You have your man-cave and your buddies have theirs. I went to Dave Devaney’s house and the entire bottom floor of his basement is chock full of home-made items that he uses to keep him in peak shape. For those who don’t know Dave he’s a retired SgtMaj and spent 30 years serving in the Marine Corps and largely in the role of a sniper. He’s not only a guy who can kick your butt while staying calm but he’s also a thinker. Dave’s basement is full of DIY projects because he’s always using his noggin. And like me he’s cheap. Why pay top dollar for something that you could actually build all by yourself and be just as effective?

Dave has it all: Punching bags made out of green sea-bags suspended from a beam, parachute harnesses that are affordable substitutes for a TRX system, and a bucket and pillow used to catch pellets from his pellet gun. He uses that pistol to keep his reflexes and eyesight keen.

What I liked most out of his tool kit was the DIY Boxing Bag. It is simple in design, sturdy, and guaranteed not to break down if you kick the snot out of it. Why box? If you want something to give you a full-body workout and test your cardio then this is the way to go. You’ll end up using your entire shoulder girdle and arms: deltoids, biceps, triceps, traps and more. Throwing punches is going to get your pulse-rate up, give you a vigorous aerobic workout and doing kicks is going to help you with lower body stability and develop power as you learn to balance.

Tire shops are generally happy to part with their old tires. They aren’t going to part with them unless holes can be drilled into the tread in order to make them completely unusable on a vehicle. The height of your kicking bag is going to depend on how wide your tires are. Dave built his bag by using eight tires. You will also need fence stakes. Fence stakes come in many lengths. I recommend 60-72″ inches long. Likely you’ll be kicking no higher than waist-level but you’ll want to be able to practice punching a surly dude in the nose so make it tall enough.

Fence stakes can be purchased at Lowe’s, Home Depot or most gardening and tractor businesses. I found them for $3.99 on up to $10.00 bucks. Like I said cheap is good. You want something burly to beat the pants off of it. Make it manly.

Heres What You’ll Need:

• 6-8 Tires
• 3 garden stakes in wood or metal
• land
• buckets of dirt

Drive your first garden stake into the dirt about 6″ inches deep. Add two more stakes into the ground in order to create a triangular shape.  When this is done place a tire over the stakes and let it lay on the ground. Add your first layer of dirt. The dirt will prevent the tires from shifting. Continue to build your tower made out of tires. Once you get it to the level you want you are done! Looking good, looking good. Now give it a test run…

Throw a few jabs, hooks, straights and side kicks. Don’t fall on your butt and have a good time.