Building a wooden offwidth

These guys...

wideboyz.blogspot.com/

...have famously been training on a wooden offwidth setup in their basement. Does anyone know how to build such a setup? I'd like to, but don't have the faintest idea...

I made an adjustable wooden crack years ago. I used it like the 'wideboyz'. Upside down. For me it was to sorta simulate Incredible Hand Crack In IC.

I made it as follows:
I used 2- 2x8's and numerous 3/8" all-thread lengths with 4 nuts and 4 washers each. You could use 2X10's if you want the crack deeper.
Stack the 2x8's on top of each other and drill holes 1" from each edge every 2 feet or so. 2x8's are 7 1/4" so your bolts will be spaced at 5 1/4" gage.
Stand the 2x8's vertically. On the all-thread spin 2 nuts to the center, then a washer on each side. Put this between the 2- 2x8's in each hole you drilled. Then add a washer and nut to the 2 outside ends.
Spread to desired width and tighten the nuts. The distance can be varied to simulate a real crack... as much as the 2x's bending will allow (the distance between those rows of all-thread will be a factor).

A slight better & faster way to adjust...
Put some strong spring between the 2x's. Then you only have to adjust the outside nuts.

Let me know how it goes!

Same as above. We did it with 20 ft 2by 8's and were able to bend the boards with the force of all those bolts and nuts to make a variation in the crack size. We had a thin mid section and both ends pretty much off width flared. Also coated the inside of boards with texture to make it good and rough. Placed a few very tiny jibs, or chips screw ons for something to grab in the crack every now and then.

I would personally use 2x10's. I built an adjustable wooden crack in my garage this past summer and found it to a great training tool. I didn't paint the wood, figuring smooth sanded wood would be that much more challenging. I used 5/8 threaded stock on the first four adjustment points and 3/4 threaded stock on the top. The crack is overhanging and figured going strong on the top where it rests on my rafters was a good bet. I'll post a picture later.

by adding bolts on each side, won't there be a bolt just inside the crack every 2"?

or am i understanding this wrong?

not a criticism, just curious if this is just how it goes, or is there a way to eliminate the bolt in the way?

Woodchuck ATC wrote:Placed a few very tiny jibs, or chips screw ons for something to grab in the crack every now and then.

camhead wrote: You're only cheating yourself.

Here's an example of mine, you could make it as steep as you like to meet your needs, wants, and desires.

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2x8 or 2x10 are fine for "regular" width cracks. But the OP is asking about OW crack machine, which is an entirely different animal. You need to be able to bury your leg up to your crotch basically, get an arm bar all the way in, etc.

So you need to think in sheets of plywood or multiple 2x side by side, rather than single 2x planks on each side to get that depth. Go search for some pics on Supertopo. At least three guys in the Bay Area have them, ScuffyB, Zander, and Gary Carpenter.

Scarpelli used to have a 4"-5" horizontal over his bed. Maybe a tease ?