GYM DANDIES
How to build wooden home workout equipment - the inversion machine and sit-up bench - to keep love handles at bay and promote exercise and health.
Don't let the joys of the season go to waist! Now you can
indulge (in holiday goodies) and not bulge (in all the
obvious places).
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A year ago last summer, MOTHER's pages featured an
eight-piece home fitness center made almost exclusively of
dimensional lumber (see issues 87, page 112, and 88, page
98). Designed and used regularly by competition bodybuilder
Carlos DeJesus, the wooden gym helped its creator win a few
national championships . . . all for an investment of less
than $200!
Now, equipment like Carlos's would be ideal for
those people who plan to undertake a complete fitness
program . . . but the additional investment in plates,
bars, and other accessories might be prohibitive to
individuals who simply want to maintain physical tone and
hold off the assault of extra pounds. Consequently,
MOTHER's research staff developed two inexpensive pieces of
equipment that are flexible enough to be used with the
wooden fitness center or, on their own, as a means of
keeping (or attaining) a trim waistline. Like the DeJesus
designs, they're straightforward and can be built with
common hand tools . . . so what are you waiting for?
SIT-UP BENCH
Our first fitness tool is an inclined platform, complete
with a padded foot bar, which allows you to do anatomically
correct sit-ups. The bar guarantees that your knees will be
in the recommended bent position, while the incline lets
gravity be a little harder on you to assure a worthwhile
workout.
Start by locating one 16" and two 60" lengths of
1" thinwall conduit, commonly known as electrical metallic
tubing (EMT). If you buy it from a contractor's scrap pile,
perhaps you'll be able to borrow a conduit bender that'll
allow you to make the necessary 50° and 70° arcs in
the tubes that form the legs. (Ideally, the completed bends
should be separated by 24" of straight tube, and the foot
of the bench should be 17", and the head 12", off the
floor.)
After the arcs are formed, use 1/4" X 2" carriage
bolts to fasten the 11-1/4" X 20" platform to the unbent
portions of the two pieces of conduit so that about 4" of
board hangs over the end. The longer legs should be to
gether and parallel and the shorter ones about 9-1/2" apart
at the top and splayed slightly outward at the bottom. (If
you feel you need a wider stance, allow for it when you
bend the conduit.) Tie the two leg sections together with
1/4" X 2-1/2" bolts placed through the adjoining members.
Finally, fasten the 16" length of conduit halfway up the
parallel legs, using two more 2-1/2" bolts, and pad the
exposed metal with appropriately sized lengths of
polyethylene pipe insulation. (You'll probably have to use
contact cement to hold the split jackets in place.) Finish
up by pushing furniture tips onto all the exposed conduit
ends and, if you wish, gluing a section of scrap carpet to
the upper surface of the platform.
