How to Make Your Own Medicine Ball

Exercise gets expensive quick.  Not to worry a little innovation can go a long way.

As with all things, there is certainly more than one way to do things.  Here you will notice I have an old basketball I picked up at a yard sale for 10 cents, play sand, funnel, scissors, rubber cement, shop towels and patches.

There are a few different acceptable ways to seal the ball.  I will go over the method I used and why I chose to do it.

I put an air nozzle in the ball to drain the air.  I then chose to puncture the ball with a scissors.  The object here is to make a hole large enough to get your funnel in but not too large that you will have difficulty sealing it.

I used a small funnel.  If I had a larger one I most definitely would have used it.  Once your funnel is inserted you can begin to add your filler.  I wanted a pretty heavy medicine ball to work with so I chose play sand as my filler.  I have also made them with pea gravel and rubber mulch.  The various fillers will of course give you different weight combinations.  I have also combined fillers for in between weights on different items I have made for my garage gym.

It takes a little time and patience to get all of the sand into your ball. 

This is definitely the tricky part.  We need to seal the ball.  We also want the ball to be able to take a pounding after all that is what its intended for.  That being said, lets take a look at the method I chose to accomplish this.

1.  Insert shop towels.  This will provide a sand free environment to work with to allow your seal idea to have the best chance to work.  I repeat this step until most of the leftover area that i could not get sand into is taken up. 

2.  Squeeze in some rubber cement to fill the void.  Note: there is certainly cheaper brands you can use that will work just fine.  Don't get hung up on the exact rubber sealant I used. It doesn't matter that much.

3.  Clean the area and Patch the hole.

My 5 year old lovse to practice and train for wrestling.  So If you have a little fitness freak like i do, don't put the equipment away just yet.  Almost everything I make I make a smaller version for my little wrestler so he can participate if he chooses.

Enjoy your medicine balls!!!