Pull-up bar solutions

[wild_wild_wes]

I need a pull-up bar. Are the removable door-mounted ones viable? How much weight can they hold without marring the doorframe? Any good brands you use? Alternatives?

[Vinh]

I own the Iron Gym pull-up bar that mounts in the doorway, and a stand alone pull-up tower.

I find the pull-up tower works better with tall ceilings and offers more flexibility with how far apart you want to put your hands.

The removable door-mounted one works fine for me, but your hands will be closer together, and at 165lbs, no frame damage has occurred.

[mattexass]

I need a pull-up bar. Are the removable door-mounted ones viable? How much weight can they hold without marring the doorframe? Any good brands you use? Alternatives?

I have had a removable door one for about a year that has marred my door frame and at this moment is bent and looks like it is going to break soon. I have varied weight from around 165 to 180 the past year. I will be upgrading soon to either the Rouge Fitness unit (I love their squat rack that I own from) or a do it yourself rig soon http://www.limitless365.com/2012/08/19/diy-pull-up-bar-superhuman-pull-ups/ .

[lunchbox]

Use door frame bar. It does push hands a little closer(but not problematic). For what it does, for what it cost, cant beat it.

[prq9218]

If you have the space, a power cage with an integrated pullup bar works really well. I ordered one off amazon for $250 + shipping. Doesn't mess up the wall above the door, and I can squat/bench heavier weights without a spotter.

[John Hearne]

FWIW, I have chin/dip station from CAP at my house that I really like. It has a seat for leg raises and a set of pushup bars as well. I can get a pretty decent upper body workout with it.

At work we have a power cage that has integrated pullup bats and it is great. We initially bought the one from Amazon but liked the one that Dick's offer better and swapped.

[JasonA]

I have a no-name door-mounted pull-up bar that I got for free. I've been using it for the last few months and haven't noticed any damage to the door frame. When I started using it, I weighed 200 lbs and it held just fine.

[steyrm9a19mmfan]

I have a door frame "Iron Gym Pull Up Bar" and used it for about 3+ years and then got a "Gold's Gym Power Tower" at local Wal-Mart about 3 weeks ago. I use the power tower almost exclusively now and hardly use the Iron Gym anymore. The one thing Iron Gym does have that the power tower does not is the neutral grip handles which were really the only kind of pull ups I could do with the limited space I had in my door way. I like the Gold's Gym power tower because it has the pull up bar and push up station on one side and the dip bar leg raise attachment on the other. I tried others in the stores that carried display models and found it was too difficult for me to do pull ups with the dip station right there. I also had a dip rack attachment that I purchased for the Iron Gym as well and it worked pretty decently as well.

[tb-av]

I have the golds Gym $20 model. 160lb has marred door jamb a bit. Be nice if hands could be placed further apart.

[Endur]

I had one that screws into your door frame but I cannot remember the brand. It worked fine and didn't cause any extra damage besides the screw holes. It also pulled out so you could do lat-rows but with standing and body weight you'd have to do a ton of reps to even feel a burn. I would be weary of the ones that do not mount directly to the frame and are held in by body weight as guy I knew used one and it put a hole above his door frame. He wasn't over weight or using it other than directed. I am sure there are ones better designed that do not cause damage.

[wild_wild_wes]

What about bands? (from seated on the floor, pulling them down). Can you get equivalent results with those?

[mattexass]

Nothing is going to be equivalent to the dead hang non cheating pull-up. However, that doesn't mean bands are pointless. My favorite band exersise is standing tricep extensions or the "wood chopper".

[Dead Man]

Have you considered rings? Little more effort to set up, but a couple eye-bolts from the ceiling joists lets you drop rings down anywhere you want. Easier to patch and less noticeable than gouged door frames, and rings are "better" for pullups anyway.

[USMC_Anglico]

All I've ever done is gotten two bike hooks (lag screw type) along with a length of black pipe and end caps. Screw the bike hooks directly into a joist, wrap the black pipe and end caps in grip tape (hockey or lacrosse tape) and voila. Total cost, maybe $20 if that.

Worked back in the day when I first went in the Corps at 155lb soaking wet and works today at 185lb.

[Dead Man]

All I've ever done is gotten two bike hooks (lag screw type) along with a length of black pipe and end caps. Screw the bike hooks directly into a joist, wrap the black pipe and end caps in grip tape (hockey or lacrosse tape) and voila. Total cost, maybe $20 if that.

Worked back in the day when I first went in the Corps at 155lb soaking wet and works today at 185lb.

I hang a 1.25" dowel from two loops of cord (run off the same eye-bolts as the rings) so the dowel can spin freely. Can do opposing thumbs or hang from just fingers- really works the hands/wrists while doing pull-ups.

[Trailrunner]

Per corpsstrength...

http://www.corpsstrength.com/page5/page5.html


The Portable Pull Up Bar


In my book you’ll see lots of pictures of me doing pull-ups. Pull-ups are a primary exercise when developing, and maintaining “working fitness”. In my opinion to get in real condition you simply can’t do without pull-ups. The problem sometimes is that you don’t have a good place to do them. This is normally not a problem in a gym, military base or high school where they usually have a sturdy permanent pull-up bar. However a home gym setup is a different story. Now over the years I have tried almost every type of pull-up bar out there. The door jam type, the power towers, the kind that you bolt to a wall, etc. You name it.

Having said all that I can highly recommend the portable, and free standing pull-up bar made by Trapezerigging.com (link below) One look at the professional welding on the high grade aluminum tubing, and you know that it’s a high quality piece of gear. It can be set up in a few minutes, and it breaks down into a half dozen small pieces for storage or travel. In my opinion It’s about as stable as you can get for such a light weight and portable piece of equipment. The attached pictures are right out of my book. It can be set up and used in just about any home or apartment. I have the canvas bag that you can get with it. It breaks down without any tools and can be taken almost anywhere. It is pretty stable on its own but you can make it even more so with a few sand bags on its legs, not really needed but it does add some stability. As it also all aluminum it won’t rust, and even looks good. I highly recommend, and use it myself.

http://trapezerigging.com/FreeStandingPortablePullupBar/

[YutYut]

Corps Strength is a great book.

I built a pull up bar in my backyard with some concrete footings and a 4x4 and some pipe.

Then I moved sold my house and moved. I just ordered a Stud Bar for the garage. http://www.studbarpullup.com/ Somedays it was too hot or cold to do effective workouts on the bar.

Rogue Fitness makes similar ones.

I needed something sturdy to endure myself and some weight. I've used weighted backpacks and weightvests to increase reps on my pullups. At one point I was up to 25 pullups, no-kipping. I also use rings and TRX on the bar.

[Eurodriver]

I mounted a door-frame pullup bar and I've got the chipped paint and black scuff marks to prove it. I go to the gym now.

I'm not sure how people mount them without having any marring. I can literally see it "sagging" down the door frame as I first begin to hang from it.

[Greenhead308]

A door bar is a good option if you don't kind not being able to not put your arms out too wide.

[PJ2RESQU2]

I installed one of these in my man cave and it's the bomb-diggity:

http://www.studbarpullup.com/

It's not only used for pull-ups but makes a great overhead anchor for my TRX suspension trainer, drying dive gear, practicing technical rope rescue skills, etc.

I hope this helps!

[wild_wild_wes]

Would 2X4 joists (in the garage) be strong enough to mount a bar to, if it went across two of them? I weigh 220.

[Dead Man]

Would 2X4 joists (in the garage) be strong enough to mount a bar to, if it went across two of them? I weigh 220.

You mean the bottoms of your trusses?

Last year I did most of my ice climbing conditioning by "dry-tooling" and "heel-hooking" the open joists in my garage. Would do laps all the way around, joist to joist, hanging upside down above a 12' drop to concrete slab. All 2x4 truss. Had no problems, nor concerns about it. I'd say a pullup bar would be well within safe load.

[wild_wild_wes]

Thanks for the info, Dead Man! The "stud bar pull pull-up bar" Yut Yut linked to on page 1 is what I will prolly be using:

http://www.studbarpullup.com/

Until then I will be doing Australian pull-ups using my squat rack. I did five sets today, and it seemed worthwhile. My pull-ups suck, and this should let me build up to doing regular ones.

[duece71]

+1 for the door gym, from Golds gym.

http://img.iconcdn.com/GetGoldsGym/images/catalog/WGGHG09.jpg

[GunBugBit]

The Stud Bar Pullup looks really good, thanks for the link.

[YutYut]

I ordered the Stud Bar on Amazon and saved some money on shipping.

[tw4]

We have them at every station for crossfit/ military athlete/rescue strength work outs - galvanized / or black pipe with foot plates angled out from the wall. or 4x4 sections with inch holes and the pipe from one to the other. Door jams suck for kipping and dead hang and even jump ups when you hit a wall.