Make Your Own Gravity Boots! (Sort Of...)

Maybe you've heard of inversion therapy or maybe you want to practice being a vampire, either way these gravity slings will help you do that. It actually is quite nice hanging upside down and it helps straighten the back after sitting all day.

But before we get into the making of these things there are a few things you SHOULD know!

1) Make sure you build these things very well, able to hold at least three times your body weight. If you DON'T and they break you can kill yourself. Or you can be crippled. SO MAKE SURE YOU MAKE THEM STRONG ENOUGH!!!!

2) Make sure you have a way of hooking and unhooking yourself, with either another person nearby or with some sort of support. It is not a joy swinging around by one leg like a slab of meat (experience talking).

3) Use the slings around a boot or some sort of high top shoe. You do NOT want the loop to tighten around a bare leg or ankle and cut off the circulation

So now that you've been duly warned lets get to making them shall we? Then you too can know the bliss of hanging upside down and watching the world go by.

You'll need two large, thick metal rings big enough to fit the hook through (I made my own but you can buy them), two hooks (I made them as well), and a fabric strap (for towing or tiedown) that can hold at least 1000 lbs. The 1000 lbs is overkill but it's your neck you're protecting.

I made these for my feet so you can adjust the size a little either way to fit you.

The hook is sewn onto one end and the metal loop is sewn about 16" (41cm) away from the hook. Then a loop is sewn about 15"(38cm) away from the hoop. This loop should be large enough to let the hook pass through but not much larger. Make sure you use strong thread and do a few passes because you want redundancy in case the thread breaks . Upholstery thread is good for this.

Place the middle of the strap between the metal hoop and the fabric loop underneath the shoe or boot. Now take the hook end and pass it around the front and through the fabric loop on the side. Then take the hook and pass it around the back and through the metal hoop. The amount of strap that comes out of hoop that is attached to the hook should be short. If it's too long it is very hard to get unhooked from wherever you're hanging from (remember the slab of meat warning?) so redo your strap.

Oh, this usually works much better if you have the shoes on first.

You can see the strap passes around the front, through the loop on the side, around the back, and through the hoop on the other side. The boots have high ankles because when you hook yourself to something the straps will tighten from your bodyweight and the boots will protect you from your circulation being cut off.

Because the hook is pretty much in line with your heel you will hang straight up and down and there should be no pulling on your feet. If the hook is too far forward then you'll definitely feel it (more experience talking and it hurts) so readjust your straps.

Have fun with these but please just be careful. These cost way less than gravity boots but they're not as easy to use. With practice though they work well, just follow the precautions. And please don't hang upside down so long that your head fills with blood and explodes, splattering brains everywhere! Brains attract zombies and once there are zombies, well you know the rest of the story.