Parents Bar at home

[Josette]

Hi friends,

My daughter wants a bar for home use. Any suggestions? I see one on Amazon with metal frame and looks like wooden bar. I hope for it to be the same diameter as what is used at the gym. Is there a better one that isn't wood maybe? Is wood okay for practice?

 

[Coach Kate]

As a coach, please don't. Bars is already a highly technical event and home practice usually does more harm than good.

A pull up bar, maybe a floor bar for older athletes to do handstand/pirouette work, and a mat if your floors are hard. Handstands, conditioning, and stretching are really the only thing that should be done at home.

 

[Dahlialover]

If you are going to get one (I don’t have strong feelings on that debate), go for a used Tumbl trak jr pro. It’s a solid piece of equipment. Watch FB marketplace and Craig’slist. They run between $150-300 used. I just sold ours for $175.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I recommend a bar that you can set up in a way to make swinging, or any sort of support work, completely impossible. Something you'd mount on a wall, for example.

I think a pull-up bar or stall bar is fine to have, but as a coach I would strongly prefer none of my students do any sort of bar work beyond basic strength at home.

 

[Dahlialover]

When I was a kid, every elementary school playground had metal bars and kids with no gymnastics experience were quite proficient at a wide variety of circling skills. If the home bar takes the place of the playground bar, then I think it is harmless. The key is that is should be used for child-led play and not adult-led training.