Used Pommel Horse Opportunity

Hey all-

My girlfriend has found me a used pommel horse for sale on Craigslist, listed for $200. It looks to be in fair condition; some aesthetic wear and tear but nothing I'm concerned about for personal use. Considering how high all PH's seem to go online, this seems like a real steal, but I thought I'd run it by the forum to get some perspective on this. Is there such thing as a "bad" pommel horse? What about for someone like me (beginner in gymnastics, starting to get a handle on strength and wanting to move into skill work). Is this a bargain or what?

Thanks everyone!

Probably a great opportunity. Posting a photo would be helpful.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Here it is. Thanks for your input, Coach!

That's more like a Model T than a pommel horse!

It's suitability however would depend what type of skills and training you were planning to use it for. What do you have in mind?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

My only exposure to gymnastics strength and skills has been through your book and WOD's, so to me anything resembling a pommel horse is pretty exciting (probably because I've never been in a proper gymnastics gymnasium).

I'm not familiar enough with pommel skills to say that I have a precise plan for using it; my initial thought was to steady it with some sandbags or comparable material and start working on things like bucket circles and other intro skills. One day I'd like to purchase my own gym-quality equipment, but that'll be 5+ years in the future and I thought this might be a good stand in in the interim.

What did you expect for $200, Coach?

There are used pommel horse trainers listed in my area for this price or slightly greater. Would that be a wiser investment for my skill level?

Steve Sisk said:

What did you expect for $200, Coach?

There are used pommel horse trainers listed in my area for this price or slightly greater. Would that be a wiser investment for my skill level?

Yes, I believe that you will be much more comfortable on the pommel horse trainer for bucket circles and other introductory level skills.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thank you ver much for the info. You've saved me space, a long trip, and less productive training time. I expect the trainer will keep mr busy for the next few years until I can afford a proper gym quality horse.

Thanks again!

I've been meaning to say thank you to Coach and the others who gave their advice on this topic.  I ended up purchasing the mushroom as suggested.  It didn't get much use until this weekend, when I finally got around to rigging a bucket for circles.  Man are those fun!  I had such a good time getting the basics of this move that I overdid it a little on Sunday and still feel pretty tired.

Thanks again to everyone who offered their advice.  This is going to be a great fun variety element to add in to add in to my Foundation training!  

Does anyone have advice for bucket circle training frequency?  At this point I'd be happy to do them every day, but I have a feeling I'd be too tired to do much of anything else properly at my current level of conditioning.