[Nutty]

I would like to find a better surface for the inside of the crack, though.
I think the wood is a little too smooth and Coo-Var, too sharp/rough.
I’m toying with a gritted/non slip lino, glued in. Anyone tried this or have a recommendation?

The WideBoyz sell lengths of the soft grip material they use on their crack volumes: https://wideboyz.com/product/soft-grip/

[Carl]

No, bare hand, which is probably daft.
I must see about some gloves, if only for training.
Tapping up sounds waaay to expensive, in the long run.

Yeah I definitely found gloves great for training. Tape works fine too, but much more of a faff for a training session IMO. And I think jamming gloves will last ages against wood.

[MischaHY]

Slightly on topic: I'll be moving into a new place soon and we have a room that we'll be building into a little home gym.

2.4m high, and something like 4m wide and 5m long. Currently planning on doing two opposing boards, one 30 degree and one 45 degree.

So, the question: I've got about 25 campus rungs from the current setup we have, and was initially thinking about putting in small campus board at one edge - but the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense to just have the two boards run the full length of the room on either side to get maximum climbing area, then chop up the campus rungs and shape/customise them a bit to get a load of extra wood holds with no extra cost.

Anyone fancy fighting the corner of the campus board or does this seem like good beta?

[tomtom]

Slightly on topic: I'll be moving into a new place soon and we have a room that we'll be building into a little home gym.

2.4m high, and something like 4m wide and 5m long. Currently planning on doing two opposing boards, one 30 degree and one 45 degree.

So, the question: I've got about 25 campus rungs from the current setup we have, and was initially thinking about putting in small campus board at one edge - but the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense to just have the two boards run the full length of the room on either side to get maximum climbing area, then chop up the campus rungs and shape/customise them a bit to get a load of extra wood holds with no extra cost.

Anyone fancy fighting the corner of the campus board or does this seem like good beta?

Ditch the campus board Save the elbows!

I'd also suggest maybe 50 degrees or more for the steeper board? 30 - 45 might be too similar in how they climb (hold choice/setting caveats of course...)

[36chambers]

I'd personally go for the two boards at max size and then put some rungs on the 30, like James did

Here's the final product! Few holds left to put on but I ran out of screws...

[SA Chris]

I'd not chop up campus rungs either, keep as they are. Loads of other bits of wood you can use if you need to, I made some "rungs" using an old curtain rod.

[MischaHY]

Slightly on topic: I'll be moving into a new place soon and we have a room that we'll be building into a little home gym.

2.4m high, and something like 4m wide and 5m long. Currently planning on doing two opposing boards, one 30 degree and one 45 degree.

So, the question: I've got about 25 campus rungs from the current setup we have, and was initially thinking about putting in small campus board at one edge - but the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense to just have the two boards run the full length of the room on either side to get maximum climbing area, then chop up the campus rungs and shape/customise them a bit to get a load of extra wood holds with no extra cost.

Anyone fancy fighting the corner of the campus board or does this seem like good beta?

Ditch the campus board Save the elbows!

I'd also suggest maybe 50 degrees or more for the steeper board? 30 - 45 might be too similar in how they climb (hold choice/setting caveats of course...)

I've got fairly solid elbows so this isn't an issue thankfully. In terms of board angle I'm planning on varying the hold selection fairly significantly between the two with a lot more sloping and generally poor stuff on the 30 - but the idea is that the 30 will be appropriate for endurance training as well so the holds need to be a bit better for circuits etc. I'm super keen on a 50 because it gets exponentially harder on certain holds than it does on a 45°, plus I've got some hold sets which are designed for maximum 45° (wataah dojo) so they might be too savage at a steeper angle. It still gets over 3m of board length in so I think it's steep enough.

[MischaHY]

Nice one folks, I think I'll have a fiddle once the boards are up and then decide. Have to say I don't particularly fancy having full sized rungs on the board but maybe thats just me being picky.

[Paul B]

On the subject of foam.
It’s very expensive to buy foam. A crash mat, approximately 8’ x 4’ is less than £300. On our board, I’ve got one of those, behind two 4’ x 4’ 50mm thick gym mats, that cost £30 ea.

Foam4sports (https://www.foams4sports.co.uk/) were marginally cheaper when I ordered, and they helpfully added flaps and velcro for no additional charge.

I was also directed to these by someone else (but I asked a few questions via eBay and the responses didn't fill me with confidence):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KosiPad-Deluxe-Landing-Nursury-Training/dp/B01FW18QS4

I spent a lot on mats for the garage but then again, I've personally said hello to my tib and fib when landing on commercial mats and really don't want to do that ever again!

I should really put some photos up as I now have permanent power rather than several extension leads daisy chained together.

[Probes]

You could get some customised rungs to suit the 30. I've done this successfully in the past a few times, up to 35, beyond this is a bit sketchy in terms of being useful for campussing. Done some brutal set ups for foot on campussing up to 45. 

[MischaHY]

You could get some customised rungs to suit the 30. I've done this successfully in the past a few times, up to 35, beyond this is a bit sketchy in terms of being useful for campussing. Done some brutal set ups for foot on campussing up to 45.

I think the thing that is putting me off is that I need 1-4-7 height to start getting a good power workout on the rungs (which I wouldn't have in this room) and if it comes down to endurance training then I'll have enough space for proper circuits on the 30 which is much more specific.

I know, I just need to wait see how it looks/feels when it's built.

[James Malloch]

Nice one folks, I think I'll have a fiddle once the boards are up and then decide. Have to say I don't particularly fancy having full sized rungs on the board but maybe thats just me being picky.

Height is a good consideration. We can have 1-5 which will be fine for me in the short term but I’d want more if I stuck at it again for a bit.

Definitely find myself using that side of the board a bit less, though I’ve put more holds in between now which is helping. But you you need to go for small low profile holds to avoid hitting them when using the rungs

[tomtom]

@Mischa - many of my holds are probably best for a 40/45 (mines 53-55 deg) and I got some small mahogany wedges for a couple of quid off ebay and use these under the hold to tweak the angle to be usable... The wedges are only 8mm thick or so, so take off about 6-8 degrees...

If they ever too easy I can just take the wedge out

Also got some large wooden flat jugs - that are jugs on a 30, big, comfy but hard to hold (esp on a throw) at my angle..

ps - a small bit of double sided tape stops the wedges creeping fine...

[MischaHY]

@Mischa - many of my holds are probably best for a 40/45 (mines 53-55 deg) and I got some small mahogany wedges for a couple of quid off ebay and use these under the hold to tweak the angle to be usable... The wedges are only 8mm thick or so, so take off about 6-8 degrees...

If they ever too easy I can just take the wedge out

Also got some large wooden flat jugs - that are jugs on a 30, big, comfy but hard to hold (esp on a throw) at my angle..

ps - a small bit of double sided tape stops the wedges creeping fine...

Proper tactics! I like it.

[Oldmanmatt]

Slightly on topic: I'll be moving into a new place soon and we have a room that we'll be building into a little home gym.

2.4m high, and something like 4m wide and 5m long. Currently planning on doing two opposing boards, one 30 degree and one 45 degree.

So, the question: I've got about 25 campus rungs from the current setup we have, and was initially thinking about putting in small campus board at one edge - but the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense to just have the two boards run the full length of the room on either side to get maximum climbing area, then chop up the campus rungs and shape/customise them a bit to get a load of extra wood holds with no extra cost.

Anyone fancy fighting the corner of the campus board or does this seem like good beta?

If you have the whole room, these are a useful home build. It’s just four pieces of drywall framing C16, some 38mm Mop Stick (which is Banister dowel, or dowel with a flat on one side) and a few 120x6mm screws. A hole saw (37/38mm) too of course, but about an hour and a half’s work.





Again, built in 2013 and used ever since.

[MischaHY]

Slightly on topic: I'll be moving into a new place soon and we have a room that we'll be building into a little home gym.

2.4m high, and something like 4m wide and 5m long. Currently planning on doing two opposing boards, one 30 degree and one 45 degree.

So, the question: I've got about 25 campus rungs from the current setup we have, and was initially thinking about putting in small campus board at one edge - but the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense to just have the two boards run the full length of the room on either side to get maximum climbing area, then chop up the campus rungs and shape/customise them a bit to get a load of extra wood holds with no extra cost.

Anyone fancy fighting the corner of the campus board or does this seem like good beta?

If you have the whole room, these are a useful home build. It’s just four pieces of drywall framing C16, some 38mm Mop Stick (which is Banister dowel, or dowel with a flat on one side) and a few 120x6mm screws. A hole saw (37/38mm) too of course, but about an hour and a half’s work.





Again, built in 2013 and used ever since.

What would you do with it? 🤔

[Oldmanmatt]

Slightly on topic: I'll be moving into a new place soon and we have a room that we'll be building into a little home gym.

2.4m high, and something like 4m wide and 5m long. Currently planning on doing two opposing boards, one 30 degree and one 45 degree.

So, the question: I've got about 25 campus rungs from the current setup we have, and was initially thinking about putting in small campus board at one edge - but the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense to just have the two boards run the full length of the room on either side to get maximum climbing area, then chop up the campus rungs and shape/customise them a bit to get a load of extra wood holds with no extra cost.

Anyone fancy fighting the corner of the campus board or does this seem like good beta?

If you have the whole room, these are a useful home build. It’s just four pieces of drywall framing C16, some 38mm Mop Stick (which is Banister dowel, or dowel with a flat on one side) and a few 120x6mm screws. A hole saw (37/38mm) too of course, but about an hour and a half’s work.





Again, built in 2013 and used ever since.

What would you do with it? 🤔

Well, they’re still a staple of gymnastic training and such a simple thing.
Mostly body weight conditioning, but the addition of ankle weights or sand bags, can really push the strength dev.
Add a suspension trainer and a belt and you expand it even further.
All those Therabands hanging beside it, hook onto the bars at various heights for a variety of pushing and pulling work. I don’t have many clips of myself using it but heres a beginner level gymnastics conditioning vid:


And from a couple of years back, some basic stuff I was doing at the time (still do). One of the clips is working posterior chain, with belt and sandbag (16kg) on the bars. Standing on the bars, about 30⁰ from vertical, means you are “clawing” in with your toes and you will feel the strain all the way down your posterior chain. Keeping the bag above your head is quite hard, if heavy enough. Sandbags make the load more distally unstable than simply clutching a kettlebell or a plate.
I also do my Dragon flags differently (and on the base board of the campus board, but that’s because it’s quicker than dragging a mat over to the wall bars). I prefer to lower to a gentle foot dab and raise to ~35⁰, replacing the higher end of the movement with “Toe to bar” on the high bar. If you have the ceiling height for a high bar, it’s great, but if you don’t, much can be replicated on wall bars. For ref. Those bars are 2.4 mtrs exactly.
Sorry, the clip is full of extraneous stuff.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BurDxwMhzDD/?igshid=ridgswxitth3

That’s a bit old and taken just as I was starting recovery, I meant to replicate it later to see my improvement, then lost interest in posting clips of me exercising.

Also in the clip, I’m doing early stage “Push away Flies” on the rings. If you don’t have a full ring set up, these can be done on the bars with the suspension trainer. Moving your feet up as you get stronger, so your body comes closer to parallel to the ground as you get stronger, eventually adding a weight vest/belt etc. (if using the rings, you do this by gradually standing further back from the rings at the start, so that at the end of the progression, the rings are straight up and down at full extent of the “Superman” position.

All about engaging the entire Anterior or Posterior chains, rather than isolating any particular link.

Edit:

Oh yeah, Dip bars.
We don’t use them on the wall bars anymore, because there are adjustable dip bars on the squat cage. But you can buy or make dip bars that slot onto the wall bars. With a bench, these can be adapted for doing bench press. Put high enough, they’re a good Squat rack substitute.

[Oldmanmatt]

I couldn’t find a good suspension trainer/bar vid, so here’s a shit one. They’re doing the most basic of basic stuff, but this is a very short version of the TRX.
Obviously, Aussie pull ups get harder, the higher your feet, although they target slightly different areas as you move through the possibilities.
No idea what the “pull ups with your feet in the sling” are all about.
But, mainly the vid reminded me of the stretching uses too.



Edit:

F me! I’m going to start making this shit. Thought I’d see how much premade Dip bars would be. Seriously, this is a couple of hours work with a Jigsaw and most of the labour is sanding the sods.
https://www.physioparts.co.uk/pedalor-dip-bar?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4L2BBhCvARIsAO0SBdZLFPcG3Ovp44OlbcNmNQHeWNRshhhbHp9u1uj_Dd_DeNekrNX39SEaApuREALw_wcB

[Oldmanmatt]

At the risk of undermining my own argument.
This is too funny.
“Gladiator Wall!!”
These are not the theraband exercises you are looking for...

[sdm]

Jenga blocks.

I got an old set for a fiver off eBay. Hardwood 15mm edges. Perfect.

Thanks to Lagerstarfish for the recommendation.

If anyone is after some budget crimps, I bought a Jenga Extreme set off eBay for a fiver.

They are the perfect shape for a basic 3/4 pad positive crimp for a 45. One hour with a sander to radius the edges and you have 54 wooden crimps for the price of one hold from most hold makers.

[Duma]

That looks a lot less than 3/4 pad!

[sdm]

You're right. I just checked, they're more like half a pad.

[James Malloch]

I’m hoping to put a good resting jug on our board for resting between circuits. I played around yesterday and just holding over the top seems perfect (if you miss the screws!).

It’s the basically holding the back of the 18mm ply so it’s quite sharp/splintery at the moment.

Any tips for making it nicer? I could try to round it off with a Sander on each side but it will probably be a massive faff as it’s close to the ceiling.

Or getting some kind of trim like this (not sure how it would hold up). https://m.aliexpress.com/item/4000981615972.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.35042f14TE5Ox5&browser_id=1508c8e684644ff2a50b7e14f964ddeb&aff_trace_key=1477b8d701414d7bb9f59f9944dcc3f3-1641725235540-03035-UneMJZVf&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=00117e3e7311e92215e9a159532b751f5b681aa1ab&gclid=CjwKCAiArOqOBhBmEiwAsgeLmS11iRYSUNrJjFZsOMTyLIZVSbYcYO5oKz3vIVItq_OtHPX-jJbPMxoCFqIQAvD_BwE

Alternatively I could just Chuck a big resting jug on…

[remus]

A file might be easier if it's a tight space.

Screwing something like this on to the back side of the board might make it a bit more comfortable https://www.diy.com/departments/pine-half-dowel-doweling-l-2400mm-w-6mm/1821946_BQ.prd

[Aussiegav]

Height is a good consideration. We can have 1-5 which will be fine for me in the short term but I’d want more if I stuck at it again for a bit.

You could always use a lot smaller rounded edges and do shorter moves if there’s another lockdown or have focused period.

Just an option.