October
2008
Build Your Own Slosh Tube
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Get Sloshed
But not with alcohol (save that for after the workout). Nope, I’m talking about working out with a slosh tube.
A slosh tube is a large PVC pipe filled with water and capped on the ends. It’s a surprisingly effective workout tool. Best of all, you can build one yourself for less than twenty bucks.
How to Do It
- Go to your local hardware store and buy a PVC pipe. You’ll want one at least 4 inches in diameter and 9-10 feet long. Buy caps for both ends. Make sure at least one of the caps is removable and rubber.
- Fill your pipe at least 1/2 full of water. It’s advised that you have one of the caps on at this point, unless you’re looking for the toughest exercise possible: one in futility.
- Cap it and get sloshed!
Building the thing is the easy part. Actually working out with it is deceptively difficult. You see, although the slosh tube only weighs about 40 pounds, those 40 pounds of water will be sloshing around inside the 10 foot long tube. Watch this video:
Note how easy the woman carries the tube upright when gravity’s keeping the water resting at the bottom. But when she tries to hold it horizontally she needs help just getting it to her shoulders. And therein lies the beauty of the slosh tube – the slightest imbalance sends the water sloshing to the opposite end of the tube. Weight isn’t just mass/poundage; it’s also based on momentum. Correcting that imbalance, fighting that momentum, is incredibly taxing on your core.
To look at the slosh tube from a Primal perspective, imagine you’ve just slain a huge anaconda. Dinner for a week. As you sling it over your shoulder for the trek back home, the thing starts going into death spasms. You’re trying to hold it while this huge muscular tube is whipping around. The weight’s being transferred back and forth. The thing finally dies, but you’ve just done a number on your abs. That’s (however inconceivable and unrealistic the scenario might be) what the slosh tube is trying to emulate.
Try just pressing it overhead and holding it. Inevitably, you’ll sway a bit and the water will start to slosh around. It sounds easy, but try holding it steady. Bet you can’t (on your first try).
Or, try a Zercher walk:
It sounds simple enough. Hold the pipe up to your chest and walk. Walk as far as you possibly can. And if you want added (unnecessary) challenge, walk on an uneven surface or up a hill. Try to make it at least twenty paces.
Use the slosh tube as a barbell. Try the bench press, deadlifts, squats, or even bicep curls. I guarantee exasperated sighs, furrowed brows, and the sorest muscles you’ve ever felt as you battle the laws of physics.
The slosh tube makes simple movements difficult. It makes you work hard for motions that you take for granted as a Primal fitness head. Even better, using a slosh tube doesn’t quite feel like a traditional workout. It’s fun and different. And isn’t that what effective workouts are all about? Tricking your body into performing hard work, and enjoying it?
Try experimenting with different sized slosh tubes. Maybe fill it 2/3 full of water, or make two 4 foot one-handed slosh tubes instead of one big one. Let’s hear from you guys. Any good slosh tube ideas? Any new workouts you’ve discovered using a slosh tube?
Interesting. Seems like you need a lot of room for that, though. Can’t imagine anyone in a city being able to do anything with it. Smaller ones would probably be the way to go there.
That’s pretty funny. I agree on using the smaller ones. I don’t know where I’d keep a 10 foot long tube. I could use the smaller ones and walk around the neighborhood and not look too weird…
I know a swimmer who use to train with a smaller version of one of these (about 6 feet long). He would tread water while holding it above his head. I think I’ll try just picking it up for now though…
For those of us who live in colder climates, perhaps filling it with a 50-50 mix of anti-freeze and water would be a good idea for the winter months. Other wise it would be pretty simple to train with all winter, or really hard if it froze upright…
Another good tool for stabilizing unbalanced weight is a sandbag. Let’s see a post on a sandbag workout!
You got it, Kat!
haha what a badass peice of workout equipment. Ive never seen those before
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
[...] out Mark’s Daily Apple for videos and tips on making a Slosh [...]
Simple, inexpensive, effective, awesome. My project for Saturday afternoon.
Hey Mark,
Interesting post. I’d be interested to hear you opinion on the following article: http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.cfm .
After reading the article, I might be eating quite a bit less red meat!
Andy
Whoops, wrong link. Here’s the correct one:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5902/659
I can personally attest to the effectiveness of the slosh tube. I like to couple a hard bout of sprints with some Zecher slosh tube lunges. I also like to do “see-saws” from an isolated lunge position. With the tube held as in the Zercher lunge,tilt (the tube) either right or left, then, just before the end of the tube hits the ground reverse direction EXPLOSIVELY. Repeat as many times as possible — don’t worry, it won’t be many! You can’t imagine how hard this is to do, especially from a lunge position. Enjoy!
AWESOME!!
I have never seen that.
Thank you for my weekend project MDA.
I can’t wait to try this thing.
Marc
Feel Good Eating
This sounds like a fun project. I will have to look into the options for leaving one end removable for convenience. For those of you worried about freezing, how about adding a few pounds of salt to lower the freezing point and add a little weight? It would be cheaper and less toxic (think leaks and pets)if you could add enough salt to make a meaningful difference in the freezing point. Any chemists out there care to figure this one out? How much salt to add to =/- four gallons of water?
[...] reading, but it seems it’s a pretty simple and effective workout tool. Find out what a Slosh-tube is over at Mark’s Daily Apple. He’s also got a great article on the benefits of [...]
Build Your Own Slosh Tube | Mark’s Daily Apple…
A slosh tube is a large PVC pipe filled with water and capped on the ends. It’s a surprisingly effective workout tool. Best of all, you can build one yourself for less than twenty bucks….
Build Your Own Slosh Tube | Mark’s Daily Apple…
A slosh tube is a large PVC pipe filled with water and capped on the ends. It’s a surprisingly effective workout tool. Best of all, you can build one yourself for less than twenty bucks….
[...] Slosh Pipe keeps getting recommended in different places. Mark Sisson wrote about it last week. The slosh tube makes simple movements difficult. It makes you work hard for motions that [...]
[...] takes 1 and 2), you CAN get strong on bodyweight alone, fixing your deadlift, Mark makes a pipe (I made mine awhile back from these instructions) and sandbags (the ones I made), one reason why [...]
[...] lead to great workouts. It’s why we prefer free weights to machines, and it’s why kettlebells, slosh tubes, and sandbags have gotten so much attention from us recently. The more work the equipment does for [...]
[...] Build Your Own Slosh Tube [...]
[...] the burpee sets you just did. But what about the people around you? Pass this post around. Build a slosh tube or a set of clubbells as cheap, inventive Christmas presents. Drop subtle (or not so subtle hints) [...]
[...] the burpee sets you just did. But what about the people around you? Pass this post around. Build a slosh tube or a set of clubbells as cheap, inventive Christmas presents. Drop subtle (or not so subtle hints) [...]
[...] Build Your Own Slosh Tube [...]
I’d like to see a better credit to Crossfit for the first video in this article. Great workout methodology and a great piece of equipment. http://WWW.CROSSFIT.COM
We got a couple of “mini” slosh-tubes for Christmas and I posted videos on my blog. They are fun, if a little painful!
I got the components to build one today! I can’t wait, it will help me train for the Derby Mini Marathon this year in Louisville, KY.