Do you have a workout dowel?

[Celia M]

I don't have a dowel because my balance has gotten so much better than it used to be, I don't really need one!

If I get wobbly, I put my hand on reading table in the living room (where I work out) to rebalance.

I'll never lift like Cathe or jump like Gin, so I've got to take those fitness successes where I can find 'em!

[Lenore Levine]

I'm another one who got my workout dowel from Collage.

What can I say? It does the job. I probably could have found something cheaper, but no big deal.

[gfarmer]

Bought it cheap under $4. Don't have rubber tips. Don't need them. My workout room floor has carpet. Never painted/stained. Works fine when I use it (not often).

[Patti S.]

Another broom handle here. No rubber tips though, 'cause my workout area is carpeted.

[Leslie Godfrey]

I'm loving the stories of the "handmade-with-love" workout gear! I use a plastic walking stick for a dowel; I got it at an Ag Expo-this guy was giving them out to publicize his plastics recycling business. I hardly ever use it, though.

Back when Volume 3 from the Firm first came out, I didn't have a tall box, so I commandeered a plastic milk crate from the garbage at work. i know, ewwww! But I took it home, doused it with dishwashing liquid and cleaned it off with the hose and a scrub brush (it didn't look dirty but I didn't know where it had been). My husband took one look at it, and said "No way are you going to step up and down on that thing, you'll break your neck!" So he took it away, and attached a square piece of thick plywood to the top, another to the bottom, and voila! A tall box! But a few weeks later a friend and fellow Firmie found a guy selling short and tall boxes at the local flea market for 5 bucks each, and got one of each for both of us. Yep, they are "official" Firm boxes. I have no idea where this guy got them; we didn't ask! Wonder what the statute of limitations is on hot fitness equipment?

Leslie, going home to hide her Firm boxes in the closet...

[Jammin']

It's a long cylindrical thing. I didn't throw it away cuz I knew I'd need a box shaped like that for *something*.

[SharonNYC]

I never buy something if I can make it or fake it. For years I used a platform I nailed together from painting stretcher bars placed across milk crates for a weight bench and it worked just fine. I'd still be using it if I hadn't bought a step (which is, of course, now my weight bench).

I won't go to a whole lot of trouble to make something though. If I can't find the ingredients and tools hanging around my apartment I won't bother. I figure I have a lifetime supply of broom handles though.

I've never missed the rubber tips. I suppose I would put duct tape on the ends to avoid floor damage if that were an issue...

[stephb]

I'm using the handle of a dust mop. The handle had actually broken off (a screw came out). I threw the mop part away and use the handle as my dowel. It's yellow plastic with green ends.