Hey all, I've been dreaming about it for a while since starting calisthenics seriously 2 years ago and I've finally done it (with a lot of help from my best friend and my dad). summarized info first, then some details below that.

picture album link

Total Costs: $560

(I'll add Length, Width, Height dimensions later as I forgot to measure that and it is night time)

Includes: pull up bar, parallel bars, and a bar for nordic curls.

m/26/5'3"

So I've lurked a lot of posts online about how other people have built their pull up bars and what-not and I knew I wanted one that was compact, that could hang my rings, and include a bar for nordic curls. My family's yard had space, although I didn't need much. The products used for the project is linked above in the Total Costs. The whole structure is extremely sound and my plan moving forward is to paint the posts, maybe put some anti-rusting agents on the bars (I live in Seattle and it's humid), and restoring the ground, getting some health back into the dirt and planting grass.

Summarized Method:

• Plan layout, buy materials, call the city before you dig, clean area, check the weather.

• Dig holes (2 holes were 3 feet deep, 3 holes were 2.5 feet deep).

• Prop treated wooden post up and fill with concrete, constantly check with leveling tool to keep up-right. Repeat for other posts, making sure they are in line with layout plan and facing same direction as other posts.

• Drill holes into wood using spade drill bits, insert pipes and thread floor flange on. Drill holes, then drill in flat head phillip wood screws (2.5" in length)

This is basically my first DIY project ever of this size and I rarely every pick up a hammer so my dad's wisdom helped tremendously on this one. These are the things that I've learned.

• 4"x4" and 6"x6" actually means 3.5" x 3.5" and 5.5" x 5.5" inches

• quikrete floor surfacer is not the same as concrete for wooden posts and is a lot, lot, lot more expensive (I made the mistake of buying 5 of these, 3 of which went into the first 6x6)

• Getting your dimensions and layouts right the first time saves you multiple trips to the hardware store.

• Always check the leveling tool, and the right-angle tool, we even got creative with string on wooden stakes to make sure certain heights were matching up from post to post. After we drilled holes on the posts some holes weren't wide enough and we had to widen the holes not just to get the pipes through but to get the pipe to meet the other post exactly where we wanted it.

• Digging is hard, but thankfully my buddy had a tool just for it. It's a giant metal rod that must weight around 30 - 40 lbs with a wedge at one end. It digs straight down, then we dig out the dirt with a shovel.

• When it comes to conventional concrete, make sure your water to mix ratio is correct. When using post concrete, put one bag at a time and water after each bag.

• flanges were meant to be on the floor with the pipe coming out the nipple side, but we had the flanges on the outside of the posts with the pipe coming through the opposite side. It made the posts a lot sturdier, but threading through was a little tricky at times.

• Always get more than you need, it'll save you trips to the store and you can always return what you don't use.

• Double check your measurements. Make sure you really know how high you want your pull up bar. I also had to decide on the height of my dip bars, and the bar for my nordic curls. That said, I definitely made changes as I physically saw the posts built. As for the pipes, I had to go back to the hardware store to get them cut and re-threaded because some lengths just didn't add up.

That's it! It was a 5 day project, 1 for planning and 4 for the hard labor. If you have any questions, please ask away. Big thanks for this community as I've gotten a lot of inspiration from other people's home-made gyms, most recently u/thomaesthetics for his detailed post last week.