If you are on a tight budget and cannot afford a membership to a gym or expensive workout machines and training aids, you can still get in a quality workout with an old car or truck tire. Whether you are an elite athlete wanting to continue to build and maintain muscle or a non-athlete wanting to firm up and improve your level of strength and fitness, a workout with tires can help you achieve your goals.
Aerobic Equipment
An alternative to a fitness aerobic step bench is a used car or truck tire. Simply lay the tire on its side to practice your step-ups. Stand to the side of the tire, hop up and tap the top edge of the tire while alternating your feet. If you want more height, use a larger truck tire or stack another tire on top of the first. With the same tire you can practice an in-and-out aerobic exercise. Stand with your right foot in the hole of the tire and the left foot outside to the left of the tire. Hop up and simultaneously move your right foot out to the right side and the left foot into the hole of the tire. Maintain a quick pace for two minutes with each exercise.
Workout Bench
Truck or tractor tires can also double as a workout bench where several exercises can be performed. One exercise is triceps dips. This is where you sit on the floor with your back toward the tire. Bend your knees 45 degrees and place your feet flat on the floor. Reach back and place your palms on the edge of the tire. Straighten your arms to lift your butt off the floor, pause, slowly lower your body and repeat. Larger tractor tires can be used to execute decline pushups. This is where you get on all fours with the tire behind you, place your feet on the tire, extend your arms and walk out on your hands. Raise your body off the floor into a plank-like pushup position. Pause at the top of the movement, bend your arms and lower your body back toward the floor while keeping your body straight.
Tire Sled
According to certified strength and conditioning specialist Josh Henkin, sled training helps improve posture, strengthen the hamstrings and glutes and helps with muscle imbalances. A sled is basically a heavy, flat-bottom device that can be pulled by a long rope or strap. With a few supplies, you can convert an old truck tire into a training sled. Drill a hole into the middle of the tread of the tire. Insert an eye bolt and secure it on the inside of the tire with a washer and bolt. Repeat the process and install a second eye bolt on the opposite side of the tire. Tie the ends of 25 feet of rope or towing strap to the eye bolts. Hold the strap around your waist or in your hands to pull the sled behind you. To add more weight, place a circular piece of plywood into the hole of the tire to act as a bottom to hold weight plates or sandbags.
Training Aid
Certified strength and condition specialist Joe Hashey recommends using a car tire as a training aid to improve your rotational core strength. The tire is used to perform a chop exercise. With your feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart, stand to the left side of a tree and hold the inner rim of the tire with both hands. Swing the tire toward the tree as if it was an axe and you were going to chop down the tree. Start with the tire on your left side, swing it toward the tree, allow it to bounce off and repeat 10 times. Repeat the exercise standing to the right of the tree. Without resting, set the tire upright on the ground and hold each side of the inner rim with your hands. Lift the tire overhead and swing it toward the ground as if you were chopping wood. Allow the tire to bounce off the ground and repeat 10 times.
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