Homemade Parallel Bars

I saw this picture of a set of PB over at CF Santa Cruz. Looks like something that could be made fairly inexpensive. Somebody could probably use wooden planks instead of bars if they wanted. Rails would probably take quite a bit of work since they are a composite, I think.

If it was made a bit more robust, I could see swinging on them. In HS, our parallel bars were merely made entirely of metal ( dunno what kind really ) in basically a sand pit though we did have a porta-pit.

I thought parallel bars were flexible. Are regular parallel bars hard like metal? :shock: If so, how do they do flips and land on their biceps wihout getting broken?

of course not, these are just for conditioning and maybe swings

They are usually made with composite wooden rails that will bend and flex.

The PB we used in HS were all metal. I don't remember us ever landing on them, thank goodness.

These are mainly for conditioning, however you could either use composite rails ( buy some or make them[pain in the ass]). You could use training planks and this would be much easier and softer and you could still train high level moves and it would be easier on the body when it comes to wear and tear. Many gyms use planks instead of rails to train advanced moves.

Blairbob said:

They are usually made with composite wooden rails that will bend and flex.

The PB we used in HS were all metal. I don't remember us ever landing on them, thank goodness.

These are mainly for conditioning, however you could either use composite rails ( buy some or make them[pain in the ass]). You could use training planks and this would be much easier and softer and you could still train high level moves and it would be easier on the body when it comes to wear and tear. Many gyms use planks instead of rails to train advanced moves.

Do they sell composite wooden rails at most building supply stores?

I seriously doubt it, Sasquatch. PB rails have an inner and outer core. Well, the old wood ones do.

Some are made of fiberglass now which cost 500 bucks+.

I recommend planks if you are going to build your own. There is an article on gymnasticscoaching about PB plank useage.

As a Gymnastic Strength Training™ beginner, I would recommend avoiding training on plank PBs for the time being. The structure, while advantageous for training advanced acrobatic elements, increases the strain on your wrists.

For the non-technical gymnastics strength exercises which will be performed on them, metal PB rails will be fine as well as virtually indestructible. A google search for outdoor metal Parallel Bars will show several sets for a few hundred dollars.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

increases the strain on your wrists.

I can vouch for this, when training on the parallel bars at school my wrists would kill me. I think I was training a Muay kip to straight arm support and it was the scariest thing to kip upside down hanging only on a few fingers and a lot of stress on your wrists.

I was just thinking planks would be far more comfortable for newbies than metal rails when doing upper arm work, even prepatory upper arm work. Ouch. Even with padding that would hurt. Metal rails or planks are probably the same cost and you can make either hot swappable.

Poor wrist flexibility or weak wrists would be uncomfortable on planks, though it's very similar to PB boxes. Maybe they absorb more of the pressure on the wrists than planks even though both are flat with the wrists at similar angles.

For those with weak wrists, I've seen them complain of discomfort, whether it be on single rails ( girls mostly ), PB, or pommel horse. It's gonna hurt no matter what with weak wrists.

That homemade PB setup could probably be made with 50-100 bucks which puts it cheaper than the metal PB systems for sale on ebay without the shipping costs.

Coach Sommer said:

As a Gymnastic Strength Training™ beginner, I would recommend avoiding training on plank PBs for the time being. The structure, while advantageous for training advanced acrobatic elements, increases the strain on your wrists.

For the non-technical gymnastics strength exercises which will be performed on them, metal PB rails will be fine as well as virtually indestructible. A google search for outdoor metal Parallel Bars will show several sets for a few hundred dollars.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

By planks are you guys talking about 2x4s?

And also, would it be bad to do some wrist exercises with a cyst in your wrist? I tried to pop the cyst before, but it's hard. I can do wrist push-up but the cyst annoys me.

The above is a photo of plank PBs.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I've tried to swing on that p.bars very hard :mrgreen:we tried it in Croatia in the gym were Filip Ude trains (second on pommel horse at the olympics this year). Very good for learning diamidoffs, healys, ordinary swings and so on...

Coach Sommer said:

The above is a photo of plank PBs.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thank you for the picture.

What are those planks made out of? I'm guessing it's not cheap. lol

2x4's covered?

The top surfaces are usually at least 6"-7" wide.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Wow, it's just a regular fat plank with a covering? I might be able to make something like that.

Hollis, at CrossFit Santa Cruz, said he'd be willing to share the design of the parallel bars in the picture. I'm waiting to hear back from him.

Mark

Very cool. I'm thinking about designing a pair for myself. Now, where to put it and to see if it would be ok with my roommates. I'm pretty sure it's not the sort of thing a gf would allow except in the garage.