How to make back yard chinup bar

If you’re looking for a great way to get a full-body workout in your own backyard, then consider building a chin-up bar! This project is relatively simple and inexpensive, and it’s a great way to get some fresh air and sunshine while you work out. Plus, it’s a great way to build some upper body strength. Here’s how to build a backyard chin-up bar in just a few simple steps.

Gyms and sports clubs, stadiums and specially equipped rooms – that’s great. But the bar next to the house has not stopped anyone yet. Let’s figure out how to make it.

Planning to make an outdoor chinning bar with their own hands, it is necessary to choose not only the modification, but also the material. Most often, wood or metal is used to create a structure.

Wooden products are the easiest to make, do not require special tools, are strong enough (subject to the correct selection of the section of lumber), but, unfortunately, not too durable and can be damaged by excessive weight of the user or improper application of the load.

Metal complexes are stronger, more reliable and durable, but they require skills to work with metal – cutting, welding, painting.

Both types of constructions are either fixed on the existing support or on the supports that are as strong as possible fixed in the ground/ground.

Girder dimensions

Standard products are made according to the dimensions of a certain “average user”. If the chinning bar on the street will be made by your own hands, it is logical to design it immediately under your physical features.

One of the most important parameters is height. As can be seen from the diagram, the distance from the bar (bar) to the floor (ground) should be approximately equal to 1.28 x height. That is, for an adult with height of 164 cm the bar should be at a height of about 210 cm, and for a child with height of 140 cm – at about 180 cm. This distance takes into account the height plus arm length. If your arms are noticeably shorter/longer than the standard, you can check this for yourself by standing on tiptoes and stretching upwards as far as possible. The height to which the fingertips reach is the approximate height of the chinning bar. If the chinning bar is made for the whole family with children, it is acceptable to count on their height. In this case, the adult performs pull-ups and other exercises with the legs tucked in.

Important: regardless of the height of the bar, there should be at least 32…35 cm to the obstacle located above (ceiling, canopy, tree branches, etc.). Otherwise there is a risk of hitting your head on the obstacle when you pull up sharply.

For “pulling up with exit” (photo above) and some other exercises of walkout you must provide free space above the bar for about half of your height (from the line passing through the center of your lowered fists to the top of your head).

Distance between supports. In standard products this parameter is 1…1.5 m. Of course, if the chinning bar will be attached to ready-made supports (for example, between two walls), this distance is known in advance. If not, it is better to determine it according to your own physical parameters.

The minimal distance between supports of the chinning bar is the width of your shoulders (or thighs, stomach – who has what is wider?) plus 5…10 cm, and the normal distance is the distance between your elbows fully moved apart plus 5…10 cm.

The last important size is the diameter of the tube that the user holds while exercising. Here the same rule is followed as in the selection of the barbell diameter – the girth depends on the girth of the wrist. The bigger the wrist, the greater the girth should be. We recommend 26 mm or smaller tubes for wrists of 13,5 cm or less (children), 28-30 mm for wrists of 14…17 cm (teenagers, women, small men), and 30-35 mm for wrists of 17-21 cm.

According to another method, calculations can be made as follows: measure the width of the palms at the base of the fingers and multiply the received number in centimeters by 3,3. Then, the calculated size is rounded to the nearest larger multiple of five. For example, for a palm with a width of 8.5 cm, the diameter of the bar would be 28.05 mm, rounded to 30 mm. Increasing the diameter to 35 cm makes sense with very long fingers/brushes. It is advisable to check the calculations experimentally.

For a wall-mounted horizontal bar, the distance from the wall to the bar can also be considered significant. Usually it is equal to two or three thicknesses of the body and is rarely chosen less than 55 cm.

chinup bar

The simplest chinning bar on the dacha with their own hands

If there are two solid walls at a distance of 1,2 … 1,5 m from each other, you can install the chinning bar directly on them.

For this purpose, you need:

  • pipe of a suitable diameter and length, for example, a diameter of 32 mm, length 1,4 m;
  • fixings for the pipe – anchor bolts, 2 pcs;
  • a hammer or a hand hammer for hammering out the hole for the pipe. If the wall is brick, you can knock out one brick from the masonry, if monolithic – make a hole big enough to install the pipe and fixture;
  • mortar to seal the hole after installation.

The order of the work:

  • chisel holes in the walls, clean them from construction debris;
  • the pipe is cut to the right size, at the ends of drill holes to the diameter of the anchor;
  • the same holes located vertically are drilled in the recesses on the walls;
  • anchors are put in the holes in the recesses;
  • fasten the pipe on the anchors;
  • tighten the nuts on the anchors;
  • plug the holes.

After the mortar has fully cured, you can begin to work.

If there is no desire to chisel the wall, you can do something simpler, and attach the tube with the help of angles or other connecting metal parts.

An even easier way is to use a ready-made spreader bar.

How to Make a U-shaped Chinning Bar with Supports from a Bar

In this case, you will need a solid bar, a log or a board for the posts and a round bar for the crossbar. The latter is better to use not just cut and plucked branches of suitable size, and buy quality wood, past chamber drying, and hardwood – oak, beech, elm, walnut. You can replace such a crossbar with a metal tube.

The necessary materials for a horizontal bar with the above scheme:

  • bar 100×100 mm or round bar with a diameter of 100…120 mm;
  • round bar or a tube of 30 to 35 mm in diameter with the length of 1.2 m or longer
  • cement mortar with the addition of slag or crushed stone for concreting the supports;
  • brackets or fixing elements for fixing the crossbar.

Additionally, it is possible to perform struts to strengthen the structure.

Important: if the distance between the supports of the rung is more than 1.2 m, you should not use a wooden bar, too high a risk of its damage from uneven loads!

Performing the work:

  • Prepare holes for the installation of the posts. The depth should not be less than 0.5 m, with an increase in the weight / height of the user it is necessary to increase the depth as well. So, for a horizontal bar with the height of the crossbar 2.2 m and above, it is better to deepen the posts by 0.7 … 0.8 m. Pay attention, the depth of a hole under a post should be on 10…15 cm more, than a planned deepening;
  • At the bottom of the hole to arrange a cushion of a mixture of sand and crushed stone, pure sand or crushed stone, rubble and other similar materials 10…15 cm thick. It is desirable to perform tamping;
  • The poles, cut to the desired height, wrap the bottom part of the waterproofing material (Ruberoid) by bitumen coating and set on a level in the pits. To prevent the posts from sagging, support them with temporary braces;
  • Concrete the posts and wait until the concrete strength is at least 50% (3 … 7 days depending on the weather);
  • Install the crossbar horizontally. There may be any mounting method – from laying of round bar in the cutted grooves with the subsequent binding with a rope to the brackets. If tree trunks were used as poles, it is logical to choose areas with a natural fork.

If there are trees which it is not a pity to spoil by attaching staples, you can use a variant with one stand or attaching the crossbar to two adjacent trunks. In the latter case the obligatory condition is the distance between the trunks of 1.2 … 1.8 m.

U-shaped construction may not be stable enough, so some craftsmen prefer A-shaped supports.

This design is the basis for the swing, so a bar is placed in the crosshairs of the A-shaped poles. But you may as well lay a round crossbar, securing it with strapping, staples or self-tapping screws.

Another way to increase stability is to add bars to the bar or a second bar with a higher or lower crossbar height.

In the presented version the uprights are made of a double board 100×25 mm, metal pipes are used for the crossbars, and their attachment is made by cutting holes in the uprights.

Metal U-shaped horizontal bar in the yard of a private house with their own hands

As an example, we present a standard design, which can be modified according to your own discretion.

For self-made will be required:

  • steel pipe of square or round section, the minimum size (diameter or side) not less than 110 mm, wall thickness – 4…5 mm. The length of the two sections – 3340 mm, of which 800 mm will go underground;
  • angle or strip (allowed to use rebar 20 mm or more, the remnants of any profile pipe) for the crossbar at the bottom, pieces of 300….500 mm;
  • bar or tube of circular cross-section of 30…35 mm, wall thickness not less than 2.5 mm
  • cement mortar with crushed stone/bitstone/slag.

Order of performance of work:

  • Prepare the posts – drill holes on one side (not through!) to fix the crossbar, weld on the bottom crossbars. If you plan to install the crossbar not in the hole, you can make a semicircular groove at the top of the post;
  • Assemble the U-shaped structure by connecting the crossbar to the posts by welding, solid seam. Clean up the welds, paint the product with several layers of rust-preventive paint. The lower part, which will be sunk into the ground, be sure to provide plugs. It is desirable to add here another layer of waterproofing, either by coating or rolls;
  • Prepare pits at the right distance. It is better to do this after assembling the product.
  • To install the assembled bar in the prepared pits, having levelled vertically, and to concrete the posts.

If you have relatively large-diameter pipes and a ready-made U-shaped crossbar, you can use the above design (the dimensions are arbitrary). By “pegs”, of course, we mean metal rods of sufficient diameter or part of the U-shaped crossbar. It is desirable to fix the connections by welding.

Variants of more complex constructions: A-stands, a complex of horizontal bars of two or three levels and bars.

Here the design is welded from a profile tube with a diameter of 30 mm, at the connection of the A-shaped supports are added braces, the bars are provided with push-pull props.

Such a turnstile, built in the courtyard of a private house with their own hands, is ideal for a large family with growing children: the posts have a perforation with a certain pitch, which allows you to change the height of the crossbars. Naturally, the cross section of the posts is increased to 50 … 100 mm, the step of the holes should not do less than 100 mm for strength reasons. Fastening of crossbars – by studs.