Muscle Up and Learn How to Make a Gymnastics Bar for Less than $50!

Do you dream of making your home gym and taking charge of your fitness in the comforts of your own home? Do you wish you could do away with the hassle of traveling to the gym only to stand in line, waiting for your turn on the machine? Do you wish you could blink away monthly gym fees and petty gym politics?

If that is the way you are feeling, you, my friend, need to seriously think of making your home gym because if you indulge that train of thought, you are going to burn out and give up on your fitness journey.

But making your own home gym is so expensive! What about the equipment!?

I understand that this is a legit concern for most of us normal people as gym equipment don’t come cheap, not even the secondhand ones you buy off some unscrupulous seller who will do anything to separate you from your hard-earned money. Not to mention buyer’s regret.

Ugh!

Making your dream home gym does not necessarily mean that you have to shell out a lot of cash all at once. Yes, these things don’t come cheap but have you ever heard of DIY?

That’s right! You can make your own version of a pull-up bar, dip stations, and other such gym equipment in the comforts of your own home and for a lot less. You can even customize your equipment to suit your height, etc.

Of course, it ain’t going to be as fancy as the equipment in your local gym but if your excuses against going to the gym are starting to overwhelm your resolve to get fit and fitter, making your home gym and your own gym equipment will nip that in the bud.

In this article, we tackle how to make a gymnastics bar, one of the most versatile gym equipment you can invest in. Really, you can use this to practice pull ups, chin ups, and kips-and all for less than $50. Look it up on the Internet and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a good one for $500!

If we’re talking about getting the most bang for your buck, this is it. Roll up those sleeves and learn how to make a gymnastics bar in your own backyard!

The Gymnastics Bar

Muscle Up and Learn How to Make a Gymnastics Bar for Less than $50!

A gymnastics bar is a single bar suspended between two bars or poles. This is commonly used by gymnasts (duh!) both for training and performing. Gymnastics is a sport that requires a lot of upper body and core strength and gymnasts are some of the strongest athletes around. If you are looking to building more strength and muscle in your upper body, the gymnastics bar can give you plenty of training for that.

Tools Needed

Aside from basic carpentry skills, you will also need to use the following tools:

Saw. If you don’t have one or are unsure of how to properly use one, you can have the store cut the wooden parts when you buy them.
Hole saw
Drill or screwdriver
Wrench

Materials Needed

The materials you will need for this tutorial are pretty basic. For the wooden parts, we recommend using construction-grade lumber to make it strong, sturdy, and last you through many workout routines.

Two pieces of twelve-foot long 2x4s
One piece of ten-foot-long 2x4
Three pieces of eight-foot-long 2x4s
3-inch and 2.5-inch wood screws
A metal or wooden bar measuring four feet long and ¾ inch in diameter
Steel washers
Couplers
4-inch bars
Wood glue

Instructions

This model of the gymnastics bar is made of several key parts so we decided to break down the tutorial into several sections-the legs, the feet, the leg bracers, drilling, assembly of the feet and leg braces, and lastly, attaching the bar.

1. The Legs

Take the two pieces of 12-foot long 2x4 boards and cut them into 6-foot pieces. This means you will end up with four 6-foot long 2x4 boards.
Take two of the 6-foot long boards and glue and screw them together using the 2.5-inch wood screws. Doing this keeps the legs from falling apart.
Do the same thing to the remaining two 6-foot long boards.

At the end of this part, you should end up with two pieces of 6-foot long, “double” 2x4 boards.

2. The Feet

Take the ten-foot-long 2x4 board and cut it into two 5-foot pieces. These two pieces will serve as the feet of your gymnastics bar.

3. The Leg Braces

Take the eight-foot-long boards. If they are unevenly cut, select the longest one to serve as the crossbars and set it aside.
Cut the remaining eight-foot long boards into four three-foot-long boards. You may either dispose of the remaining two-foot long pieces or save them for later projects.
Miter the ends of the leg braces to a 45-degree angle.

4. Drilling

Take the “double” boards or the “legs”.
From the ground up, measure how high you want your bar to be and mark this spot.
Drill a hole 1 1/8 inch wide on one leg and another on the other leg. Your bar will go through these holes.

Assembly of the Feet and Leg Braces

Take one of the five-foot-long boards and attach it to one of the six-foot-long, “double” boards using your 3-inch screws.
Take two of the three-foot-long, mitered boards and attach one on either side of the main leg and foot using more 3-inch screws. When you look at it from the side, it should form two right triangles. These will stabilize the legs and feet of your gymnastics bar.

Do the same for the remaining boards.

Bar Attachment

Hang on! We’re almost done!

For this next step, it will depend on whether you chose to go with a wooden bar or a metal one.

1. For Wooden Bars

This will be a lot simpler than using metal bars. Simply push the wooden bar through the holes you drilled previously on the “leg” parts and secure with screws.

2. For Metal Bars

Push the bar through the holes in the “legs”.
Thread a coupler on one end of the bar.
Attach a 4-inch bar to the end of the coupler.
Add a steel washer to the end and fit the bar through the hole.
Add another washer on the outer side of the “leg”.
Thread another coupler on the outer side of the “leg” to serve as an outside cap.
Tighten with a wrench to secure.
Repeat on the other side of the bar.

Crossbars

Your gymnastics bar should be coming along nicely. Remember the “longest” eight-foot long 2x4 we set aside earlier? Yep, you’ll be putting it to use here.

Measure the distance between the two “legs” or “feet”.
Take the eight-foot-long 2x4 board we set aside earlier and cut it to the measurement of the distance between the “legs” or “feet”.
Attach one piece to the front of the “feet” using 3-inch screws and another to the back “feet”.

As an added tip…

Cutting the wooden pieces to size can be tiring and waste a lot of time. Skip this step by having the lumber store cut them to the specified sizes upon buying your materials!

Conclusion

Having your own home gym can do so much for your fitness routine. You can skip the headache of gym membership fees and petty politics as well as waiting in line for your turn to use certain equipment, cutting abruptly into any momentum you’ve managed to build up.

But assembling the equipment for your own home gym can be pretty daunting as these things don’t come cheap. The next best thing you can do is select the equipment that can do the most for you-an equipment that is pretty versatile to serve a wide variety of exercises and routines-and see if you can muscle up and do some DIY.

One such equipment is the gymnastics bar, which you can use to do a variety of strength training exercises like pull ups, chin ups, and kips.

A professionally made gymnastics bar can easily cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars-money you might be better off spending on some other things. Luckily, the gymnastics bar can be easily and affordably done in your own home with the right tools, the right materials, and of course, the right guide.

We hope we were able to help you build your dream home gym with this tutorial on how to make a gymnastics bar in your own home!

Did you enjoy the tutorial on how to make a gymnastics bar? Do you have any tips or other designs for a gymnastics bar? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to share this article with your family and friends!

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About the Author Mike R.Bowen

I am Mike R.Bowen, founder of Fitness On The Weekend dot Com and my aim is to help busy people find time for fitness. We will give you actionable advice on how you can keep fit and healthy even on those busy days!

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