Pull-up Bar

[Rastaban]

Hi all!

 

One of my goals for the upcoming challenge is to Do More Than One Stinking Pull-Up. I want to save myself the embarrassment of my neighbors or the general public seeing me struggle (or hang listlessly) from a pull-up bar (or tree branch) so I wanted to get an indoor one for my door frame. The Art of Manliness recommends this pull-up bar (and there's also this one by the same company). Does anyone have any experience in using these? Are they fairly easy to set-up and take down? What the heck are they talking about when they give a max size for the door frame (moulding?)? I could also go with one of these, but I don't have entirely enough faith in it staying put.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

- Daniel

[Pyth]

I use one and it's great, I have no complaints at all. If you have a regular sized door, it will work fine.  It would only be like, a double french door it wouldn't work in. Any standard interior door fits it fine. You can put it up and take it down in roughly 1.5 seconds. Great for doing push up negatives as well.

 

In short, I have nothing bad to say about it. It works great.

[Rastaban]

I use one and it's great, I have no complaints at all. If you have a regular sized door, it will work fine.  It would only be like, a double french door it wouldn't work in. Any standard interior door fits it fine. You can put it up and take it down in roughly 1.5 seconds. Great for doing push up negatives as well.

 

In short, I have nothing bad to say about it. It works great.

Pyth, do you have the hanging style or the one that spans the interior of the frame? Despite my hesitation to use that style, it would work better for me since I can leave it in place and close the door when needed.

 

Thanks!

[Pyth]

Oh, I have the hanging style. The first one you linked. Iron Gym upper body workout bar. Though, to be blunt, half the things they say you can do with it don't work very well. It just does pull up, chin ups and variations of those well. Oh, and the negative push ups. I only bought it to do those things, so very pleased with it.

[Avalonna]

I also have an Iron Gym pull-up bar, and it works great. No complaints at all.

[Katariana]

Ive got the first one too (at least Im 98% sure, looks exactly the same, same company, got it from wal-mart for like 15-20 bucks)

 

Works great for me. Im about 125-130 and short, but my husband who is more like 180 and 6'1 can also use it without any issues

[Affekonig]

What the heck are they talking about when they give a max size for the door frame (moulding?)?

If the moulding is super-wide then the part that reaches through the door and hooks above won't be able to reach past it and make contact with the actual wall, that's all.

[Katariana]

Yes,  I had a small issue with this. My house is slightly older and have wider frames/moulding. I really had to shove mine up there to get it to stay and it almost didnt fit. However, I managed (with help) and now it wont come down. But, that makes it super sturdy  

[Rastaban]

Thanks guys! I'm going to go with the first one. After watching the video on the Amazon page it looks more versatile than the straight across the opening style.

[Waldo]

You can get better ones on amazon than the Iron Gym for around the same price.  Same style though, hang on the door.

 

Two issues with the Iron Gym that some others don't have:

 

- The Iron Gym and most others like it are rated to 250 lb.  For most people that can actually do one pullup this isn't a big deal (few people >250 lbs can do one), but once you start getting into weighted chins/pulls, that is a different story, especially if you want to go 1RM hunting.  You can find them made from heavier gauge metal that are rated to 300 lbs.

 

- The basic Iron Gym cannot do wide grip pulls.  There is another similar design that is also quite popular that adds wide grip handles and a second (wider) set of neutral grip handles.  Being able to do wide grip pulls is a big step up IMHO.

 

I had an Iron Gym like bar, and really got my mileage out of it, but had to retire it a bit ago as all the grip foam was shredded, held together with duct tape, the door contact points were just as shredded, and the bar was bent from too much heavy chinning over the rated limit.  Picked up this one, and I really like it: http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Door-Friendly-CXP-Chin/dp/B005FOPOLG/

 

Edit - just reading, it appears the actual iron gym brand bars are rated to 300 lbs.

[Starstuff]

If the moulding is super-wide then the part that reaches through the door and hooks above won't be able to reach past it and make contact with the actual wall, that's all.

 

Also, be sure your moulding is flat on top, not curved. It'll slide right off curved moulding.

[Avalonna]

My Iron Gym, which I'm pretty sure is the one in the picture, allows for narrow-grip, wide-grip, and palms-facing-each-other pull-ups.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

You can get better ones on amazon than the Iron Gym for around the same price.  Same style though, hang on the door.

 

Two issues with the Iron Gym that some others don't have:

 

- The Iron Gym and most others like it are rated to 250 lb.  For most people that can actually do one pullup this isn't a big deal (few people >250 lbs can do one), but once you start getting into weighted chins/pulls, that is a different story, especially if you want to go 1RM hunting.  You can find them made from heavier gauge metal that are rated to 300 lbs.

 

- The basic Iron Gym cannot do wide grip pulls.  There is another similar design that is also quite popular that adds wide grip handles and a second (wider) set of neutral grip handles.  Being able to do wide grip pulls is a big step up IMHO.

 

I had an Iron Gym like bar, and really got my mileage out of it, but had to retire it a bit ago as all the grip foam was shredded, held together with duct tape, the door contact points were just as shredded, and the bar was bent from too much heavy chinning over the rated limit.  Picked up this one, and I really like it: http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Door-Friendly-CXP-Chin/dp/B005FOPOLG/

 

Edit - just reading, it appears the actual iron gym brand bars are rated to 300 lbs.

For the first pont, I'm 255-265 and I can feel the bars flex a bit when I pull up with the neutral grips (the ones that stick out). So I'm probably approaching the safety margin.  I also have issues with the foam grip getting shredded and having to hold it together with tape (electrical in my case). I have one built into my power cage now and haven't touched the old one since.

[Rastaban]

Also, be sure your moulding is flat on top, not curved. It'll slide right off curved moulding.

Good to know. Mine is flat.

 

I'll follow-up on this thread once I get it set up and get to work on it.

[Synyster]

I use the first one you listed and it works just fine, other than the soft grips have fallen off on one end. BUT, really all you need is a bar. For instance, you could go to a hardware store and buy a pipe for maybe a couple dollar, screw it into a doorway somewhere and BAM, pullup bar. Though if you go that route I would recommend doing your research on properly installing one so as not to make it unstable and fall on your face. I've just recently gotten myself back into the doing pullups mode, so I know how you're feeling. Check out the Bar Brothers. Inspirational stuff there! 

http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/24761-the-bar-brothers/ (:

[Rastaban]

I use the first one you listed and it works just fine, other than the soft grips have fallen off on one end. BUT, really all you need is a bar. For instance, you could go to a hardware store and buy a pipe for maybe a couple dollar, screw it into a doorway somewhere and BAM, pullup bar. Though if you go that route I would recommend doing your research on properly installing one so as not to make it unstable and fall on your face. I've just recently gotten myself back into the doing pullups mode, so I know how you're feeling. Check out the Bar Brothers. Inspirational stuff there! 

http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/24761-the-bar-brothers/ (:

OMG that video.

[Synyster]

Intense isn't it? Haha. An old friend of mine was always big on pullups, and he got me AWESOME at them. But this...this takes it to new heights!

[BarefootViking]

LOL  I am in a newer house and I wouldn't trust any of my doorways to try and hold my butt up on one of those.  Finally broke down and installed workout rings in the garage...

[Thrillho]

Looking at how that works, I REALLY can't imagine that thing not ripping the mouldings out of my doorframe.

[Pyth]

It doesn't support itself on top of the moulding really. It levers against the drywall just on top of the door, which is generally backed by a header of some sort creating a solid surface if it's an exterior wall, or what we call 'cripples' in an interior wall. Shorted lengths of 2x4 to provide backing above a door frame to nail drywall to.

 

In other words, the area above a door frame tends to be really solid and suitable for leveraging against with that style of pull up bar. Mine tends to leave black marks on the wall though.

[Rastaban]

Quick update: The 'Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout' arrived today. It isn't made out of iron.

 

I quickly yet expertly assembled it, hung it up, and, to confirm my suspicions, proceeded to fail to do one stinking pull-up. I gotta work on that.

 

A few observations: My long monkey arms could use a wider bar for wide-grip pull-ups, but this is mostly a limitation of the doorway width. I was pleased with the installation and the support, for me it's easy to take on and off. Also, I'm not going to worry about my door frame. My place was built when they used real wood in the mouldings.

 

I think for now I'm just going to hang from it for a while and just hope sheer force of will is enough to propel me up and over the bar. Failing that, I'll start working on making my body stronger to accomplish my goal.

[Thrillho]

I know that part (I design buildings).  That said, though, there will be a tremendous downwards force acting (especially with my body weight), no matter what you do, and I can damage mouldings pretty easy.  Ours are crappy MDF. 

 

Still! Everyone else seems to say they are awesome, so I will give them a try.  If I end up moving up north for work (now a near certainty) I am going to have a lo-o-o-o-ot of free time on my hands.

[Waldo]

I know that part (I design buildings).  That said, though, there will be a tremendous downwards force acting (especially with my body weight), no matter what you do, and I can damage mouldings pretty easy.  Ours are crappy MDF. 

 

Still! Everyone else seems to say they are awesome, so I will give them a try.  If I end up moving up north for work (now a near certainty) I am going to have a lo-o-o-o-ot of free time on my hands.

 

It only takes about 2-3 small trim nails to have the shear resistance to hold up the pullup bar fully under load with an adequate factor of safety.  And that assumes that there is no shear resistance provided by the horizontal tension (there definitely is some).  The design of the pullup bar applies load in a manner than doors have a high ability to resist.

 

Remember, the pullup bar isn't prying or pulling the molding away from the door, applying tension or bending, which the frame isn't very strong at resisiting, it is applying compression and shear, which the frame is very strong at resisting.

 

Sure a trim nail isn't that hard to bend in half, ripping it in half via shear is almost impossible to do without mechanical assistance (with a bolt cutters it is easy, lots of mechancial assistance).  Imagine if you had 2 handles that allowed you to easily grip either end, just how difficult if would be to shear the nail in half; it would be virtually impossible to do to even a small nail without the force multiplication properties of levers.

 

If you are that concerned, pop a few more trim nails into the molding above the door.

 

[poppy]

I have the perfect gym multi, which is apparently nearly identical to the first iron gym you linked.  I love it.  It goes up and down in 15 seconds or less if you have it adjusted correctly from the initial assembly. 

[Synyster]

Quick update: The 'Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout' arrived today. It isn't made out of iron.

 

I quickly yet expertly assembled it, hung it up, and, to confirm my suspicions, proceeded to fail to do one stinking pull-up. I gotta work on that.

 

A few observations: My long monkey arms could use a wider bar for wide-grip pull-ups, but this is mostly a limitation of the doorway width. I was pleased with the installation and the support, for me it's easy to take on and off. Also, I'm not going to worry about my door frame. My place was built when they used real wood in the mouldings.

 

I think for now I'm just going to hang from it for a while and just hope sheer force of will is enough to propel me up and over the bar. Failing that, I'll start working on making my body stronger to accomplish my goal.

I have to agree with the width part. I'm a little guy and it's not the width I want, but it gets the job done! The important part is being able to successfully do pullups! Do close grip and standard grip first, and when you find the place for wide grip, give it a go! There is a good one for me at the gym on base, but I have yet to give it a try myself.