Doorway Pull-Up Bars

Thanks to the popularity of P90X, pull-ups are now in style, but trying to do pull-ups at home has always been tough unless you have basement or a garage you can set aside room to workout in. You’ve seen the doorway pull-up bars everywhere, they work if you have the right doorway. Most houses I’m sure have the standard sized doorway, but there is the possibility of the pull-up bar leaving marks or small indentations. Plus you can’t get too wild in your pull-up action because the bar may slip. The doorway pull-up bars work on leverage and if one side of the leverage is moved because you’re swinging too much, it may slip and lose it’s traction on the door frame. Most of the bars I’ve seen specify a weight limit of 250 lbs. If your above that, you could risk damaging your doorway.

Stand Alone Pull-Up Units

There are standalone units that can give you the stability and the extra height needed for doing pull-ups. Prices range from $99 to hundreds of dollars. Some only allow a limited number of exercises including pull-ups, dips and a special station for knee raises and maybe a push-up bar thrown in close to ground level. I almost bought the one pictured for $99 it’s the Stamina 1690 Power Tower. It’s cheap and it has several good reviews. I would have except my situation requires something smaller or at least something I can stash away. My exercise room is also my office and there can be a lot of things going on at the same time. My wife already vacuums around the dumbbells so another piece of equipment wouldn’t really be an issue, I wanted something I could take down and get out of the way. The size of this one is good, but it looks like once it’s up, it’s up to stay.

Best Pull-Up Bar

For my situation of course, but this thing is extremely sturdy, even on carpet. I can take it down and put it in its carry case and stash it in the corner in about a minute. It goes up just as quick. There are no bolts or screws, all the pieces fit together. The bar has three different height adjustments the tallest isn’t as tall as I would like, but I’m over six feet and would like to do pull-ups without having to bend my legs. But since I’m going to be using a chair for an assist at first anyway, it’s probably not a big deal. The bar is higher than a normal door frame, so it’s higher than the door frame pull-up bars and I don’t have to worry about how strong the door frame is or if it’s going to leave indentations, because I’m not a carpenter and a new door frame is the last thing I want to deal with. I wouldn’t care, but my wife would and she would make me aware that she cares, so this cuts out any of those possibilities. In the picture it doesn’t look very sturdy, it’s aluminum, but it’s solid aluminum, not like a Coke can aluminum, you’re not bending these bars, the weight limit is 350lbs and if you’re more than 350 and can do pull-ups, you’re probably playing pro ball and have a big enough house for your own gym so you’re not really looking at this anyway.

The bar is 7 feet high and the entire unit is 42 inches wide and weighs 22 lbs. Shipping is free in the US and at 22 lbs, get the extra carrying bag and it’s very portable. This is a great product made in the USA if you need a stand alone unit because of doorway or weight issues and need something that is easy to take down and put back up, this unit is the answer. Get it through Amazon Market or go straight to the manufacturer’s website trapezerigging.com. The only thing it’s missing is some comfy, foamy grips that are on the doorway pull-up bars, which I’m sure is easily fixable with some foam and black tape.

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