How to Make a Balance Bridge

Balancing is an essential skill that gymnasts of all ages need to master. The balance bridge not only helps young learners gain agility and balance, but it also challenges even the best athletes. Making your own balance bridge will give athletes the opportunity to practice regularly at home.

Table of Contents

Making a Bridge of Balance

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Buy the required amount of wood from the supply locations where you live. To make a balance bridge, you need to prepare six pieces of wood 2.44 m long, measuring 1 cm x 6 cm, four pieces of wooden planks 61 cm long measuring 2 cm x 4 cm and four pieces of wood 30.5 cm long. cm measures 2cm x 4cm.

In addition, you need to prepare other necessary items mentioned in the “Things you need” section at the end of the article. All of these items are common and you can easily buy them at grocery stores or home goods stores.

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Wash all surfaces of each piece of wood. Use laundry detergent, water and a rag, sponge or brush to thoroughly clean the wood pieces. This step is very important because dirt or wood chips can prevent the glue from working properly. Let the wood panels dry naturally before applying glue.

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Glue together six pieces of wood 2.44 m long. Place the wooden slats perpendicular to each other. Glue the widest side (i.e. the plane with the largest area) of the slats together with industrial glue (preferably waterproof). ^{[1] X Research Source} In this step, a large amount of glue is used to hold the wooden slats together. Let the glue dry completely before taking the next step!

When the glue has dried, both the front and back of the block should be completely flat and form a block of wood 2.44 m long and about 10.2 cm wide.
The side with a width of 10.2 cm will be the top of the balance bridge.

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Fasten the wooden slats together while waiting for the glue to dry. The best way to fasten the wooden slats is to use wooden clamps. If you don’t have a wooden clamp, you can lay the block flat with the largest surface area facing down, then use a weight to press it down.

Allow the block to dry for a minimum of 24 hours.

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Smooth the wood block. When the glue has dried, remove the wood clamp or remove the press, smoothing the entire block.

Use a planer or sandpaper to make sure the wood surface is completely smooth and even.

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Attach the L-shaped steel bar to the wooden block. Use screws (sold with the support bar) to secure to the bottom of the block, about 30.5 cm from each end.

Mounting the Stand

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Attach the legs to the wooden block. Glue four 2cm x 4cm pieces of wood 30.5cm long by 4cm into the rest of the support bar to form the legs for the block, using 4 screws with each leg, or in other words 16 screws in all .

There must be 4 empty positions on the steel support bar, one for each leg.

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Make a pedestal for each leg. Attach a 61 cm long 2 cm x 4 cm wooden slat to the bottom of each leg, for a total of 4 slats, using 4 screws to secure each pedestal.

These supports will help the balance bridge achieve greater stability and balance.

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Synthetic suede padding to the bridge surface. Cut a piece of suede whose length and width corresponds to the length and width of the balance bridge. Glue the parchment to the surface so that the leather covers the entire balance bridge section.

Let the leather cushion and glue dry completely before using the balance bridge.

Advice

If you are making a balance bridge for indoor use, add some suede pads to the base of the platform to avoid scratching the floor.
Before buying wood to make a balance bridge, please measure carefully because the wooden bars have different lengths, on the other hand, wooden bars of the same type need to be of the same size to be used as a balance bridge. .
When glueing the wooden slats together, make sure that the glue is applied evenly from end to end. Because the glued wood block is the most important element of the balance bridge, and therefore needs to be strong enough to support the athlete during rigorous exercises.
A typical balance bridge has a length of 5.02 m, a width of 10.2 cm and is located 1.2 m above the ground. ^{[2] X Research Source} If you need to build a balance bridge of this size, simply change the parameters of the wooden bars and follow the steps outlined above.
In addition to synthetic suede, you can cover the balance bridge with other materials such as: non-woven fabrics, second-hand clothing, bedding or duvet covers, etc.
You can also create a balance bridge with a height that you think is right for you, if so you will not have to worry about the height of the balance bridge anymore.
If you want to learn new skills and reinforce old ones, use a vari-length stand. That way, you can lower your altitude when learning new skills and increase your altitude when you’ve mastered those skills.

Warning

It’s important to carefully check the balance bridge you just worked on before doing any rigorous exercise. This balance bridge is only of the quality of a handmade product, so to avoid serious injuries, you need to measure the parameters accurately to make sure your product is completely sturdy and can withstand the force. heavy.

Things you need

Soap and water
Six wooden slats 2.44 m long, size 1 cm x 6 cm.
Waterproof glue
Planer or sandpaper
Wooden clip or a heavy object
L-bar and screws
Four wooden boards 61 cm long, 2 cm x 4 cm in size.
Four wooden boards 30.5 cm long, 2 cm x 4 cm in size.
Screwdriver
32 wood screws
Synthetic suede (or other materials)

Steps

Making a Bridge of Balance

Mounting the Stand

Advice

Warning

Things you need

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