Building an Olympic Lifting Platform

On February 1, 2014, I (Rick) got together with another EMS member (Ellery) to build a modular Olympic Lifting Platform.  The goal was to build a platform that could fit in our garage.  The standard 8′ x 8′ size would be much too large, so we cut ours in half.  The other problem is that moving a full sized 4′ x 8′ piece of plywood is very difficult without access to a truck.  It also would be very difficult to move, reposition, or stow away at that size.  We therefore designed our platform to be modular.  The center platform is 4′ x 4′ and each side piece is only 2′ x 4′.  This allows us to transport the whole thing in one SUV with one person if needed.  We can also easily move it off of the floor if we ever need to reclaim that space.  The resources and space available to us at EMS were very helpful in completing this project.