the death-defying stuff. A quick Googling of "Parkour" turns up a ton, including parkour.com, Le Parkour, and Urban Freeflow. All provide links to a pile of videos. Post if you find any that are particularly cool. I like the Nike "Angry Chicken" commercial (WMV 1.2MB, found here).