Homemade hojo undo equipment

[Kuma]

I've been experimenting with making a lot of different hojo undo equipment lately and figured I'd share a few ideas to the fellow karateka of the board.

Today I actually just finished making a plate-loaded chishi. So far the total cost was under $10. Here was the materials required:

*24" length of pipe, 2" diameter (I ended up getting plastic because it was cheaper, which is sturdy enough for most of the weights to be used for chishi)

*Four (4) hose clamps (I put two on each end; one may have been enough but the second one's on just in case the first one fails)

*Duct tape (to thicken up the barbell plate end so it fit snugly)

*Athletic/duct tape (for the handle end; since it's plastic it's going to be a bit slicker than the traditional wood and, due to the thickness, a little extra grip can't hurt)

*Hacksaw

*Flathead screwdriver

*Tape measure

(1) Measure the length between the tip of your middle finger to the crook of your elbow. This is about how long you want the chishi to be.

(2) Measure and mark the pipe the same way, and use the hacksaw to cut off the excess.

(3) At one end (preferably the end you cut, so you don't end up nicking your hand open), fasten two hose clamps with the ends alternating (i.e. one on the left and one on the right).

(4) Use a fair amount of duct tape right below those two clamps to thicken up the pipe so the plate can fit snugly.

(5) Place the barbell plate down flush against the one side (I used a 10-pound plate to start) and put on the other two hose clamps with the ends alternating.

(6) At the other end use a bit of tape to give yourself some grip.

Simple and easy. As a test, I loaded a 25-pound plate on it and did some two-handed exercises and it seemed to work just fine. Obviously if you have standard barbell plates you need to make the pipe a bit smaller or may be able to use wood for the handle. Once we find our camera, I'll post a picture, but hopefully those directions were pretty clear.

[Kuma]

I also made a very primitive version of "tetsu geta", though having never used it myself I can't say how accurate it is. Like a lot of people, I have the ankle weights but from everything I've read it's definitely not the same as you have to grip with the toes when you do the exercises just like a regular pair of sandals.

I was about to toss an old pair of sandals I had, when I had a bit of a brainstorm. I actually strapped the ankle weight around the middle of the sandal and then put on the sandal itself. Standing was a bit awkward in it (I'm sure with regular geta it is too) but when I did some exercises with it I really had to grip tightly with my toes to get it moving. Definitely not like the real thing I imagine but an acceptable substitute I suppose. I'll have to experiment with it more.

[Kuma]

My nigiri gami were the easiest to make. I just took two empty protein jars (both around 3.5" wide at the top, they were close), filled it up with some play sand from the home improvement store, and put the top on tight (one of them slips a bit so I put some athletic tape around the top to hold it closed).