Above ground pits

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Hello all,

We are working on building an above ground pit. Our ceilings are just over 16' high. It seems like 6' is the recommended height. Do any of you use pits that are only 5'? How did you build the platforms for the trampoline beds?

Thanks!
 
So are you saying that your above ground pit will only be five feet DEEP when completed?? I sure hope not! At my dd's old gym, they didn't want to go to the expense of following recommendations for proper depth, and they had a few girls Actually hit the bottom of the pit!! In addition, they did not have the recommended tramp at the bottom. What a liability
 
I'd love to hear from some gym owners. I'm sure you're a very qualified gym mom with a lot of experience in engineering and gym construction but I'd really like to hear from someone else.

Obviously with a shallow pit our gymnasts would not attempt skills of a more advance nature. I'm sure a 40lb seven year old would be just fine. We have 16' ceilings. We're not training elites or anywhere near that level. Thank you.
 
Sorry! I wasn't paying attention to the category... was just looking at all "new" posts!

That's okay. You're statement just came off as very crass. I know a four or five foot pit is possible. You just have to have coaches that are safety oriented and know who/what can and can't be done into a shallow pit.
 
okay guys, here's the standard. and you won't have concerns or worries about the what if's.

whether above or below, the hole itself should be 6 feet deep. the trampoline should be 18 to 24 inches from the bottom. if you have boys that do big high bar dismounts and big vaults and senior girls that do big bars and vault, the tramp should be closer to 18 inches.

if the tramp is in a cement hole, angle iron is mounted in to the the walls of the cement. the angle iron has as many holes as required to accommodate the size of the trampoline bed with springs.

if it is above ground, a trampoline structure must be custom made. it's made of tubular steel with flat iron and gets placed at the bottom. the same depth measurements apply.

the whole concept of a pit with foam cubes and it's depth is to have the ability to decelerate the body as it enters the pit. yes, there are pits 3-5 feet but they are precarious at best and cause a lot of unnecessary injuries had the pit hole been 6 feet deep.

again, there are dealers out there that can explain in fuller detail depending on what the needs of the gym are. and what kind of athletes you have training. midwest gym supply is a great resource and they have done hundreds of these kinds of applications.

i personally have in ground pits. construction described above. tramps are 18 inches from the floor bottom. have never had an injury in these pits. we also have college men and women that train in our facility over the summer and during certain breaks. no way i would have a hole less than 6 feet given some of the skills they are practicing nowadays.:)
 
Hello all,

We are working on building an above ground pit. Our ceilings are just over 16' high. It seems like 6' is the recommended height. Do any of you use pits that are only 5'? How did you build the platforms for the trampoline beds?

Thanks!


and i thought i might add specifically to the ceiling height. if the floor of this above ground pit is 5 feet, which means a 5 foot hole, this leaves a clearance of 11 feet to a ceiling structure. if it were 4, which would not be recommended for any kind of high level use, that would leave a clearance to a ceiling structure of 12 feet. most above ground pits have a minimum of 20 feet to the closest ceiling structure.

i can tell you right now, i have both boys and girls that would hit your ceiling at 11 or 12 feet. and they would do this easily. when you consider that the girls bar is 96 inches (8 feet from the ground) and they do a high level dismount, say double lay or back in full out which can be 2 to 3 feet above the 8 foot mark...8 plus 2 equals 10 feet from the ground. or, 6 feet from the nearest ceiling structure with a 5 foot above ground pit. i can guarantee you that they will hit their feet above. now boys high bar dismounts??? they'll be sticking their dismounts up on the roof.

all you could really do with a 16 foot ceiling is low level gymnastics. sorry...
 
Thanks dunno. I didn't mean for my response to come off sounding bad, but the girls who were injured using that five foot above ground pit were only level 4/5 gymnasts. They did land on their heads and one hit the concrete. My DDs second gym was much more aware of possible dangers and even though it caused many delays, they made sure their pit hAd a 7 foot depth along with a custom made tramp at the bottom. I sure learned a lot watching the process.
 
and i thought i might add specifically to the ceiling height. if the floor of this above ground pit is 5 feet, which means a 5 foot hole, this leaves a clearance of 11 feet to a ceiling structure. if it were 4, which would not be recommended for any kind of high level use, that would leave a clearance to a ceiling structure of 12 feet. most above ground pits have a minimum of 20 feet to the closest ceiling structure.

i can tell you right now, i have both boys and girls that would hit your ceiling at 11 or 12 feet. and they would do this easily. when you consider that the girls bar is 96 inches (8 feet from the ground) and they do a high level dismount, say double lay or back in full out which can be 2 to 3 feet above the 8 foot mark...8 plus 2 equals 10 feet from the ground. or, 6 feet from the nearest ceiling structure with a 5 foot above ground pit. i can guarantee you that they will hit their feet above. now boys high bar dismounts??? they'll be sticking their dismounts up on the roof.

all you could really do with a 16 foot ceiling is low level gymnastics. sorry...

That's all we want to do at this level.

We realize that we will not be training high levels with the limited ceilings. However, we could give recreational kids and low level team an awesome gymnastics experience.
 
Not a gym owner sorry, but very interesting, I learn so much here! I'm intrigued by pits having a trampoline at the bottom - at our gym the pit has a net.
 
Not a gym owner sorry, but very interesting, I learn so much here! I'm intrigued by pits having a trampoline at the bottom - at our gym the pit has a net.
There's a local gym that has no net or tramp at the bottom of their 5' deep pit. I found this out the "hard" way fooling around at a friend's kid's birthday party. They cater to preschool kids, so it's probably fine for them.
 
Have you thought about a suspended pit such as this one Raised pit with integrated platform - Pits - Pits - Welcome on your on-line shop Gymnova. - Gymnova

We have a suspended sunken pit at our gym and only had to dig down 1m.

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