Not everyone who wants to exercise has the opportunity to go to the gym or sports grounds. This is where home fitness equipment such as pull up bars comes into play, the most popular of which is the pull-up bar. There are currently quite a few home pull up bar models on the market.

What you need for home training

Experts say that to achieve a beautifully sculpted body, you don’t have to go to a sports club with modern equipment. There is plenty of information and training programmes available online to suit your gender, age, weight and fitness level.

For training at home, you need simple equipment that won’t take up much space such as a pull up bar, a pair of dumbbells and maybe a barbell or an Olympic bar. Also, its price should be affordable. You can easily do exercises with barbells at home, with dumbbells, with weights or simply with a home pull up bar.

The number of training sessions depends on how quickly you want to get results. However, experts point out that heavy physical activity daily will not have the desired effect, as muscles need around 24-36 hours to recover.

Note

It is believed that if you take a break after a vigorous workout the next day, your body is still in a state of training, but at the same time, recovery of all muscle fibres takes place.

You may also have a desire and increased activity for daily exercise in the first week, but you will feel tired, weak, exhausted, and lacking in passion and energy after.

How do I choose the best pull-up bar?

There are several important things to consider when choosing the best pull-up bar:

  • Type of the pull-up bar;
  • The way the pull-up bar is attached;
  • Pull up bars dimensions;
  • Ergonomics;
  • Price.

Let’s look at each of the pull-up bars in more detail.

Home fitness equipment comes in several varieties depending on its functionality.

  • Versatile 3-in-1 trainers  (press – pull up bar). You can use it to do pull-ups in different ways and train other muscle groups.
  • Power tower. With this gym equipment, you can do pull-ups and other bar exercises. You can’t turn it into a barbell bench.

The trainers also differ in the way they are attached. They can be secured:

  • On the wall;
  • On the ceiling;
  • In the doorway.

If there is enough space in your flat, you can buy a floor piece such as the perfect fitness multi-gym bar placed directly on the floor instead of hanging from the wall or ceiling (the traditional doorway pull-up bar). You should also consider whether the trainer is collapsible or non-collapsible. In the latter case, it will be challenging to bring the construction into the flat, so it is best to rule out unsophisticated models from the outset.

You should also pay attention to the dimensions of the simulator when choosing one. Firstly, it must fit seamlessly into the location where you decide to install it. Secondly, you should be comfortable exercising on it.

When it comes to ergonomics, there is equipment that offers maximum workout comfort. This is achieved thanks to soft plastic pads, curves that make it easier to grip. There is another category of simulators. They don’t have everything described. As a rule, they are in the budget class.

Another critical parameter to consider before buying is how much the design costs. There is no need to chase too expensive a device. In most cases, a significant proportion of the cost will be a brand fee. But you don’t need to buy the cheapest ones either. They may be of low quality, unreliable and uncomfortable. The best choice is a mid-priced unit (from 2,500 to 6,000 roubles). It will be made to a decent standard and ensure proper comfort during exercise.

It is also worth deciding where to buy the device. It will cost more in retail sports shops than if you order it from the manufacturer’s website with home delivery. Therefore, ordering is preferable.

The best 3-in-1 pull up bars

BARFITS Modern

The BARFITS Modern is an inexpensive, versatile 3-in-1 wall-mounted gym apparatus used for pull-ups, abdominal exercises, and converted into a parallel bar.

It has quite comfortable ergonomics. Besides, all grip points on the structure are finished with soft plastic material, making it more comfortable to use and avoiding blistering after the workout.

To turn the bar into bars or start training your abs, you need to remove it from its mountings and turn it upside down. This is the weakness of all similar multi-functional designs. The fact is that they are usually attached closer to the ceiling for easy pull-ups, and it’s not very convenient to exercise on the bars there. It will therefore be necessary to make another group of bindings just above the level of your belt. The BARFITS Modern is non-detachable (only some parts can be detached).

Borabo reinforced (3 in 1 home trainer)

The Borabo is a reinforced multi-functional piece of fitness equipment that acts like a pull-up bar and allows you to do pull-ups, abs and uneven bars and allows you to do free weights. It has a unique block system for this purpose. It consists of two rings on the structure itself, a rope, blocks and a crossbar. When the system is installed, a crossbar is attached to one end of the rope and weights (e.g. barbell weights) are connected to the other end.

Like the previous entrant, the Borabo is not disassembled, making it somewhat difficult to transport – the unit is quite bulky and may not fit in a car.

Absolute Champion Pro

Absolute Champion Pro is a professional three-in-one flip-up gym equipment designed for wall mounting. It’s a pull-up bar on steroids. In general, the Absolute Champion Pro specifications are the same as those of our other top competitor, the BARFITS Modern. The models’ price is also the same – Absolute Champion Pro is priced at an average of 2,500 roubles.

The best doorway pull up bar

Doorway pull-up bars have simple mechanics, they are fitted in your doorframe. The frame is strong enough to withhold your weight so you can easily do many exercises on it, including pull-ups. The pull-up bar you’re looking for should be the same width as the pull-up bar. You can find this information on the manufacturer’s website in centimetres or inches. Pull up bars for the door frame is popular mostly because they are cheap, but also because newer models can also be used for pushups and situps.

Perfect Fitness Multi-Gym

Perfect fitness multi-gym is a great doorway pull up bar for a serious workout. It is easy to install in your doorframe, and alternatively, you can flip it on the ground and use for pushups/situps. It has various padding all over for various grips (close grip, hammer grip and wide grip for better pull-ups).

Perfect fitness multi-gym can withhold up to 136kg (300 pounds). It is slightly more expensive but is definitely one of the best pull-up bars out there for the buck.

BRADEX Workout SF 0074

The BRADEX Workout SF 0074 is a spacer, removable mini pull-up bar designed to be placed in a doorway or corridor, a gap between walls. Installation can be carried out without drilling. The pull-up bar can also be removed relatively quickly.

The construction of the BRADEX Walkout SF 0074 is quite simple: it consists of a large tube with plastic hand pads, into which two other tubes with stops are inserted. The overall length of this pull-up bar is adjustable, allowing the projectile to be fitted in any doorway.

The BRADEX Workout SF 0074 pull-up bar, like all door trainers, has several disadvantages:

  • Unable to fasten at great heights – the mounting size will be limited by the size of the doorway (so it is more suitable for a child);
  • Inability to perform bar exercises and abdominal training;
  • The BRADEX Workout SF 0074 pull-up bar is relatively narrow (which also makes it more suitable for a child than an adult).

BRADEX SF 0006

The BRADEX SF 0006 is one of the best pull-up bars on the market, its a more versatile pull-up bar. It not only allows you to perform classic bar exercises (such as pull-ups), but it also converts into the wider grip bar and allows you to use a different grip. This pull-up bar is also mounted in the doorway (or above the door).

However, the main disadvantage of this pull-up bar is the low attachment height. However, the attachment has become more convenient – it’s not the traditional spacer for such gear, but a more elaborate design.

The best power towers with pull-up bars

The power tower is a piece of equipment that looks like a tower with a horizontal bar. You can use it to do a number of exercises including pull-ups.

WEIDER WEBE99712

WEIDER WEBE99712 is an adjustable trainer with which you can:

  • Perform classical exercises on the crossbar;
  • Perform activities designed for the pull-up bars.

The WEIDER WEBE99712 is entirely collapsible, so despite its size of 2 metres 13 centimetres, it can be carried into any room. The construction is quite robust. This is achieved by using tubes at the joints of its component parts – shrouds that increase their resistance to stress.

The WEIDER WEBE99712 power tower with the pull-up bar is also very stable (it has one of the best pull-up bar attachments), thanks to the vast, extra-fastened upright bar, which prevents the equipment from toppling over during training.

Sport Elite GY2121-01

The Sport Elite GY2121-01 is another portable exercise equipment. In general, the main technical specifications are identical to WEIDER WEBE99712, but there are two significant differences: Sport Elite GY2121-01 is narrower and has a lower height. For many people, this will cause discomfort during exercise, especially when using the pull-up bar.

DFC G008

The DFC G008 is a 3in1 folding power tower. Arguably the best outdoor/indoor sports equipment in our ranking. This is due to two factors:

  • Price, which is lower than the average.
  • The possibility of attaching a block system and exercising with free weights.

The best ceiling pull-up bars

WORKOUT H1 PRO

The WORKOUT H1 PRO is a small, straight, hanging wall extension designed to be placed on the ceiling. Fasten to it with dowels. It is one of the best pull-up bars in its category. Like all similar exercise machines, it has both advantages and disadvantages.

The main advantage is the greater mounting height, which makes for a more comfortable workout with the pull-ups. The burden is the method of attachment. Even if the installation is carried out competently and proves to be sufficiently strong, the dowels may still slip out of the mounting holes under the weight of your body.

The WORKOUT H1 PRO allows you to work out with a variety of grip types: straight and reverse wide as well as parallel.

This pull-up bar has a weakness, it is the inability to use a narrow grip: there are no polymer pads in the area where the hands are positioned when using this pull-up technique, which leads to sliding palms and a low grip on the bar. However, as mentioned, it is one of the best pull-up bars out there on the market.

DFC Homegym G486

The DFC Homegym G486 is a compact trainer with the pull-up bar, entirely identical to the WORKOUT H1 PRO. It even has exactly the same disadvantages, such as the lack of plastic pads for tight-grip pull-ups.

However, compared to the previous entrant in our ranking, it benefits from a more secure attachment system. The WORKOUT H1 PRO has held on just four dowels, while the DFC Homegym G486 is held on eight.

This is important for a pull-up bar attached to the ceiling because the exercise’s weight acts differently on a vertical attachment than on a horizontal one, which puts a lot more strain on it.

The conclusion to our pull-up bar selection

If you can’t go to the gym and there is no sports ground in your yard, don’t despair. There is a way out of this situation – this is a good old pull-up bar. Finding the best pull-up bars is easy, just figure out what you want it for; simple pull-ups, compound full-body exercises or upper body workout.

Generic pull-up bars can be fixed to the wall, ceiling or doorway directly in the flat; some pull-up bars are simply placed on the floor. 

The pullup bars’ price varies – there are the expensive models, professional-level ones costing more than $100, whereas the amateurpull-up bars range between $20-$30 and are available to absolutely everyone.