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I"ve always heard you can use cans from your pantry. Also, you could feel water bottles with sand or dirt. Just a thought.
Amber

Hand weights aren't really all that expensive if you can swing any cash at all. I picked up a set of 8 pounders at Wal*Mart for $10.

Or you could use your own body weight...i.e. push-ups, lunges, squats, etc

My grandmother has always used full vegetable cans. That's what I started out with, so I guess it can work *LOL*

For a very beginner, you can use two unopened bottles of water as hand weights. They are usually 16.9 oz. which would be equal to using a set of 1 pound hand weights.

I would suggest that you visit garage sales and check places like Wal-Mart, Target, and sporting goods stores for hand weights though. The lighter the set of weights, the cheaper they are, so you should be able to buy a set of 2 or 3 pound weights for under $10 easily. You should be able to get larger hand weights such as 5 and 8 pound ones for under $20 a set. There are even sets at some of the places I mentioned that have 3-4 sets in them with a rack-like a set of 2, 3 and 5 pounds, or 3, 5 and 8 pounds that are reasonably priced.

The water bottles can add 1 pound of resistance until you buy real weights though. I think they are thinner and would be easier to work with than cans from the pantry.