New Grips & Travelettes (Travel Paralletes) w Xtreme Rings

New Grips & Travelettes (Travel Paralletes) w Xtreme Rings.

I am going to start my training as per Coaches systems. I am currently in India so its harder to get the Equipment and I am having a friend bring over stuff from the US.

Given I am a newbie I've decided to invest in 2 things:

- Xtreme Rings

- Travelling Parallettes (From American Gymnast.com)

- Third Optional Item being Grips / Gloves of some sort to prevent calluses or save me from the pain of them. (read more below).

I'd really appreciate your guidance in FINALIZING my FIRST ROUND of EQUIPMENT PURCHASE and.. then have it BROUGHT to India.

As a Newbie who does not want to later think.. Oh, I should've bought that stuff to make it easier / safer to train do let me know.

I am considering the following items to buy along with Xtreme Rings to begin my Training here.

TRAVELING PARALLETES - TRAVELLETTES

http://www.american-gymnast.com/catalog ... 1&brand=11

AG Travellettes

For the athlete on the go...the American Gymnast Travellettes are perfect for use at home, in the gym, or to take with you when you travel to your next competition. Our Travellettes will fit easily in your bag so you can take your workout with you. We designed the American Gymnast Travellettes exactly the same as our traditional Parallettes, but used a durable, lightweight material and a unique interlocking design making assembly a snap. Never miss another workout!

New Grip

http://www.newgrip.com/

It seems like a great padding system with optional Wrist support.

The main reason I am interested is that I get painful calluses on my palms. In fact, if & when I do pull ups, I give up sooner than I should because of Callus / Palm pain rather than peaking on the pullups.

I am wondering if same would apply to me / help me / bother me when I start training on Coaches progressions. I am guessing they would not come in handy for all exercises but I'd love to hear what you think.

I'd like to know what seasoned & experienced people think here. (In fact even guys who are new and experienced Calluses, Grip issues and Wrist pain)

Some might think of it as cheating a bit, but would it not be worth getting to a certain exercise limit rather than be hampered by small callus pain.

Thoughts ?

Or would it be better to go with...

ALTERNATIVE - GYMNASTICS GRIPS

http://www.american-gymnast.com/siteind ... x_1354.cfm

Grips

Shop By Brand

* Reisport Grips - ladies' and men's dowel grips in both hook and loop and buckle closures

* English Bulldog Grips - ladies' and men's dowel grips in both hook and loop and buckle closures

* US Glove Grips - ladies' and men's dowel grips in both VELCRO and buckle closures

Shop By Skill Level

* Beginner Grips - basic palm grips (no dowels) for girls and boys

* Intermediate Grips - girl's and boy's dowel grips with a slightly more narrow width palm on the girl's grips

* Advanced Grips - dowel grips with regular width palms on the grips for ladies' and men

Shop by Grip Type

* Ladies' Uneven Bar Grips

* Men's Horizontal Bar Grips

* Men's Ring Grips

Supports

* Tiger Paws & Wrist Supports

* Ankle Supports

* Knee Supports

Accessories

* Bags - grip packs

* Wrist Bands - cotton wristbands, neoprene wristbands, and neoprene wrist inserts

* Sports Medicine Products - tape, prewrap, grip brush, Hot/Cold Therapy wraps

You don't need gymnastics grips unless you are swinging big on the apparatus.

File down your calluses. Simply scrape off the white skin with your thumbnail during a shower or bath. White skin is typically excess dead skin that is building up. This gets pinched and bingo, you have a rip. You can also make a set of tape grips to always use.

http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/cet/SB/Gym/BigTapeGrip.jpg Save the tape grips after you use them. Tape gets expensive!

Make your own parallettes instead of buying any. It cost me about 15 bucks retail to make a small set for one of my boys. If I went to one of the bigger hardware stores, it would have been cheaper. Don't bother glueing the parts and you can take them apart and put them together in a matter of minutes. They will hold regardless just use an appropriate width for your body size ( I used 3/4 inch stock for a 55 pound boy ). Inch and a half would probably be fine.

http://drillsandskills.com/skills/cond. Follow the url to the bottom of the page and you can click on a picture showing the details of how to assemble it. I just don't want to bandwidth steal from them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-PORTABLE-Exercise-Pull-Up-Sit-Up-CHIN-UP-BAR-Gym_W0QQitemZ150351064449QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Strength_Training?hash=item23019f2d81&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C240%3A1308%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

With a pullup bar like this, you can hang your rings off them or use it for some of the exercises requiring a bar. You can also build your own.

Thanks for the advise Bob.

I am not good with building stuff myself, plus in India .. HomeDepot kind of "Do it Yourself" does not exist. We'll see. Maybe I can get some local store to cut up the pieces . I also had the Crossfit PDF & Instructions linked to by Coach to build your own Plets.

1.5" Pipe P'lets?

I would be adding some Pullups and related Bodyweight training (Kinda.. CrossFit / Functional / BodyWeightCulture.com) to complement Coach's golden stuff.

I am thinking the newgrips would help me for that stuff? Thoughts?

Putting together PVC parallettes is like putting together legos. It is very easy. Ask your friend to buy the parts before he comes over.

Yes. Also, when you're doing your pullups, if you are not SPECIFICALLY working your false grip, you should only be using your fingers. I know you are not, because of your callus complaint. Do not use your palms to do the pullups, you are not developing grip strength that way. You won't be able to just jump into doing the fingers only pullups, it will take a few weeks to wean yourself off of them. Do as many pullups as you can with a finger only grip, and when you give out or start to feel something in your wrists or forearms that is painful switch back to the palms. After a few weeks you will be doing the same sets and reps with just fingers, and you will actually get stronger from there on out. You will develop additional hand and wrist strength that will help you in everything else.

Slizz - Thanks for the finger pull up advise. I will see what I can do on that front.

Blairbob - Appreciate your inputs and your pro-activeness with helping everyone on the board. If there was a Good Samaritan award I'd vote for you - But then again... My thanks to you and gratitude to the Divine for bring people like you into our lives

I'll look into making the 1.5" PVC for a home / garage based Paralletes.

ONE THING: That I am keen on is a Travel Kit. I know the rings I can take. That was one of the reasons I was keen on some kind of Travellete.

I am told by someone that 1" P'Lets will not hold well, but I am thinking the following 2 things:

1. Buy or make some "thinner" travel oriented paralletes with "stronger" & "lighter" materials. 1.5" PVC will become kinda BULKY for my travel needs.

Do you have any ideas / suggestions on what materials I could possibly use. And.. for the Grip I could add a some kinda thick plastic or foam folding / rolling on top (just the way someone on the forums did to THICKEN the handles of the ordinary Dip Station at their gym)

2. Get these travelletes and see if they are strong enough and maybe add some reinforce materials to the "length" of the holding area.

Any ideas here?

See, I havent started a lot of the workouts yet but I know that I want to ELIMINATE all EXCUSES from my POSSIBILITIES & CIRCUMSTANCES... And travel (work or otherwise) becomes a big hampering factor. So, that way I will ELIMINATE missing on workouts.

Thoughts / ideas?

Hmm. the biggest issue with small pvc is the joints. 1.5 really is the way to go, but you don't have to glue the pieces together. Mine aren't! THey creak, but they don't come apart on you. That way you could disassemble them and put your toothpaste, brushes, etc into them to save space. Then you could just toss them in a medium duffel bag! Might take up the space fo two or three shave kits overall. Not too bad. If you REALLY want to try the smaller stuff, put wooden dowels( broom handle, etc) through the piece that is your handle supporting you. You know, the big long piece you put your hands on when you work out. I know, I know, insert dirty joke here.

if you aren't concerned with weight too much, and 20 lbs is cool with you, you could make travellettes out of 1" or 3/4" threaded metal pipe. if packing size is the ultimate issue, that might be your best bet.

the dowel idea is a good suggestion or doing them with metal pieces. I'm not exactly sure how they would fit if you wanted them to be able to break down which is why I like the PVC. It's fairly light. You could smaller dimension PVC and carry with you about 6-9 inches of wooden dowels to insert in between the PVC.

ehh, thankyou for the nomination. especially since I never got the good citizenship award in school much to my annoyance ( always got the excellence and attendance awards ). I feel it's part of my appointed position as mod to help out as others have helped me in the past ( and I'm still learning from others besides Coach, like Gregor, Ido, SteveLow [braindx], and a few others ).

I agree Blair, you're the man! You really contribute a lot.

I read on another Parallete link to use ABS pipe instead of PVC piping which would make it stronger / durable.

I ordered the rings and the USPS tracking number is alive. Since I am having these brought over to INDIA by a friend I was wondering if I should get these support straps that are being talked about as well.

Which ones would you suggest?

Blairbob said:

Rogue Fitness or Iron Woody power bands. I'm sure a google or maybe they're on ebay.

serotonin said:

wow, i saw the Iron Woody power bands and are really expensive, but the are also thick, i was refering to something like therabands (no thick at all may be the blue one is 1 mm but the others are less than half mm :roll:) I'm sure you can find theraband type or clones in any good sport store (sometimes sales them in a package as you can see in the next link or by meters (5 € the meter).

You can see the difference in the photos of thera-band web.

http://www.thera-band.com/store/product ... oductID=26

Coach Sommer said:

McMaster.com Pallet Bands

When utilizing bands for basic strength work assistance, I prefer to use pallet bands from McMaster.com. Compared to other bands on the market, the pallet bands are much lighter in the assistance which they provide as well as much thinner; so although it will require more bands initially they also make it substantially easier to customize the amount of assistance provided by adding and subtracting bands.

The prices are also substantially better:

Item # 8848T93: 1/2" (width) x 1/16" x 28" (length); 27 pieces for $17.45

Item # 8848T81: 1/2" (width) x 1/16" x 46" (length); 18 pieces for $16.20

My personal preference are the 1/2" bands, although there are also 1/4" and 3/4" bands available. Go to McMaster.com and enter catalog page 1526 or do a search for "pallet band" for additional information.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

mark said:

I bought those rubber bands Coach suggested from McMaster.com. They work great. It cost me $20, and I only need a 1/4 of them, so I've split the cost with some friends. Great place to get some. I like them better than the bicycle tubes and the surgical tubing.

For me the bands described by Coach have worked fine. To the extent that you actually need them, I think they will do the job. I would also recommend the home-made parallettes, either the PVC or the ABS. I don't know about the relative durability of the two, but the PVC ones have been just fine for me. If someone is coming to India, they could easily fit the pieces in a suitcase, if you can't find the parts locally.

Mark

ABS is less ideal, it's not solid. It has tiny bubbles through it, like super-hard foam kind of, with a thin plastic coat. It is not as strong as pvc, but unless you're a big guy like me that won't matter too much if you're using 1.5". Still a better idea to go with pvc, it's so cheap that cost won't be an issue, a few bucks difference at most.

PARALLETE SIZE & DIMENSIONS ???

I have decided to make me the Paralets.

The PVC v/s ABS question came up and I will start with 1.5" PVC and maybe make an ABS version as well later or one with Wooden Dowels. Also someone mentioned PVC Schedule 40. How critical is that? How can I tell which is what?

Having gone through the following threads and others I've found 3 possible instruction sets to follow.

They are pretty much the same except I think there is a difference in the size dynamics of the 3 paralet variations.

So, the question is, what size / dimensions should I use here?

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=415

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=907

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1281

PVC (Celtic Kane)

http://celtickane.com/projects/homemade-parallettes/

Main Length, Height, Base Side Length:

1.5ft (18"), 4-6", 3-5"

ABS

http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/?p=558

Main Length, Height, Base Side Length:

1.5ft (18"), 6", 6"

Cross Fit (PVC)

http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library ... lettes.pdf

Main Length, Height, Base Side Length:

2ft (24"), 8", 5"

So what length, height & Base one side length would you recommend?

Whatever you do, keep your base the same as your height. You want these to be stable It's not ABSOLUTELY necessary, but it will make a noticeable difference, especially when you start doing some handstand work. At least, that's my experience. Remember, you can always cut things shorter, but you can't make them longer.

The "schedule" on PVC pipe relates to the thickness of the wall, and therefore it's integrity. Most users are worried about how much pressure the pipe can hold. We're more worried about them being sturdy enough to do handstands on without coming crashing down. The pipe should say right on it what schedule it is. If you're getting it from some place like Lowe's or Home Depot, you can also ask somebody there to make sure you get the right schedule. I've made four sets of the crossfit parallettes so far, and they're great. I didn't change any dimensions, especially the height, since I'm 6'-1" and need the extra room for my legs (at least right now) and for my Pseudo-Plance Pushups. I do the PPPs in a tuck planche, and need the room the 8" height provides. I've done lots of handstands on just one parallette, and it's held me okay. I weigh about 180.

A pointer on making the crossfit ones. I didn't put tape on when I measured, but I did use a cheap mitre box, which helped to make straighter cuts. Unless, your start with two equal lengths of PVC, and are precise in your measurements, cut your bases and legs first, and leave your lengths to last. Then if there's any discrepencies, you can adjust your lengths, rather than your bases or legs. It's better to go from 24" to 22" or 21" on the length, then to go from 8" to 5" on the height. And make sure your legs are all the same height, so you don't have sloping parallettes, or one higher than the other. My cousin made some and that's where he messed up. One is sloping, and one is a different height.

If you're going to glue, I wouldn't assemble in the same order as Celtic Kane. They might not end up flat on the floor. I would follow the order of the Crossfit.

If you want to be able to dis-assemble them, you could still glue some portions of them together, just so you have 3 or 5 pieces to assemble, instead of 15.

agreed. I would glue your elbows to the handles, and your base supports to the t-junction you use for the bottom, but I wouldn't glue your vertical support to anything. That way you have easy pieces to work with. You can slap them together like ZOOBITY BOP!!! And be ready to go, and they won't come apart on you. Make sure to use the primer! It DOES make a difference. The glue is good, but with the primer AND glue you will get a chemical weld between the pipes that will not come loose.

Mine are not like these, I just have two handles, four vertical supports, and one horizontal support on the bottom between the two handles. Less pieces, and it works great for me.

If you are going to glue the whole thing together, your last glue-up will have a tendency to push out, because of the air pressure. Just makes sure you hold the glued parts together for a bit after each application.

True that. And that glue has a tendency to push out at the joints a bit anyhow. It's good to hold pressure on it for a tleast a minute. You could drill a hole in the last end cap to make it less of a pain in the butt!

slizzardman said:

Mine are not like these, I just have two handles, four vertical supports, and one horizontal support on the bottom between the two handles. Less pieces, and it works great for me.

Ah! So you have a One piece (short) walker kinda U shape.

mark said:

If you are going to glue the whole thing together, your last glue-up will have a tendency to push out, because of the air pressure. Just makes sure you hold the glued parts together for a bit after each application.

How long do you suggest to keep the hold?

slizzardman said:

True that. And that glue has a tendency to push out at the joints a bit anyhow. It's good to hold pressure on it for a tleast a minute. You could drill a hole in the last end cap to make it less of a pain in the butt!

A minute? Nice idea.

A minute is a little over kill, but you know... just to be safe.

And that's just the last one. The others, maybe 15 seconds. And you don't have to be getting all buff on them, just some steady pressure once the pipe is in place will work fine.

Yea, my parallettes are U-shaped. I didn't think to describe them like that

Okay. So I finally went to the local shop here in India.

Apparently, they have 2 options:

1 - PVC Pipes which have Schedule Ratings (40, 50, 80 etc) with Threading at the end

2 - PVC Pipes which do not have Schedule ratings but have a Weight Rating (20kg/... etc ) with no threading.

Type 1- Can only be used with GI joints; elbows & Ts that are screw on types.

Type 2 - Can be used with PVC Joints that are "stick on" types.

Unfortunately, Type 2 is what I have to go with given that they support PVC Joints, but I wont get any with Schedule Ratings.

Can someone please decipher the above info and tell me what it really means to get a Schedule 40 when the said spec is not present on certain pipes i.e. This whole WEIGHT RELATED system - kg/cm2 etc??

I am also linking to some sites & links about pipes I found online that do not have any relevance to the above info...

http://www.harvel.com/tech-specs-pvc-pipe-40.asp

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ansi- ... d_305.html

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pvc-c ... d_795.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominal_Pipe_Size

Sounds like they just have PSI ratings. You'll have to convert from Kg/cm^2 to lb/in^2.

Should be converters on the internet, but you can do the math too. The simple answer is to buy the thickest 1.5" pipe you can

slizzardman said:

Sounds like they just have PSI ratings. You'll have to convert from Kg/cm^2 to lb/in^2.

Should be converters on the internet, but you can do the math too. The simple answer is to buy the thickest 1.5" pipe you can

How would the PSI rating > convert to the Schedule 40 et al ratings? Tips?

I'll look

Schedule 40 will work fine, don't worry. I'. 220 lbs and ai jump and hop all over my parallettes. I've had them for months and they're just like new.