DIY Slosh Pipe

A slosh pipe is a great, but seldom talked about fitness apparatus.  As far as workout equipment goes, you definitely get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of how much you put into making it, and what you physically get out of it.

So what is a Slosh Pipe, and why to we call it that anyway?  A slosh pipe is a long PVC pipe (8-10 feet) that is filled 2/3 to 3/4 full of water.  Since it’s not completely full, that water will “slosh” around, making the pipe unstable, and giving you one heck of a core workout.

If you’ve been thinking of making your own slosh pipe, you’re in luck because it’s one of the simplest DIY home gym pieces of equipment to make with the fewest steps.  So in other words, it’s my kind of project.

So let’s get started!  First, get yourself a pipe… the longer the better.  I cut mine down to 8 1/2 feet, primarily because of space issues, however if space wasn’t an issue, I would have kept it at it’s original 10 foot length.  You’ll also need to choose between a 3 inch and 4 inch diameter pipe.  Obviously, the bigger pipe will give you more weight to work with, but I opted to go with the 3 inch pipe because it was easier to hold and handle.

PVC Flexible Cap

After you have your pipe cut to size, it’s time to cap it.  You have a few options here with how you choose to go about this.  I went with a PVC Flexible Cap.  I liked this rubber fitting because  it was the cheapest option, AND since I was going to be storing my pipe standing up on it’s end, I felt the slosh pipe would be least likely to slip and fall having rubber ends as opposed to plastic ends.  I go over some of the other options in my video above.  This is one of those situations where there are a few right ways to go about it, so do whatever works best for you.  As long as it holds the water, things should be fine.

So, cap one end, then fill the pipe 2/3 to 3/4 full, and then cap the other end.  And that’s it!  You’re done!  You now are a slosh pipe owner.

My 8 foot 6 inch slosh pipe with a 3 inch diameter ended up weighing 26.4 pounds.  My initial reaction to that weight was, “Hmmm… that seems a bit light.”  Especially when you take in to consideration that I use 25 and 30 pound dumbbells… having this large, two-handed contraption weighing just 26 lbs. seemed on the low side.

We’ll, in short, I was wrong.  I was amazed at just how good of a workout 26 pounds gave me.  That instability of the sloshing water really does make you work to hold that puppy steady.  25 pounds in a long slosh pipe feels much different than 25 pounds in a dumbbell.  Plus, you are going to be doing completely different workouts with a slosh pipe vs. a dumbbell or barbell, so we really shouldn’t get caught up too much with the weight differences.

That being said, I think I’m probably still going to make another slosh pipe with a 4 inch diameter PCV pipe.  And the reason is the very same as to why we all have several different weights of weights in our gyms… we need different weights for different movements and exercises.  My other takeaway is that if you have the room, leave your pipe at 10 feet… that gives you more weight and more instability… and that instability is what really gets your core working.

And that’s it!  Depending on how you choose to make your slosh pipe, and how big you go with it, you’re looking at a $20-$25 investment.  If you came across some better ways of doing things when making your slosh pipe, feel free to share it with us in the comments below!