Parents Home Gymnastics Bar - Your Thoughts?

[Wendie]

Hi everyone,

My nine year old is begging BEGGING for a gymnastics bar for her birthday (which happens to be tomorrow, but nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?)

So, as you probably know, the home bars are super expensive, so would like to get your thoughts on one before we take the plunge. Specific questions include:

1) Are they safe? Stable?
2) If you have one, did your gymnast use it enough to warrant the cost/space taken up in your house?
3) Is there a bar brand you would recommend? Ones that you would NOT recommend?
4) Did they improve significantly by using the bar in the house?
5) Any other tips?

Thank you so much for helping me on this one!

Wendie

 

[wallinbl]

Search the forums here and you'll probably find that the general recommendation is to leave bars at the gym with the coaches.

 

[Quadqueen]

You didn't say what level your DD is, but even if she is a very new beginner, she is likely too big for the bar to be safe, no matter what you do to try to secure it. These bars are only safe for basic swinging/hanging and maybe pullovers for only the tiniest of children (think preschoolers).

Not to mention that your DD could get hurt and could learn bad habits if she's practicing any skills at home without a coach.

It's not worth it.

 

[MaryA]

http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/threads/practice-bar-at-home.43531/

http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/threads/advice-for-diy-bar-at-home.43347/

If I dug back far enough in the CB archives, I could find a post where I asked this same question back when my DD was a level 4 (she's a level 8 now), and I got pretty much the same answers. Not worth the cost and not safe.

 

[MeetDirector]

The only use for one of the bars is to hang clothes to dry. The only thing she will learn on one of those at home is bad habits. Bar work is flat not safe at home, period. Work on bars skills must stay at the gym under the watchful eye of a coach and with the requisite safety precautions.

 

[GymMomXcel]

My DDs coach doesn't recommend it and it's such a safety issue. My DD fell off the bars onto one of their mats at the gym and sprained her elbow doing a skill. I can't imagine if it could've turned out worse at home with cheaper mats, etc. ... Not to mention having to tell the coach she got hurt doing skills at home! They'd be so disappointed.

DD's coach recommended a doorway pull up bar. We let DD do chin ups, pull ups, flex arm hangs, leg lifts (good for core!), etc. ... She's doing something at home and helping with conditioning to boot! Would this suffice for your DD? We also have a mat for basic stuff (No BHS allowed!!) and a floor beam.

I find that the more time she spends at the gym, the less she uses her stuff at home. Which, aside from safety, is another issue. Them things are expensive and most people that buy bars for home end up saying once the novelty wears off, they collect dust or become hanging toys.

 

[Natasha]

I think parents are tempted to get the bar because A) the child is begging and really wants one and loves bars (for many beginners it is their favorite event) and/or B) we think it will help them improve bar skills or get skills faster. The problem is that because, as others have said, it can only be used for basic skills and only for little ones is that even if a kid can improve (and that is a big IF since the possibility of developing bad habits is likely) it is very short-term and only for skills L3 and under. So, for any kid planning on continuing with team, having a bar at home is really not going to provide any benefit, as by the time the kids get to L4 skills (kip) it won't matter that they have had the bar at home to train. If a kid really wants it, they would benefit much more from a doorway chin-up bar that can only be used for chin-ups, leg lifts, etc. We did get one of those for our daughter way back when she was begging for gymnastics equipment. We mounted it high enough in her doorway to make it impossible to do any type of flipping around it, kip drills, swings, etc.

 

[Coach2400]

As a gym owner and mom of two gymnasts, We have the opportunity to bring a beam or mushroom home anytime. The truth is the kids never use it and it takes up serious space.
New leo's are always fantastic idea.

 

[BlairBob]

Get her a pullup bar or a set of rings. You can also fabricate a set of rings pretty cheaply with some pvc, sand, athletic tape, a paint can, and some rope.

 

[kitkat]

My daughter joined gym late. (in comparison to the other kids) So she had some catchup for her age. I purchased a kip bar. Living in Canada I had to have it shipped from the US. It was expensive. I think it was $400. For what we wanted it for - which was kips it did the trick but she really didn't use it for anything more. We bolted it into the cement which the kip bar was equipped for so it was safe. When she got her kip it was done. I ended up selling it for almost as much as I paid for it. Great deal for me.
She trains 25 hours a week - 5 5s. She wouldn't have time at home to do anything cause she is at the gym 5 days a week.
Her down days are down days.
If she wasn't about a year behind the other girls in her group I probably wouldn't have bought it.

 

[wnl256]

Another recommendation for a chin-up bar. It's good for conditioning and might be enough to keep your little one happy. I got one for my DD after she pulled the towel bar out of her bathroom wall doing leg lifts. "Gee Dad, you never told me I couldn't."

 

[eryes]

My DDs got a jr kip bar when they turned 6 for their birthday. I found it on craigslist for $125. The girls are now 9 and still use it quite a bit. I think it helped them get strong and comfortable with some skills. We're at L4 this year and it still gets used to practice jumps to high bar - aka my ceiling- and kips. Next year, who knows. But DD has a girlfriend that is a L7 that practices her cast to handstand and giant drills on her kip bar at home (she's a very tiny 9yr old...about the size of a 7yr old).

Maybe I'll sell it when the interest wanes...as I'm pretty sure I can get just about what I paid for it. Even if it had no gym value, just fun value...I'm didn't really loose money.

That's my 2 cents on the bar.

 

[txgymfan]

[" But DD has a girlfriend that is a L7 that practices her cast to handstand and giant drills on her kip bar at home (she's a very tiny 9yr old...about the size of a 7yr old).

As Dunno would say "yikes". The force on the body and the bar when doing giants is huge. She could easily fly off the bar on to whatever is up to 5-10 feet away. I'm sure the home bar is not dismounting into a pit or huge matts. I have never ever seen an opinion that giant "drills" are ok to do at home.

 

[gymdog]

No...no practicing jumps to high bar at home for level 4! This is one of the most common skills children break their arms on. (Their foot will get caught and they will fall forward off the bar onto their arms). Lack of soft matting and spotting contributes. So at home over a panel mat is the worst you could have.

 

[eryes]

No panel mats here, plenty of big couch cushions- as our sectional regularly gets stripped of its cushions.

The giant drills are just a handstand flop onto high cushions....just to regularly get used to the feel. Nothing forceful.

 

[txgymfan]

Anything on top of a bar at home is just SCARY and couch cushions are not designed to safely absorb the weight of a child's body falling off a bar. Your child and their friend are both risking serious injury every time they use a home bar in the way you are describing.

 

[gymdog]

Yeah, couch cushions are not at all equivalent to landing mats with 8 inch or more crash pads on top. But good luck I guess.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Dd has a home bar. She begged for one when she was 6 and working on her pullover. It was wonderful for that. Useless for pretty much anything else, lol!
She's now 9, in L4 and hasn't touched that bar for a loooong time with one exception: she did do a couple of "jump up with straight arms" exercises for her kip a few months ago. Hers was not cheap, is well made but nonetheless definitely not stable enough for the things she could practice on it now. Not stable enough for a back hip circle without adding major weights to the "leg extensions", and although she is not tiny by any means she still only weighs about 70pounds (max weight on the bar is 100, IIRC). I wouldn't even dream of having her practice a kip or free hip or anything like that on it!
It did help her get that pullover though... for a preschooler/very young, inexperienced gymnast it could help with certain skills and drills but not a whole lot. I should also add that I teach/coach preschool gymnastics at her gym so I was perfectly qualified to help her do the preschool skills safely on it. Her team skills I stay far, far away from!

 

[Flipflopz]

We've had a bar forever. Since dd was 4years old. She is now a level 9/10. She still uses that thing. Yes she is a tiny person. She has never done giants on it. It doesn't have enough clearance. It is a very heavy unit.

 

[KSLaura]

We have a jr Kip bar. The girls use it all the time (8 and 5 YOs). Older DD practices her bar routine (level 3) and kip drills. Younger DD does pullovers and back-hip circles. They only have gymnastics twice a week, and like the opportunity to practice at home.