Pull-Up Bar Reviews

If you want to build up your lats, pull-ups are the way to go. Here are some of my pull-up bar reviews.

Upper body strength is an essential part of overall fitness and a healthy lifestyle. A strong upper body can improve your posture, reduce risk of injury, protect your bones, and even promote superior heart health. Once you've determined that it's time to improve, or simply maintain, your upper body strength, you need the equipment to help you do it.

A pull-up bar is one of the most effective pieces of equipment for building upper body strength, and one can easily be installed in your home. Here, we'll cover several types of pull-up bars available on Amazon.com, and how each of them can benefit you and your home workouts.

Why Pullups?

Pullups strengthen your arms, but that's not all they do. Pullups are some of the best calisthenics exercises for strengthening your back and shoulder muscles too. They work the Latissimus dorsi, Trapezius, Thoracic erector spinae, and Infraspinatus muscles in the back alone. Even more, pullups will help increase your grip strength for sports like tennis, golf, bowling, rock climbing, and more. And if you're just trying to gain strength for everyday life activities, you'll realize superior grip strength can be helpful when performing even the simplest tasks, like shoveling snow or carrying groceries.

A pullup is a bodyweight exercise that can improve your overall fitness level and overall health. Regular strength training movements, like pullups, can reduce your resting blood pressure, relieve back pain, and even help manage type 2 diabetes.

Types of Pullups

Several types of pullups can be performed to work different muscles and vary the difficulty of your bodyweight workout. The following are four types of pullups you can try at home with your new pullup bar.

• Overhand: Grip the pullup bar with arms slightly wider than your shoulders, and your palms facing forward. An overhand grip pullup puts more focus on the lats than the biceps.
• Underhand: An underhand, or supinated, grip pullup is when you grip the bar with your palms facing you. This grip involves more bicep strength, rather than mostly back muscles like the overhand grip. It tends to be slightly easier than overhand pullups.
• Close grip: Performing a close-grip pullup means grasping the bar with your hands just shoulder-width apart. Face your palms forward when performing this pullup.
• Wide grip: A wide-grip pullup involves gripping the bar with your hands a few inches wider than your shoulders. Palms should be facing forward. The difference between close-grip and wide-grip pullups is how the motion influences your shoulder joints as you perform the exercise.

The Best Pullup Bars on Amazon

Now that you're ready to start adding pullups to your at-home strength training routine, it's important to know which bar will be best for you. The following are several options of pullup bars that can be purchased on Amazon as well as the pros and cons of each.

Wall-Mounted Pullup Bars

Wall-mounted pullup bars are heavy-duty bars that are easily installed, but will likely become a permanent fixture in your home gym. They can be installed in concrete, brick, or cinder blocks, but are too heavy-duty to be installed on drywall. Most wall-mounted pullup bars have a 300-pound weight limit.

• ONETWOFIT Wall-Mounted Pullup Bar: This pullup bar is built to last with a heavy-duty steal construction. It offers multiple grip positions and angles for varying workouts. It can also be used as a dip station and for leg raises. However, because this is a heavy-duty piece of equipment that is not easily removed, you'll need plenty of space for it.
• Yes4All Wall-Mount Chin Up Bar: This pullup bar is less heavy-duty than the ONETWOFIT, and also much more affordable. It requires less space in your home, but doesn't offer as many workout options and is not quite as durable.

Self-standing Pullup Towers

A self-standing pullup tower is a full piece of gym equipment that can often be used for performing more than pullups. They're durable, stable, and often features additions for performing leg raises, dips and more. They typically have a weight limit of 330 pounds.

• Stamina Power Tower: The Stamina Power Tower is a top-quality pull-up station with multiple grip options and padded loops for leg raises and more. It's durable and stable, but it is quite large and will require a permanent place in your home.
• RELIFE REBUILD YOUR LIFE Power Tower: This heavy-duty Power Tower is features nine levels of height adjustment, four levels of backrest adjustment, and serves multiple uses in your home gym. While this pull-up station is a great addition to any gym, it's not easily stored or moved, so you'll need plenty of space.

Doorway Pullup Bars

Doorway pullup bars are some of the most convenient pullup bars available, as they can be placed in any doorway and are easily removed between workouts. Doorway pullup bars typically have a weight limit of 300 pounds. The pullup bars featured below are specifically designed not to damage doorways with foam padding to protect your door frame. They use leverage, instead of screws, to stay in place.

• Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar: This pullup bar fits in any doorway up to 35.4-inches wide and can be used for narrow, wide, or neutral grip pullups. It can also be placed on the floor and used for dip exercises. While it is conveniently sized, it is not ideal for performing a full-body workout.
• Prosource Fit Multi-Grip Pullup Bar: This Prosource pullup bar offers up to 12 grips, so it's a bit more versatile than the Iron Gym version. However, it is only designed to fit standard doorways, so be sure your doorway is between 24- and 36-inches before ordering.

Amazon offers a wide variety of pullup bar options; however, those featured above are our favorites for their quality construction, versatility, and value for your dollar. What are you waiting for? It's time to order your new piece of home gym equipment and start enjoying the benefits of bodyweight strength training with pullups.