I designed this DIY crossfit style home gym so that it can fold out of the wall. When folded up it takes up less than 4 sq ft of floor space and only takes about 8 hours to build. The cabinet made out of 3/4" and 1/2" furniture grade plywood that is glued and screwed together. This cabinet was designed for my loft, which has 9-foot tall ceilings, but the design could be adapted for different spaces.

SUPPLIES:

1/2" Plywood
Available at Home Depot
I made the drawbridge part out of 1/2" furniture grade plywood.

3/4" Plywood
Available at Home Depot
I made the wall part of the cabinet out of 3/4" furniture grade poplar plywood.

BEHR Interior Paint
Available at Home Depot
I used BEHR interior matte white paint to paint all of the plywood parts.

1" EMT Conduit
Available at Home Depot
I used 1" EMT conduit to make the pull-up bar.

16" Heavy Duty Folding Brackets
Available at Rockler.com
I used these brackets to make the pull-up bar.

TOOLS:

RYOBI 18 Volt Cordless Drill
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Circular Saw
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Table Saw
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Compound Miter Saw
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Palm Router
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Palm Router
Available at Home Depot

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1: Rip the plywood.
I cut 6", 3" and 4" wide strips of 3/4" and 1/2" plywood on my table saw.



STEP 2: Lay out the wall cabinet.
My walls are 9ft tall so I used a full 4' by 8' sheet of plywood plus a short 1' by 4' piece to make the back of the wall cabinet.





STEP 3: Cut the plywood strips to length.
I used my item saw to cut the plywood strips to length. I used the 4" wide strips to reinforce the locations where I will insert dowels to hold the weight plates. I used the 6" wide strips as the first two layers along the vertical sides of the cabinet.

STEP 4: Glue and screw the pieces into place.

I glued and screwed the strips to the back of the cabinet and kept adding layers making sure to overlap the seams to provide strength. After the first two layers of 6" wide strips along the long sides I switched to 3" wide strips. The 6" wide strips will be important for securing the pull-up bar brackets later.





STEP 5: Drill holes.

I drilled 1-1/4" diameter holes to accommodate the dowels that will hold up the weight plates. I am not stacking more than 70lbs on any of these dowels. If I wanted to add more plates I would use steel pipe and floor flanges to secure them.

STEP 6: Sand and paint the edges.

I sanded the sides and applied two coats of paint. It will be harder to paint the edges once the wall cabinet is installed.



STEP 7: Find the studs.

I used my RYOBI center stud finder to locate the three studs that I can attach the cabinet to and then used a level to draw straight lines down to the floor and mark the edges of where the cabinet should be installed. I then marked on the cabinet where the studs will be so that I can drive screws through the cabinet and into the studs behind the gypsum board.







STEP 8: Install the wall cabinet.

I used 3" long screws to screw through the plywood through the gypsum board and secure the cabinet to the studs. I then located the ceiling joists and used angle brackets to secure the top of the cabinet to the joists. I covered up the brackets with strips of plywood.









STEP 9: Cut and insert dowels.

I cut the dowels with my miter saw and then inserted them along with some glue into the holes. They fit tight and I tested them by hanging.

STEP 10: Build the drawbridge.

I made the drawbridge part by laying out a piece of 1/2" plywood and then gluing and screwing 4" wide strips around the edges. Once I got two layers secured on top of the full 4' by 8' sheet I pushed it up to the wall cabinet and marked the location for the two door hinges.



STEP 11: Install the hinges.

I had left off two strips of 3/4" plywood on the wall cabinet so I could cut recesses in them to accommodate the hinges. I drilled holes in one of the strips and then connected the holes with my jigsaw. I used a palm router to cut about 1/8" into plywood where the hinge will be located. This ensures that the drawbridge will fold up flush to the wall cabinet. I then painted these pieces and installed them and the hinges.



















STEP 12: Paint the wall cabinet.

We painted the wall cabinet with BEHR interior matte white paint.

STEP 13: Paint the wall cabinet.

We raised up the drawbridge and where able to field measure how long the piece of 1/2” plywood would need to be in order to reach up to the ceiling. I then cut a piece of plywood with my circular saw and finished gluing and screwing the 4” wide strips around the perimeter.





STEP 14: Glue on the lifting deck.

The perimeter of the drawbridge is made from 2 layers of 1/2” plywood. I cut pieces of 1/2” plywood that I glued in place to make a lifting deck on the drawbridge that is flush to the perimeter.



STEP 15: Paint the drawbridge.

We painted the inside of the drawbridge with BEHR interior matte white paint. Once that had dried we raised it up and installed a latch that I bought at Home Depot. We then painted the other side of the drawbridge.







STEP 16: Install the pull-up bar.

I cut a piece of 1” EMT conduit with my angle grinder. I drilled holes in the ends so I could bolt it to the heavy-duty brackets I got from rockler.com. These brackets are rated for 750lbs and I secured them with 2” long screws going into 3 layers of 3/4” plywood. I spray painted all these pieces white before screwing them in place. The brackets wouldn’t stay up so I screwed on two magnets to the wall cabinet to hold it up.











STEP 17: Make a bracket for the bar.

I used a drill and jigsaw to make a plywood bracket to hold the weight bar. I secured this to the cabinet with three 3" L-brackets.





STEP 18: Install foam padding.

I bought some exercise padding online and cut them with a box cutter so they would fit in the drawbridge.









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