Tom from Washington Parkour sends us this simple balance trainer on the cheap, looks great Tom!

"I recently built a balance bar because I can't walk more than two steps along a rail without falling off. Here's some pics & a howto. Unfortunately, I can't find the receipt, but I'm pretty sure that the materials cost less than $30. I've got it set up at the foot of my bed, so I use it twice a day at the very least, and my balance is improving considerably. It's very solid; it might sag about 1/4" when I'm in the very middle...

6' steel pipe (any length is ok, really)
2 elbows, male-to-female
2 flanges
8 countersunk wood screws, 1.25" (the screw shank should be as large as will fit into the holes in the flange... sorry I don't have measurements)
~2ft scrap 2x6 lumber

Cut two pieces of 2x6, approx. 1 foot long. Mark holes for the flange screws, predrill the holes, and screw in the flanges. Elbows go into the flanges, and onto the long pipe. Done! Took me maybe 10 minutes.

Note: the feet in the pictures are about 6" long, and of the wrong orientation. I've tried to jump on the thing in the pictured configuration, and it moves a bit more than I'd like since it's set up on carpet. With a wider base, it'll be reasonably solid. However, there's some optimization to do -- if it's too wide, the base might act like skiis, and just slide."

And you can find more simple things to build in the How To section.

Happy training,
-Tyson

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