DIY: Build a stand-alone flexible Hangboard frame

Why build a Hangboard frame when there are ready to use door mounting systems available? A lot depends on which material your door frame is made of. And your walls. The walls and door frame in our place is so unstable, it would crumble by just looking at it. A stand-alone, flexible Hangboard frame has a few advantages. You can mount it anywhere in the house, or in the garden. No screws or damages on the walls. The fun factor: it is inclinable at different angles, wooden crimps made the training sessions a little more entertaining and bigger torture.

The crash pad (optional) added comfort to making tiny bouldery moves between the hangboard and crimps so that the falls wouldn’t so painful on the concrete floor.

It’s far from any DIY boulder wall we used to have in the cellar, but it gets the training for the fingers and shoulders done, to go with the usual other workouts you could do at home – yoga, abs, body core, biceps training. Viva la Corona-times.

The frame was assembled within a few hours.

Here’s what we used (measured to fit in our cellar):

The frame material:

• 2 wooden beams for the feet á 1.5m (45 mm x 90 mm)
• 2 wooden beams for the inclination arms á 1m (45 mm x 90 mm) , rounded off the edges
• 2 wooden beams for holding the board á 2m (45 mm x 90 mm) rounded off the edges
• 2 thinner bars to stabilize the frame
• 1 plywood (ideally bigger than your hang board, or in such a way that you still have space for some other holds) e.g. 140 mm x 50 mm
• 4 thread screws
• lots of wood screws
• 6 steel flat connectors
• 4 steel angled connectors

Optional:

• Duck tape
• foam padding
• felt
• a crash pad

Holds

• An assorted set of wooden ledges with different thicknesses. We had some wooden leftovers of the garden fence – these rhombus-ledges were a dream to imitate slopy crimps
• you could get some holds too. Ask your local gym if they are sorting out used old holds. If you’re lucky, you can get a whole box of holds for very little money. Or get new ones from your favorite online sports dealer.

Putting the pieces together

If you’d like to start off your exercises in a standing position, you’ll have to get the side of the beams to be a lot higher. (Maybe 2.4m instead of 2m?)