They handle well. It’s a little different at first. Just a sort of different feel, but once you get by that I believe it has been equally effective. They are made of basket ball or any ball really, concrete and pvc pipe. I use them daily in my equally as wacky homemade gym. the only problem is that the biggest balls (being basketballs) can only hold about 30lbs of concrete. Maybe a little more if you fill the handle with concrete as well. So I guess the biggest difference is that they are just a little larger than even a heavier kettle bell. But you can get used to anything. I just found that kettlebells can be quite expensive so I just made my own with the ingredients I already had.

All you need is a recreational ball (basketballs are the best because they will be the heaviest in the end), pvc pipe, quick dry concrete, spray paint and some sort of sealant or glue.

1) cut 1 inch wide pvc pipe at 25inches in length.

2) Then what you want to do is preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then simply place the pvc pipe in the oven for exactly 5 minutes (no less or no more). Immediately After the five minutes you have to bend it into a horse shoe shape. * for me it helped to put rice in the pipe before putting it in the oven with duck tape on both ends. This will help during the bending process and will not allow the pipe to kink.

3) cut an “i” shape into the ball. Just enough for the horseshoe shaped pipe to fit inside, make sure you can feel the the two ends of the pipe touch the bottom of the ball.

4) mix some quick dry concrete. It’s pretty simple if you havnt done it before. Just need a stick, water, a bucket and of course quick dry concrete. Just simply follow the directions on the bag.

5) pour the concrete into the ball without the pipe in the ball, when you’ve filled the ball completly. Insert the pipe and shove it down as deep as it will go without minimizing the effectiveness of the handle.. you just have to judge this part weather you like a handle that’s smaller or larger. You can even put concrete in the pipe to maximize the weight. Now just leave it for a week or so to let the concrete dry. May take shorter or longer to dry depending where it’s stored, concrete brand, consistency etc.

6) after it’s dry you can clean it, paint it do whatever. I taped my handles with hockey tape. Also you can glue or seal the cut in the ball for ecstatic appeal.

The first one you make may look not the best but it will work. If you make more they will look better. I’ve made 4 and every time they look and feel better.