Some people use ankle weights while running and exercising because it strengthens the legs but there is another great advantage to wearing ankle weights. When you weight the ankles for a period of time, then remove the weights, you trick the brain. Your brain thinks it takes a lot more power to jump than what it actually takes and therefore it’s tricked into making you jump higher. Many people who have tried the ankle weights insist they can jump much higher and run much faster than without them. Whatever your reasoning behind wanting to exercise with ankle weights you won’t have to run out and pay big bucks for them. It’s really easy to make your own weights to wear any time you want.
Have you ever purchased lunch meat that comes in a zipper-lock bag? The jumbo packs of cold cuts are sold as family packs and come in a rectangular zipper bag that’s very strong. These zipper bags are perfect for making your own ankle weights. When the lunch meat is gone wash the wrapper with warm, soapy water. After it’s dry you can then proceed to turning the wrapper into an ankle weight. Make two of them and you’ll have a pair of lunch meat wrapper weights.
Fill the empty wrapper with sand. You can weigh the sand if you need the ankle weights to be a specific weight. After you’ve filled the bag you can simply zip it shut. You’ll then need a way to fasten the weights to your ankles. Purchase adhesive-type velcro to fill the bill. Cut a strip that is long enough to go around your ankle as well as the bag of sand. Cut it so that one end will overlap the other by a few inches. This will ensure the weights stay secure while you’re wearing them. Don’t have any sand? You can fill the bag with other heavy things instead, like rice, beans, metal washers or most any other heavy item(s) that will fit in the bag and still allow you to wear it comfortably.
If you have no velcro you can still make the ankle weights but maybe not with sand. Cut two slits into the empty wrapper, on the backside, then thread a piece of ribbon through it. Now you can fill the bag with things that won’t fall out of the slits, such as metal washers, beans or similar items. If all you have to fill the bag with is sand, but you don’t have any velcro, you can still use the slits with ribbon to make the ankle weights. Just place the sand in a regular zipper-lock sandwich bag, then place that bag inside the lunch meat wrapper, and zip it shut to secure. Now you can wear the weights without worrying about the sand falling out. If you simply don’t have any velcro or ribbon you can just tape the weights onto your ankles, but if you choose this method to secure them, you’ll have to rip the tape off and put all new tape on each time you wear them.
You can make a totally different set of ankle weights that does not use a lunch meat bag. Instead, cut a piece of felt or cloth to start. The cloth should be long enough to go around your ankle with a few inches to spare. Cut the cloth so that it’s twice as wide as what you really need. Now tape or glue magnets to one half of the felt. Align the magnets so that they go down the length of the fabric. Although the tape or glue will not hold heavy magnets forever it will hold them temporarily until you finish the ankle weights. Decide ahead of time how many magnets you’ll need then arrange them so that they’re evenly spaced across the fabric. Instead of magnets you can also use metal washers or similarly heavy items.
After you’ve affixed all the magnets you need to give you the amount of weight you want, fold the cloth over the magnets, then glue or sew the pouch shut. Stitch or glue it so that one side is the fold, and the other three sides are glued shut, trapping the magnets in between. In addition, glue or sew down the cloth, between the magnets, all the way down the length of the fabric. When you’re finished each magnet should be inside its own compartment. To finish, glue or stitch velcro pieces to the ends of the ankle weights.
Once you start wearing the new ankle weights you’ll start strengthening your legs and become more agile than before. Since there are many variations for making the weights you can create them yourself no matter who you are. Since they take only a couple of minutes to make you’ll be weighting your ankles in no time and be well on your way to working out with them. Now you can kick your exercise program up a notch!
Reference:
- Purchase velcro here: www.acmoore.com
