DIY Workout Tank with Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl

Make a DIY workout tank and crush your goals.

It happened one afternoon in a bar.  That’s how all good stories, start, right? But seriously, it’s true. It all started in a bar. I was waiting for my hamburger and my husband was scrolling through FB on his phone when he mentioned that his friend put his name into the NYC Marathon lottery. 

Marathons.  They are something that I did long ago. Like a decade ago. Right now, I am completely comfortable at the half-marathon distance.  But what the heck, I’ll throw my name into the lottery too, I thought. It’s not like I’ll get picked or anything, right? Because I never get picked for anything so there’s no harm.  And so I put my name in. Mainly because my kids were sitting across the table from me urging me to do so  “A trip to NYC would be SO.MUCH.FUN” they said. Yes, yes it would be fun.  It was all fun and games until I realized that I got picked and my credit card got charged the enormous entry fee.  So now I have to run it. Because I’m sure as heck not wasting all that money. And my kids are going to be darned sure they get that trip to NYC.  So I’m kinda on the hook.

But if I’m going to run it, I’m going to need a plan. Like I said, the last marathon I did was 9 years ago.  So I went searching for training plans.  There are tons out there but one caught my eye. A sub 3:45. PERFECT. That happens to be the time I need to run to qualify for the Boston Marathon. And everyone whose anyone in the running community wants to do the Boston Marathon.  So I signed up for that plan. The plan that requires me to run an 8 minute mile for 26.2 miles. Currently, I run a 9:30 mile. BARELY a 9:30.  So yeah, there’s that.

My training starts soon. Very soon. And I’m gonna need all the strength and motivation I can muster up to be able to do it. If I’m being honest, a sub 3:45 is way out of my reach. But I’m going to try for it anyway and see how close I can come. And when you’re training THAT hard, you need all the motivation that you can get.  Which is why I made this DIY workout tank. Goal Digger. It’s my mantra until race day. 

This post contains affiliate links.  You can read my disclosure policy here.

HOW TO MAKE A DIY WORKOUT TANK

Supplies
Tank top or t shirt in your choice of color
Glitter heat transfer vinyl (HTV)
Cutting machine (Silhouette or Cricut)
Weeding tools
Iron

Plain workout tanks can be so boring. I decided to spruce one up a bit. There are so many heat transfer vinyl shirt ideas out there but I really wanted one that made a big statement which is why I chose the phrase Goal Digger.  I’m kind of loving it with the gold glitter, aren’t you? And I need all the motivation that I can muster up.

First, cut out your design on the HTV with your Silhouette or Cricut.  The font that I used is one of my current faves: Sortdecai  

If you are creating your own design for your workout tank, be aware that you need to make a mirror image. When placing the HTV into the machine, it needs to be placed liner side side down.  Be sure that you know which side is the liner.  Don’t make the mistake that I did and waste an entire sheet of HTV.  For Cricut brand glitter HTV (which is the brand I used), the liner is the dull side.

After your design is cut, weed out the excess vinyl.  This is where the weeding tools come in handy. Go slowly and peel up the excess vinyl, leaving the design on the liner.

Weed out the inside of the letters with the weeding tools.

This is what the design will look like when it is all weeded out.

Next, place your design onto the shirt. I put the shirt on first and placed a safety pin where I wanted the top of the design to be placed.  I also made sure that there was room so a race bib wouldn’t cover up the design. It fit perfectly.

Place a cloth over the design and using your iron on the cotton setting (no steam), press down on your vinyl design for 20-30 seconds, moving the iron around the design so that you adhere the entire design. Then, peel up a corner of the plastic to see if your design sticks to the shirt.  If not, repeat until vinyl sticks to the shirt. 

Now… put your new tank on and know that you are going to crush those workout goals. I’ll be proudly wearing my shirt all throughout training and probably on race day as well.

PIN THIS SO YOU DON’T FORGET HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN DIY WORKOUT TANK!

Here’s to being a Goal Digger!

If you liked this DIY workout tank, check out more posts using heat transfer vinyl:

Star Wars Shirts

DIY Tote Bag