“Hypodynamia, old age, and shortness of breath…” — so goes a well-known song. Indeed, in our age of widespread mechanization and computerization, the question of maintaining an active lifestyle is very acute. The way out is physical culture and sports. That is why mini sports complexes and home exercise corners are becoming familiar in our apartments. Yet the area and layout of modern apartments, if they allow such a “gym” at all, are mainly only enough for children, while the rest of the family must make do at best with an ordinary pull-up bar fitted in a doorway.
For almost a year now my whole family has been successfully using a sports wall that takes up no usable floor space in the apartment. The point is that it also doubles as… a bed.
The core of the structure is a panel assembled from three boards 2 m long and 30 mm thick, plus crosspieces — boards 1750 mm long and 20 mm thick. A support leg is mounted on the finished panel; it also serves as the pull-up bar. It is made from ordinary water pipe bent on a pipe bender. After fitting into the intended holes, the ends of the pipe are cut, the “petals” are spread, and they are used to attach the leg to the bed. The leg height should be at least 300 mm (for normal use as a crossbar).
1 — upright (3 pcs.); 2 — niche for bedding; 3 — timber 60×150×1250 mm (2 pcs.); 4 — rung (7 pcs.); 5 — board 30×130×2000 mm (3 pcs.); 6 — catch (2 pcs., steel); 7 — board 20×150×1750 mm; 8 — crossbar (water pipe Ø 25…30 mm); 9 — lock (2 pcs., steel); 10 — mattress (foam); 11 — door hinge (3 pcs.); 12 — decorative panel (fiberboard).
On the opposite side of the panel, three hinges (door hinges) are screwed on. The mating parts of the hinges are fitted on three uprights fixed to the wall. The uprights can be made from offcuts of the same boards used for the panel. The end of the bed and the space between the uprights for finishing are covered with a fiberboard sheet faced to match the room furniture.
Four one-and-a-half foam mattresses provide good sleep; to keep them from sliding when the bed is raised, loops made of cotton tape are used.
At the bottom of the bed, between two boards of the load-bearing frame, a “Swedish wall” is installed — two timbers with 30 mm rungs made from shovel handles.
Using the bed as exercise equipment is possible only if it is reliably fixed in the vertical position. Special attention should be paid to this when building it. The locks used are homemade, made from 5 mm sheet steel. For greater reliability the catches are mounted on studs that pass through the wall and are secured with nuts on the other side.
At first an electric motor with a gearbox was installed in one of the pockets between the uprights to raise and lower the bed automatically. It was later removed — the job is not that heavy and can be part of a workout, and it takes much less time. Pillows go into the pockets, blankets are held with rubber cords from an expander; in 30 seconds the bedroom turns into a gym where you can twirl a hoop and jump rope — and above all help adults and children stay healthy.
«M-K» 11’91, S. NORYTSYN
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