The House that Worked Out is also a House that Works Out! Being active is really important to all of us, which is great, because it means we can hang out together trying to be ninjas.  It also means that as well as building chicken coops and pergolas and sheds, we also spend time building strength and fitness equipment.

One of our sons is interested in gymnastics, and Christmas was a great time to try our hand at making a homemade pommel trainer.

MATERIALS

• a used electrical cable drum
• carpet underlay, can be sourced free from carpet installers
• enough vinyl to cover your pommel trainer
• MDF board (optional)
• glue

EQUIPMENT

• a staple gun
• scissors
• a jigsaw (optional)

How To Make A Pommel Trainer

STEP 1

Our cable drum was very large, so we ended up using a jigsaw to reduce the diameter of the mushroom ‘cap’.  If yours is perfect, obviously skip this step.  Gymnastics pommel trainers, or “mushrooms”, vary in height and diameter; shorter mushrooms are more challenging.  I think a good beginning height is 18-20″.  The diameter of our mushroom is 26″, which is slightly larger than the mushrooms at our gymnastics centre.

STEP 2

Cut carpet underlay into circles of various diameters. How many circles will depend on how thick your underlay is, so check as you go how your mushroom ‘cap’ is working out.

STEP 3 (OPTIONAL)

The layers of underlay were making for a very spongy surface- maybe overly so. If the surface is too soft, it places a lot of pressure on the wrists, so we also added a couple of layers of MDF board to try to firm it up a bit.

STEP 4

Glue the underlay (and MDF board) to the top of your cable drum. Allow to dry.

STEP 5

Hang your vinyl over the cable drum and cut, allowing enough extra to wrap nicely under the mushroom cap.

STEP 6

Staple the vinyl to the drum, pulling the vinyl taut and working your way around in a circle. We tried using a staple gun with a compressor but found that the compressor was too powerful and the staples were actually cutting through the fabric.  A hand gun worked much better.

And voila!  Our own pommel trainer, made for practically nothing.

All that remains is a practical demonstration of the trainer in use.  Our son has it worked out.