Who said that you needed to belong to a gym to be in shape? Our home personal trainers fitness equipment tricks and tools sometimes come from some unusual places. Many times items people have lying around or waiting to be sent out to the trash, make the best equipment! Getting and staying in shape doesn't have to be expensive. Here are some of our home personal trainer's favorites.

Empty Water Bottles/ Gallon Jugs: Filled with Sand, Rocks or Cement.

Making homemade dumbbells is easy and beats spending between 15-100 dollars for a pair of 5-50 pound dumbbells. They can be used in just the same way, just make sure to super glue the cap of the water bottle once you have filled it with sand. Make sure you do not pack the sand in, leaving some room in the bottle for the sand to shift, with help to tone faster. Using sand adds extra work for your muscles, as the sand shifts from one side to the other it forces the muscles to have to tighten and stabilize to avoid you falling over. This too can be done with any larger size water jugs to simulate medicine balls as well. Some other alternatives to add to the empty bottles include rocks and even cement to make them heavier....ratio of your sand/rock mixture to cement should be 5:1 so if you use 5 scoops of sand/rock mixture use 1 scoop of cement. Then just add water to the mixture and pour into your chosen bottle size. Make sure to leave the cap off to make sure that they have time to cure for several days at least!

Old Tires.

Getting rid of your old winter car tires? They make great workout partners. Using them in a multitude of ways as balance, a weight, even as a stair, the possibilities are endless. Some of the exercises we perform include: hopping through them lined up in pairs, squatting balancing on top, lunging onto the tire, traveling push ups around the tire, planking with your feet on the tire or your hands, carrying the tire over your head, squatting holding the tire above the head, running carrying the tire, squatting and flipping the tire, squat thrusts with the tire going up above the head, tricep dips off the edge, partner drills, shadow drills with a partner, tag with a partner....you get the point---ENDLESS. It is one of the cheapest pieces of equipment to acquire. Best of all if you don't already have one your local tire business usually has a bunch they are willing to give to you for free.

Sand Bags.

For less than .50 cents a bag and a 20 pound bag of sand, approximately 5 dollars, you have a variety of muscle strengthening moves that can be combined with just about any exercise. The best part is that you don't have to look far, any local hardware store or Home Depot, has a multitude of shapes, sizes and colors. Make sure you double or triple bag them! We fill one and then insert it into the second bag with the knot facing down, and then repeat for the third bag, just to make sure no sand falls out.They can be used as dumbbells if you fill them lighter, or fill it heavier and use as a medicine ball. The unsteadiness of the shifts in sand help to ignite the core and help develop muscles to work in functional training movements. This is important for everyday life, as multiple muscles work at the same time during daily activities. For example: bending down to pick up a child, uses from the neck down, back, stomach, legs, glutes....

Soup Cans and Weighted Socks.

Using soup cans a light weights is a great place to get started in a fitness routine. Using these for lateral arm raises, presses above the head and even punches, can help to trim and tone. When these seem to be getting on the lighter side, take a heavy duty men's tube sock and place several cans in the sock. Make sure your knot is secure! These can be used for many exercises including mimicking a kettle bell. A cheap way to get the benefit without the price tag.

2 x 4 or an Old Log.

Using this to balance when you are performing any exercise will help engage the core and strengthen the smaller stabilizer muscles.We love using this for lunges and squats. It you feel like challenging yourself add a weighted piece of equipment and perform twisting movements in an attempt to use more balance.

Stairs or a Milk Crate.

Use them as a step, a plyometric box, a stair climber, or just as plain cardio! A great way to get the heart rate up without having to go anywhere or purchase any fat burning equipment. Hop onto the first step and squat, repeat about 15-20 times. Lunge, squat, race up them!

I hope you've seem something here that has inspired you to take advance of all the "useless" items that are just waiting to be transformed into exercise equipment. Happy Training!