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Started by LateStarter@46, January 8, 2014 · 19 Replies · 34,380 Views
Hello,
Does anybody know how high, wide, and long parallel bars need to be for Foundation?
Is there a standard size, or should it fit the user [5ft 6.5in, elbow to fingertip length: 44cm] ?
I have rescued some metal pipes from a skip and am thinking of asking a blacksmith to create a parallel bar set up with them.
There are no standard sizes, as parallel bars are intentionally very adjustable. But for a fixed set up, with the intention of doing foundations.
Width: Shoulder width or a bit wider (your preferred width for doing dips)
Height: Armpit to top of your shoulders will allow for a full ROM dip w/o bending the legs and also help with other elements.
Cole, thank you!
and is there standard size of bars? i mean, they are oval or cyrcle(cyrcle but both side are flat?) in front view? in cut
The official shape is a modified egg shape - 50mm x 40mm.
The exact spec can be found here on page 28
http://www.simplycircus.com/sites/default/files/rigging/FIG%20Apparatus.pdf
However if this is too hard to accomplish, a 40mm round bar is a fine alternative for a home gym.
BTW - What's the recommended length (for home gym) ?
Thanks a lot 
If you are gonna make one set, I'd make a set that will allow your feet to not hit the ground when in upper arm support. You can train Russian dips that way and won't have to worry about clearance for things like swinging dips in the future.
Ok, gotcha, thanks.
So if I'm 6'13`` (~1.87m) how long do I need the bars to be? or does it need to be about twice the height of my shoulders?
For Russian Dips, height top of shoulders, length w/ straight arm to middle of tricep.
Got the height - that's easy. But I'm not following the length - should it be measurement of my body length from foot to middle of tricep (which is ~around the top of my ears) ?
Thanks
That could have been more clear, the minimum is from fingertips to middle of the tricep, 2/3 arms length, but if you have room and material then an arms length or more is going to be more versatile and maybe more comfortable.
Ok thanks a lot
Length doesn't really matter to much. Being long does give it stability, especially for swinging dips (besides a heavy base or weighing it down).
Rough guess would be at least as long as you are tall but it doesn't need to really be that long. I'd say at least 3 or 4 feet.
If you were going to use them for PB walking supports, you'd want them long enough to make it worth the effort.
I don't think you would want to make them smaller than 4 feet long based on me standing by my coffee table and I'm just beyond 5' so way shorter than you.
http://shop.powermonkeyfitness.com/collections/frontpage/products/parallel-bars
These are 54.5" x 92"
I've gotten some bids for welding metal Pi shaped parallel bars.
I don't think you need them high enough to do a bent knee swing in hang but go for it if you want. You'll also be higher in support or HS.
You just need to make sure your toes will clear at the bottom of a dip. You also might want it slightly higher than your shoulders so you can do chicken dips and upper arm support stuff.
For long hang stuff, you can set up a metal bar and posts high enough that your toes won't clip if you want to work on beat swings and bar muscle-ups and pullovers.
Blairbob said:http://shop.powermonkeyfitness.com/collections/frontpage/products/parallel-bars
These are 54.5" x 92"
These look really nice. Has anyone purchased these for use in their home?
Got my parallel bars welded ($300 total) and I planted them in the ground.
I went with longer vertical pipe( 9ft) to give more flexibility in the height I could set them.
Currently, the bars are tamped and watered in dirt with a 4 inch gravel "pad" at the base of the vertical support for drainage.
The height of the bars is 71 inches.
My design was flawed in that the bars oscillate horizontally about an inch or so when I'm in support.
If I could redo the design I'd go for a 2inch or greater vertical pipe. I think that might provide better stability.
I also realized how difficult it is to to get the bars perfectly symmetrical.
One section is perfectly plumb and level. The other section has one post about 0.25 inches too high.
I really don't want to dig 2 more 48inch post holes to properly level them, so I'm curious if it's risky to use the bars in the current non-level status.
I tried to post the image but was notified that I can't post images from imgur.
Looks fine. Not the end of the world.
Our coach said they use fiberglass... Which makes sense for the flex they have. I'm going to try to mend it with schedule 40 pvc