Katie: Edith, how did you find this picture?
Edith: I was looking for photos for another exercise-related post on Getty, and this one caught my eye. I think I was searching for “woman at gym,” or something like that. I don’t know what it is, but I want to do it. The caption is simply: “Woman training in gym.” Katie? Is this the latest in lifting?
Katie: It looks like a measuring level filled with … pee, or blood?
Edith: I want a urine baton! Omg! What is she doing!!!!!
Katie: It looks pretty light, though.
Edith: Yeah, come to think of it she is not exerting herself really.
Melissa: She does look like she’s concentrating super hard, though. Also, I hope she’s friends with this gal.
Katie: I’m Googling to see if I can find out what the urine baton is, and I CANNOT find it!!!! I tried “liquid baton for weight lifting,” I tried “level filled with liquid for gym,” I’ve tried everything.
Melissa: Lol, I AM GOOGLING TOO.
Edith: Worth noting that while Getty images are typically are swamped in tags, these pee baton images are mysteriously scant.
Katie: Yeah, I am baffled…
Melissa: Wait wait WAIT, I think I’m ONTO SOMETHING HERE …
Edith: Omg. I think I found it, too.
The Attitube, from a 2010 post: “Attitube Barbells and Dumbbells: Use Water For Weight: Want to do strength training, but couldn’t be bothered with all those noisy steel plates? You might want to try the Attitube, an exercise tube you can fill.”
Katie: “All those noisy steel plates” — wow. Attitube. This is incredible. I wonder how much they paid to get in stock photos?
Edith: Damn those noisy plates. If the question is “how do I get one,” the answer is maybe we cannot, since the Attitube’s site seems to be defunct. Although there is a 2015 science paper about the Attitube.
Katie: I wonder if there are any still stored in some lifter entrepreneur’s garage, and maybe he’ll email us after we post this?
Melissa: Oh, you REALLY found it. That’s totally what the pic was. I very nearly got to the Attitube, I think, but instead I found this, which led me to the “slosh pipe.”
Edith: SLOSH PIPE.
Melissa: “The darnedest thing about the Slosh Pipe is this: the water doesn’t stay still and behave itself. It sloshes. Back and forth. Uncontrollably. So, just picking up the pipe and holding it quickly becomes the Core Workout from hell.”
Katie: How heavy can these things really get? The Attitube page says, “While they aren’t likely to be of much use for ogres benching 300 pounds,” which is … rude.
I think this is only useful up to maybe like 100 pounds? Just because of the structure.
Melissa: Ooh, you can make your own. “It looks crazy, but this workout gadget, which you can make yourself, will kick your butt. Here’s how.”
“The Slosh Pipe will take about an hour to make, including a run to the hardware store. You will need to cut the flanges off the ends, if you have them, clean and glue the ends and cap them. Don’t be too heroic and try to use a longer piece, and be careful of using the Slosh Pipe in a confined area: you may think you can keep it under total control, but you can’t.”
Katie: How is this easier???? How many trips with cups of water from sink to pipe until it’s full.
Melissa: Yeah they don’t really get into filling it up. Maybe a hose.
Edith: I’m starting to wonder why the liquid in the original Getty pic had to be orange/yellow/gold. It seems like you’d want to go with green, blue, or purple.
Melissa: You would NOT want yellow! What on Earth.
Katie: Yeah, I think you want blue, that makes me think of Gatorade. And thus, fitness.
Melissa: Would you guys make one?
Edith: A slosh pipe? Honestly, yes.
Melissa: Hahaha REALLY?
Edith: Well, okay, no. I’d certainly break it.
Katie: I think with weight lifting you NEED plates on the end to elevate it, otherwise how do you get leverage to lift it off the ground? I can’t picture it.
Edith: I’d want my tube to be clear, though, like the original pic, and I’d want glitter in it.
Katie: Omg. Glitter is such a good idea. Like those wands I had as a kid.
Edith: Yeah!
Katie: But how do you add on more weight when you get stronger? It’s just a very fixed system.
Melissa: Maybe it’s just like, you do more stuff with the slosh pipe. You twirl it like a baton, instead of just lifting it??
Katie: Hahaha. Hm.
Edith: Power twirling.
Melissa: If I had a garage and a real house I think I might try to make one. But this seems like a disaster.
Katie: Yeah imagine trying to store this in your apartment.
Melissa: If I lived in the suburbs I’d have you guys over for a slosh pipe making party.
Katie: Melissa, thank you.
Edith: I feel compelled to add, the Attitube doesn’t have the same hand-grips that the Getty image does … so the mystery is not entirely solved.