Started by Neal Winkler, June 29, 2010 · 3 Replies · 5,330 Views
Anyone got any ideas on how to build really cheap parallel bars?
I was thinking I could save money on the bar portion by using the two olympic bars I have. I also have a power rack and stall bars that could be potentially used to rig up some type of contraption.
I tried on an oly bar on a squat stand where the stands where connected and on seperate stands to use as a single rail. The bar moves around and I considered it a failure.
You may be able to build a PB set for yourself out of wood beams and pipe. It's nothing spectacular but good enough to work basic swings, dips, upper arm support or inverted hangs. You can either build a short version to save space unless you wanted it long enough to be able to work PB walks. I'd reccomend enough clearance so your feet don't touch when you are in an upper arm support but if that is too high, perhaps upper arm with bent knees will suffice. Of course you should be able to not bang your toes on the ground from a support (swing).
In the CrossFit Journal they did a video with one, one of the Santa Cruz affiliates built a home-made set and others have followed in fashion. I think Slizzardman has one of his own concoction.
How cheap is really cheap, and what do you want to use the PB's for?
I just built a set of parallets from wood. They were very cheap (less than 50euros) and can torn down small enough to store in a closest corner space being a concern as well.
I will try to get some photos up, the idea can be expanded to PB's which i also hope to make sometime now that i know what to do.
Ok here's the deal. Get 4, 2m long round pieces of wood 50mm diameter. and 2 2m long round pieces of wood 40-45mm diameter.
the 50mm diameter will be your legs for the bars, hammer each one 50-75cm into the ground. hammer the other 2 on top of the legs. Mount bars diagonally on the sides of the bars for more stability. [optional]
screw or nail them together.