What's Your Opinion On These Weights?

[TimStrength]

Hey everyone,

I've done a bit of traveling while doing strength training. It's a pain to find a new gym every other day, not to mention expensive with all the day passes when you're on the road for a while.

So I got some water-filled dumbbells from Amazon, but they were difficult to fill and leaked a bit. I work as a product designer, and think I could make a better version of this.



My question is: on a scale of 1 - 5, how useful do you think water weights would be? (1 being this is crap, give me iron, 5 being GIVE ME THOSE NOW!!)

If enough people think something like this would be useful, I think I could design an easy to use set that doesn't leak, should be pretty cheap to make.

Benefits of water-filled weights:
- Cheap (a whole set would probably be under $100)
- Portable, easy for travel / business travels and moving
- Safe: no denting the floor, or crushing your foot if the weight falls (especially good for older people)

Potential drawbacks:
- If you're traveling with them, you'd have to fill them every time you move. Main point for a better design will be easy-to-fill weights.
- Bulky when full: water weighs less than iron (but could just make the bar a bit longer)
- Movement of water: when lifting the water might shake around a little bit, since there will always be some air in it as well



Any thoughts on this would be highly appreciated, I'm seriously thinking about making this.

I know I would love something like this, but I'm wondering if other's are feeling the same way.

[Heisman2]

I think this would be very unpopular for most people due to the water movement issue making them unstable. At the same time, for the niche groups that love balance/stability training aspects these could be useful. So if you want to go forward with these I would not expect a big market necessarily unless you could convince the masses the would be useful (which may be possible... lord knows there have been a large number of various fads in the fitness industry over the years).

[SemperDeus]

For me, it seems like a larger PIA to carry around weights and fill and unfill them than it does to find a gym. However, if i were to bring some along carrying a pair of powerblocks sounds way better and there's no water involved. Hard pass for me.

Can you use your skills and make a better powerblock/ironmaster adjustable dumbbell set?

[Detrus]

I assume you'll be using bags that can be emptied and folded flat. Put a bunch in a big book bag and it's the same product as some sandbags but with water.

https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-sandbags

A full book bag can hold 40 lbs. Add your clothes to it and it's another 20 lbs.