No digging underground

[maddiekate]

A friend of mine is opening a tumbling gym in a few months (already has contracts, etc), and found out that she cannot dig into the foundation. A pit was in the plans, as well as a spring floor, tumble track, and other things. Most tumble traks we have found are around two feet off the ground, and if it is too high off the ground, that could be harder to spot and more frightening.

1. Would it be okay to only have a loose foam pit 3 feet deep?
2. How would you go about having a 2' tall tumble trak and a 3' tall pit?
3. Are there any other things we should be aware about that could complicate things? I'm not looking for criticism about how unrealistic this is or how it would never work.

[~JEM~]

there are certain legal requirements for pits... i came across them one day so maybe look it up.
You will not be able to have a loose foam pit that is only 3ft deep if that's what you meant, defintely unsafe in my opinion, but as I say check the requirements. i highly doubt it would pass safety checks and legal requirements. although requirements might be different where you are to where I am.

At our gym we are also not allowed to dig into the ground. we were thinking of putting the whole gym up on a platform... as in take out all the equipment, build a wooden platform across the whole gym about 4ft off the concrete floor, and then the pit can be put in the platform and all the equipment on top.

http://www.jetsgym.com.au/Venue%207.JPG look here, this is the gym we got the idea from. See how their floor area is lower, their vaulting and tumble tramp area has been put on a platform so they could put a pit in at the end. It is also a great way to store things, as you can see with the little storage areas under the platform. Maybe think about doing something like this?

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I've seen gyms that, rather than digging down, build up a platform around thir pit with a vault runway, a tumbling strip, and a bar. This way, you can have a deeper pit without digging into the foundation.

I don't think a 3 foot loose foam pit would do be sufficient to soften a landing. However, a 3 foot resi could work fine.

[maddiekate]

Building up is a good idea.

What if the pit was 4 feet deep and the tumble track was 3 feet off the ground? Could you have cubes above the level of the trak, and have a mat holding the foam in. like an 4 or 6 inch mat a foot taller than the trak between the track and the pit. It isn't like you would be doing a skill that only goes 1 foot off the ground, and if you hit it, it would be a mat.

[JBS]

I worked at a gym with no pit for the past 8 years. Build up and learn to use overhead spotting rigs.

The depth of the pit is something that the owner should decide. Standard now is 6 feet or more with a tramp bed 3 or 4 feet down. I would not be comfortable with a hard bottom pit if it was my gym.