November 14th, 2008
New Home, New Gym
I recently moved. Both my wife and I found ourselves driving a 45 minute commute twice a day and eventually I made the suggestion we move closer to work and we figured there was little stopping us, so we did it.
We’ve been in the house for about two weeks now. One of my first priorities was to setup a small area in the unfinished basement to workout.
As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have much equipment. I’m a firm believer that all anyone really needs is a bar, some weight and some space. That said, I have a pair of rings as well that I abuse on a regular basis. The grip tape on them has been worn out several times now.
One thing that’s been missing from “my gym” has been a pullup bar. At my old house, there weren’t many options for putting one up. I toyed with the idea of a bar that works in a door frame, but from what I’ve heard and read, you can’t kip with those things. I like to kip. For me, a pullup bar has to be rock solid. Also, given my frugal nature, a bar has to be cheap as well.
Fortunately my new house is right around the corner (literally) from a Home Depot. The other day I picked up the following:
- 2 2×6 cut 18″
- 1 48″ steel pipe 3/4″ diameter
- 6 5/16″ carriage bolts, nuts and washers
That’s all it took for a sweet, totally solid pullup bar that I can kip on till my heart’s content. I drilled out a 3/4 inch hole in each 2×6 and used the carriage bolts to attach to two joists in the basement.
I also purchsed some $25 rubber matting from Walmart to keep my feet from freezing off in the basement when barefoot and to buffer the sound of the weight hitting the floor.
