How to Make a Homemade Adjustable Kettlebell

Ready to learn how to make a homemade adjustable kettlebell? You’ve come to the right place. This step-by-step guide (with pictures) will teach you how to make a DIY kettlebell for your home gym.

At the time I’m writing this, social distancing and self-quarantine measurements during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic are still in full swing. Gyms are closed and traditional gym equipment is completely sold out in all the surrounding stores in our area.

People (including many of my personal training clients) have been trying to find creative ways to stay active at home. My husband and I have been getting a lot of use out of our homemade adjustable kettlebell, so I wanted to provide an easy step-by-step guide for my clients to make their own homemade t-shaped kettlebell.

Why I Created a Homemade Kettlebell 

I first learned about kettlebells back in 2011, when I read the book The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris. It talked about the benefits of working out with kettlebells and that you could create your own DIY kettlebell at home with some weight plates and a few inexpensive items from the hardware store.

I was in college at the time and the school gym was very small and had very limited equipment (no kettlebells). So I decided to build my own t-shaped kettlebell to workout with in my dorm room. Nine years later, that homemade kettlebell is still going strong and a part of my home gym equipment.

Gym equipment is scarce right now. Gyms are closed and stores are sold out of most traditional gym equipment. Aside from that, exercise equipment can be expensive and take up a lot of space.

Particularly items like kettlebells, which typically require you to have an assortment of differently sized and weighted kettlebells for variety.

For a piece of home gym equipment, an adjustable kettlebell is fantastic.

My husband and I can alternate using it in our workouts by adding or taking away a few weight plates and it doesn’t take up much room for storage. We’ve been getting a lot of use out of it these days.

Here’s what you’ll need to make a homemade adjustable kettlebell.

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What You’ll Need to Make a DIY Kettlebell

From Home

• Loadable weight plates
• Duck tape or sports tape (I used sports tape)

From the Hardware Store:

• One 3/4″ by 12″ pipe nipple
• Two 3/4″ by 5″ pipe nipples
• One 3/4″ tee joint
• One 3/4″ floor flange
• Optional: a clamp or shaft collar to keep the weight plates from sliding (not pictured in this homemade kettlebell guide because I personally haven’t had an issue with my plates sliding, but feel free to add one in at your own discretion!)

Hardware Parts for a T-shaped Kettlebell

If you found yourself asking “what the heck is a floor flange?”, no worries.

Don’t stress if you’re unfamiliar with some of these parts, no stress. I’ve got’cha covered. You should find everything you need in the plumbing section of your local hardware store.

If you’re unable to visit a local store, don’t worry. You can find everything you need online.

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Two of these (the handles)

3/4″ X 5″ Pipe Nipple

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One of these (the vertical bar)

3/4″ X 12″ Pipe Nipple

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One of these (the connector)

3/4″ Pipe Tee Joint

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One of these (the base)

3/4″ Floor Flange

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Assembling Your Homemade Adjustable Kettlebell

Once you’ve got all the parts, all that’s left is to put it all together. This process is super simple and goes quite quickly.

Begin by assembling the handle and main structure of the kettlebell by connecting the smaller pipe nipples into the tee joint. The two 3/4″ by 5″ pipes will screw onto the left and right sockets of the tee joint and the longer 3/4″ by 12″ pipe will screw into the center socket of the tee joint.

From there you can wrap the two smaller pipe handles in either sports tape or duck tape. This will serve as a safety measure to help protect your hands and give you better grip when exercising with your homemade adjustable kettlebell.

Next, it’s time to add some weight. For this, you will need a few traditional loadable weight plates (the kind you use for an adjustable dumbbell set, not the larger kind of plates made for barbells).

Many smaller weight plates you can purchase for a home gym have about a one-inch hold in the center of the plate and work well with a 3/4-inch wide pipe.

Slide the desired amount of plates onto the main bar of your homemade adjustable kettlebell (be careful not to pinch your fingers).

Finally, screw the floor flange onto the bottom of the main pipe bar to lock your weight plates onto your kettlebell. Make sure that you’ve securely fastened it onto the pipe before you exercise with it to make sure nothing comes unfastened during a workout.

And there you have it! A fully functional DIY kettlebell!

I hope you enjoyed this step-by-step tutorial on how to make a homemade adjustable kettlebell. Good luck with all your home workouts to come!

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All writing and images copyright © 2020 Rachel Elise Weems Woods.