We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
The humble pull-up bar is one of the most underrated parts of any home gym. Resistance training is one of the most potent ways of exercising your lower and upper body.
While gym machines are great for resistance, sometimes there is no substitute for bodyweight exercises. When it comes to bodyweight exercises, the pull-up bar is king.
With the pullup bar, you can also tackle calisthenics, which is a hyper-effective way to train the entire body.
In this article, we’ll look at the best pull up bars for a home gym.
Easy Navigation
Best Pull-Up Bar Reviews & Consumer Guide
Here’s a list of our favorite pull up bars.
| Best For… | Image | Title | Learn More on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| TopBest For Doorway |   |
IRON AGE Pull Up Bar for Doorway | Click Here |
| Best Ceiling Mounted Pullup Bar |   |
Gronk Fitness Ceiling Mounted Multi-Grip Chin Up Bar | Click Here |
| Best Wall-Mounted Pullup Bar |   |
ONETWOFIT Multifunctional Wall Mounted Pull Up Bar | Click Here |
| Best Cost-Effective Choice |   |
Peosource Pull-Up Bar | Click Here |
Best For Doorway: Iron Age Pull Up Bar
What I love about home pullup bars is how well they fit into any home. You don’t need a full home gym. Hell, you don’t even need a room.
Doorway pull up bars are the ideal way to modify a smaller space into a workout zone. This is ideal for anyone living in an apartment or smaller house.
For those small spaces, the Iron Age pullup bar is a market leader.
One of the reasons that Iron Age hit the top of the list was the insane weight capacity for a door frame pull up bar.
Another plus for the Iron Age is the way it distributes weight evenly throughout the door frame, this means it can hold up to 440 pounds, which is crazy-good.
This set also comes with suspension straps, so you can do rows, flyes, incline pushups, and other exercises too.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Material: Steel
- Door Width: 27.5” up to 36.2”
- Weight Capacity: 440 lbs
Best Ceiling Mount Pull-up Bar: Gronk Fitness Ceiling Mounted Multi-Grip Chin Up Bar
And, to be fair, they’re pretty awesome too.
This pullup bar is a little different from others in this list because it is one you actually mount to the ceiling.
So, you obviously need a strong ceiling to do this. However, your home gym is suitable, you’re in for a treat.
There’s also a bunch of cool bars that give you options for a range of exercises. Once you’ve set it up once, you’re good to go long-term.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Material: Powder-coated metal
- Door Width: 48” ceiling width
- Weight Capacity: 800 lbs
Best Wall-Mounted Pullup Bar: ONETWOFIT Multifunctional Wall Mounted Pull Up Bar
These wall-mounted pull-up bars are usually incredibly pricey, but the price of this one was super tempting.
Yes, you heard… this pull-up bar is multi-position.
As you can see, when you take it off the wall, you can do a bunch of other exercises too.
I’m not going to lie, some of these twelve exercises you can probably do without the equipment, but for the core features alone, this is a good option.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Material: Steel
- Width: 38” total width
- Weight Capacity: 440 lbs
Best Cost-Effective Choice: Peosource Pull-Up Bar
The doorway pull-up bar is extremely cost-effective but still has great functionality, with a 300 lb capacity and design that helps keep your doorway in one piece.
Similar to the Iron Age option, this one has multiple points of contact to spread your weight evenly on the door frame.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Material: Steel
- Door Width: 24” up to 32”
- Weight Capacity: 300 lbs
Pull Up Bar Consumer Guide And FAQ
What should I look for in a pull-up bar?
The best pull up bars have a few qualities that you need to know about before you purchase.
Here they are, so you can see what suits you.
1: The Materials
We’ve done a bit of the heavy lifting here (pardon the pun) and selected steel frames.
Likewise, in non-specific metal blends, they’re still using steel, it’s just usually a weaker standard (suggesting there are more distinguished consistencies of nickel and other trace elements).
Regardless, you need something substantial.
2. Weight Limit
This is all about pressure, and the total body weight. Combine them together, and that’s the weight power that your pull-up bar should have.
This is not an issue for wall-mounted units. They will typically go up to 400 to 500 pounds without any problems, while ceiling-mounted systems can go up even higher.
The limit would rely on the materials, but also on engineering and design.
3. Consider the Width of Your Door
When you hang in a door frame, pay closer attention to the allowable width of the door appropriate for the bar you are evaluating.
If it’s not meant to match a 28 “door, but you’re buying it in any way (if it’s oversized), you could damage the wall and risk hurting yourself.
Stick to the warning and package requirements to minimize potential accidents.
4. Take Not of Grip Placement
This is where grips really matter. If you don’t have sturdy handles, you can scrape raw palms against the steel pipe pretty fast.
Ideally, the handles should be made from rubber. Accessible to the fingertips, reliable to the hands and comfortable to hold.
This is one of those things that you want to be able to test when buying online first, but can’t. So, that’s where user reviews help a lot.
5. How does it mount to the wall? (Only for wall units)
Mounting can either be an easy five-minute job or the worst way of spending a Saturday afternoon.
Based on your wall-mounted unit’s scale and measurements, you might need to get advanced screws to dig into concrete, or you might have to pull some magic with dense plywood.
It all depends on the machine. Mounting a wall device needs leveling and accuracy, and when you do it, don’t mess around.
Are Home Pull Up Bars Safe?
Even the most excellent pull-up door bars are not totally flawless. Had they been, then no one would be using alternatives.
Pull up bars are secure once you’re within a good range of weights. For example, you don’t want to begin your weight-loss journey from a heavy weight by pulling yourself up on a pull-up bar in your doorway.
Wall-mounted pull-up bars or tower-style power bars are pretty safe too. If they are not affixed, for the stability, they need to be padded beneath them.
In general, pull up bars are safe to use irrespective of what form of implementation.
If they are built with concrete and a high weight cap, you can be sure your bodyweight won’t tear them down or cause injury to you.
Understand how the power works and how the body can affect the transfer of weight during use, and you’ll be fine.
Are Door Pull Up Bars Effective?
Yes, door pull up bars are precisely as effective as the pull-up bars you’d find at a gym. Most people would even call them “actual pull–up bars” even though they’re door mounted
What Muscles Do Pull Up Bars Work?
You get the best pull-up bar installed on the wall, and you start working some pull-ups, then you quit… because you don’t know what muscles you actually work out.
If you don’t know what to expect, how do you know what you’re achieving?
The lats are among the major muscle groups that usually pull-ups to help work out. Those essentially describe the back’s average width.
If you’re after a total body exercise that transforms your physique’s form, like making you get the V-shape that all men want to have, it’s an intense workout.
Your back is what determines your shoulder width. Although working the shoulders actually helps with a bit of the bulk, it won’t be carrying most of the weight.
It’s going to round your elbows out, so they look great along with the arms and back, but it’s not the work’s brunt.
First and foremost, you have to sort out those muscles in the back. The teres, pecs, and outer oblique (among others) are another such classes of muscles that pull-ups bring out.
Not all of the external obliques are noticeable, so refer to the overall size.
You’re going to get that bit of a raw look on your sides, but the main reason you want to work out these muscles is the extra weight in your back.
Not only does it make you look more attractive, but it actually makes potential pull-ups harder.
Pullup bars are designed to work with the style of your door frame. See the 45 ° angular cuts on the frame of the door
That wood rests on the vertical sections (the sides) of the door frame and pressures / pulls on those parts.
New door frames keep the pressure fine. Don’t think you’ll break your house by doing pull-ups.
When you see some with higher weight capacities, this not only reflects the steel grade used in construction but also how much your door frame may be able to handle.
They put additional support bars and contact strips in place to delineate the way pressure is displaced.
You pull straight down, so these different points help redistribute the way your weight and force is distributed throughout the doorframe. Also, the structural integrity of the handle will help your door.
Nonetheless, you have to measure your door to be safe. You are going to face issues with the use of a bar that is far too wide for the frame of your door.
How much weight can a home pull up bar hold?
As you can see from the list above, most home pull-up bars can hold a minimum of 300 pounds, although some hold up to 220 pounds. Also, there are some ceiling-mounted pull-up bars for the home that can hold up to 800 pounds.
