Arm/Ankle Weights

Welcome to my DIY arm and/or ankle weights using wheel weights, you can custom make whatever weight you choose. My arm weights are 2 pounds. I chose to make this project after searching for arm weights that are sleek and comfortable to wear so that I could wear them doing just about anything and get an arm workout at the same time. The arms weights that I liked were very expensive, the more affordable arm weights were bulky, so I designed these arm weights using materials I already had on hand. I wear them every day and get a great arm workout just going about my business.

an old pair of jeans, wheel weights, 2" wide industrial velcro, sewing machine, tape measure, ruler, scissors, dress pins, marking pen and tailors chalk

Using the measuring tape, measure the circumference of your wrist then measure 6 inches down your arm and measure the circumference of your forearm at this point. You should have three measurements, your wrist, the length of your arm weight and your forearm.

Using your ruler and a marker, mark a line representing your first (wrist) measurement. At the middle point of this measurement, draw a 6" vertical line. My measurement for my wrist was 8", so I drew my 6" vertical line at the 4" mark. At the bottom of the 6" vertical line, with again the middle point of this measurement aligning with the vertical line, draw your forearm measurement. With your ruler, mark a line from the top outer measurement to the bottom outer measurement to create the pattern with which to cut out 8 pieces from your denim material. One pair of arm weights requires 8 pieces of denim.

First we're going to make the inner pocket that holds the wheel weights. Cut your fabric pieces, set 4 pieces aside for the outer sleeve. Take 2 pieces of fabric and sew along the sides and top (wrist), leaving the bottom (forearm) open.

Line up your weights on the top surface of the fabric. Each unit of wheel weight weighs an ounce, 16 ounces make a pound, so for these weights I'm making them 2 1/2 pounds each. Using the tailors chalk, draw a line up close to each side of the rows of wheel weights. Sew a line between each marked row from the very top to the bottom to create pockets for each row of wheel weights. Insert the wheel weights and sew along the bottom to secure the weights. This concludes the inner weight portion of your arm weights.

I'm using a blue denim to better show the velcro step. Cut two 3" long pieces of soft fuzzy velcro and two pieces of the rough, prickly velcro, one 8" and the other 12". With the fuzzy side facing up, sew them to the right side of your outer sleeve fabric, one above the other about a half inch from the edge to allow for the seam. Place the prickly velcro face down, slightly overlapping the fuzzy 3" velcro piece and sew in place, also being mindful to allow for the seam on that edge. I highlighted this seam in yellow chalk to illustrate that the seam is not sewn to the edge for seam allowance. When this seam securing the entire length of velcro is finished, fold over the prickly velcro towards the middle and pin in place. This will give clearance for the seam allowance.

Pin a piece of the fabric, cut out from the pattern, on top of the piece of fabric that has the velcro attached to it. Sew along the sides and the top, leaving the bottom open to insert the weights. Turn the sleeve right side out, insert the weights into the sleeve and sew along the bottom to secure the weights within.

The finished blue denim arm weights, it took me less than 2 hours to make a pair. I prefer the black linen arm weights I made, but it would've been difficult to show the position of the velcro on a black background. They're comfortable to wear, and the daily workout is helping me to get strong! I hope you've enjoyed my DIY arm/ankle weight project!