Looking for a cheap and challenging way to toughen up and rev up your training routine? Here’s a guide on how to use tires in your workout regimen.

Tires are useful things to help you get around, but can they help your workout? Yes, tires are a high-intensity, lo-fi, and affordable element to add to your routine. When you use them right, they can help you build strength, increase endurance, and burn fat without hurting your wallet. Here’s how to use tires in your workout regimen.

The Right Tire

Where do you get a tire? It depends on the workout. Car tires work well for obstacle courses and some fundamental strength and stamina workouts. Farm vehicle tires are best for strength training. Finding car tires is easy enough. Keep your eyes peeled for discarded ones, or ask for your car’s old tires when you replace them. They don’t have to be in perfect condition, though the only thing you want to be shredded during your regimen is you. Clean them up; otherwise, you’ll end up scrubbing road grime off yourself afterward. Tractor tires are less common, but a farm equipment dealer can hook you up. One piece of advice, though, is to know your limits with larger tires and start with a lighter one.

Tire Flipping

Pretty self-explanatory, right? Bend your knees, grasp one side of the tire, and flip it over. You’ll need lots of room. Start from one end of your basement, backyard, or gym, and move it to the other. It’s simple but brutal. As you progress, you can add other movements., such as a few pushups between flips. Or you could stay in one place and flip the tire, then leap over it and flip it back.

Sledgehammer Strikes

Want to feel like Thor or John Henry? Sling a sledgehammer. Safety is the critical word here, so check out a few sledgehammer-meets-tire training videos before you start. Warm up first, then stand with your left foot forward, looking at the tire over your left shoulder. Grasp the bottom of the hammer with your left hand and just below the head with your right. Swing down, and let your right hand slide down to meet with your left as the hammerhead strikes the tire. Practice makes perfect.

Tire Jumps

This one is good for car tires and cardio workouts. Set the tire beside you, and make a lateral jump inside, then out, then back in again. Repeat. If you need more of a challenge, some sites recommend adding a burpee every time you jump out of the tire. You can use tractor tires, too, but in that case, the challenge rests in jumping atop the tire and then back down.

Farmer Walk

Here’s one last way to use car or tractor tires in your workout regimen. Farmer walks put you through your paces until you feel like a farmhand who’s been working the back forty all day long. Stand inside a tractor tire, bend your knees, and grip the inside of the rim. Next, deadlift the tire and walk forward as far as possible. For a simpler starter version, use car tires, holding one at each side, over your shoulders, or above your head as you walk.