So, in lieu of a recipe today, because that gets old, right? (I mean really…I eat like five things nowadays…) I’m going to show you how to make your very own DIY squat stands! These babies will bring you hours of joy, smiles and maybe some triumphs. They might also cause pain and heavy sweating, but that’s par for the course. They will cost you less then a meal out and they won’t make your ass fat, but they will make your ass PHAT! Do some back squats off these bad boys and you’ll have the Brazilian butt you’ve always wanted…well, it takes a while, but my flat butt is really coming along now that we have these.

So to sum up the work, materials and tools needed:

Cost: approx. $50-85
Project Time: 1 day (plus drying time)
Expertise needed: You have to be able to cut wood, drill wood, put glue on shit, drive screws into wood, and mix and pour cement into a bucket containing said wood.
Materials you will need:

• two large (5 gal) buckets
• two bags of quick-crete (we used QuickCrete Post-Haste in 25kg bags)
• Wood screws (2 1/2″)
• wood glue (one tube should do)
• 2 x 4s (for the size we needed, we used two 2 x 4 x 8’s and four 2 x 4 x 12’s)
• Drill
• Saw
• wheelbarrow or other place to mix concrete (though you could do it in the buckets as well)
• shovel to mix cement
• sand paper to sand off rough edges
• long thin stick or other implement to tamp the cement
• bubble level

Measure the height of the tallest person from the floor (barefoot) to their armpit then subtract one inch (for the height of the bar itself when racked), this will be the height of “D” for person B and the height of “B” for person A.

“E” should be about 5-6″ higher (this is the piece that will catch the bar in the back).

“C” should be 1″ higher then “D” (this is the front catch piece).

If you have two people lifting (like we do) then the taller person’s go in the back and then you add two more pieces to the front for the shorter person. One being the height at the armpit minus 1″ and the second being 1″ higher then that. These will be “D” and “E”.

Example: I stand 5’4″ and Adrian stands 6’3″….a bit of a difference in our front rack heights. So for our squat stand, A was 51″, B was 50″, C was 59″, D was 58″ and E was 70″ (but 6″ is quite enough..we tend to overbuild stuff). And remember, you need two pieces of each. Two individual stands to make the complete squat stand.

When assembling the squat stand, we recommend cutting all the pieces of wood first and dry fitting them together. Make sure all your pieces are the same size as their counterpart. Start with the largest piece (E) and apply adhesive to the piece that will sit next to it (D). Lay (D) onto (E) and then drive at least four screws into (D) spread evenly across (D). We predrilled all the screws with a drill bit smaller than the screws we were using. We did this to prevent splitting of the 2×4. Probably not necessary, but we wanted these bad boys to last.

Continue on with (C), (B) and (A) the same as (D) and (E). Once you have screwed and glued all the pieces together stand them up side by side. They should be the same.

Next, mix your concrete. We used a wheelbarrow to mix the stuff. We didn’t follow the instructions, but simply added a little spray of water between stirring until we reached the desired consistency. If you are at all concerned, just follow the instructions. Be confident, you know you can follow a recipe, and this is no different. The bags are only $8.00 each, so if you screw it up, suck it up and buy another bag.

Stand one of the stands up in the middle of the bucket and using a shovel pour concrete around the wood. Stopping between each shovel full and using a small dowel (1″-1.5″ diameter) tamp the concrete in the bucket to remove air pockets, this will help it settle nicely. We also used a rubber mallet and smacked the sides of the bucket to further help settle the concrete evenly.

Continue to fill the bucket. Once it is filled use a bubble level to ensure the stand is standing straight on ALL sides. Top, back and side. We then clamped our stand to a table we were constructing it on to keep it level. You could use plates and rope and tie the plates to rope and the stand to make sure it stands level. The clamp was super easy and took no time at all.

Do the same thing on the second stand. We ended up using one bag of concrete per bucket. Now let it set for about 24 hours (tt may harden quickly, but it will not be completely set up until about 24 hours later, depending on the temperature and humidy).

Once completed, sand the edges and start squatting! (And be glad you’re INSIDE!)