My "review" of a Chin up & Pull up bar

[revvo]

It's been a while since I wanted to buy an exercise bar to do chin ups and pull ups at home. It's the "Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar" from the company "As Seen on TV". I was wary to buy a product made by a company with that kind of name, but amazon has loads of positive reviews as well as other sites like bodybuilding.com's forums. I went on ebay and I found a seller who had reviews on this very same product just to be sure that he wasn't selling knock-offs made out of bamboo. It was $30 with shipping, so I ordered it.

This is it, assembled:

You have the 3 grips: pull ups with palms facing away, close chin ups with palms towards you, and the neutral grip chin ups. So you place the bar in your door frame, and that's what it looks like on the other side:

When you use it, your body weight is used to keep it tight and secure. You gotta love science! Now, they say the bar is fine for people up to 300lbs, but I don't know if the frame would withstand that much stress.

Trying it out

I weigh 168 and I'll start off by saying it feels very safe although in the beginning I was like "wtf...this won't hold" but it did. I tried all 3 grips, and I can keep doing them over and over and over (I just did 3 sets of 15 pull ups), it's secure.

** What I forgot to add, is that you should NOT use momentum on this bar, you could very well fall if you swing your body. The bar is made to be held in tight when the weight is vertically transferred. Your repetitions should be controlled and steady with minimal momentum. Regardless, you should never use momentum when doing 99% of exercises, that's cheating.

They also advertise other things to do with this bar, like push ups and dips, but I didn't even bother because it looks terrible and stupid for anything other than a chin up bar. If I want to do dips, I use 2 wooden chairs on a carpeted surface.

If you're looking into getting a chin up bar, you should definitely check this Iron Gym bar. It's obviously not as good or a replacement to a power rack or a dip station, but for the price it does a great job. :happy:

[Nikv]

Been thinking about getting one of these to go with my home gym, just trying to figure out how to fit it in with my usual workout routine.

But yeah, ive heard nothing but good things about these

[SaltLife]

Whats the max weight?

[revvo]

Whats the max weight?

This one's rated up to 300lbs, others I've seen up to 200lbs. My brother tried it out, he's in the 220s and the bar held fine. The steel pipes are hollow, but still sturdy.

[SaltLife]

This one's rated up to 300lbs, others I've seen up to 200lbs. My brother tried it out, he's in the 220s and the bar held fine. The steel pipes are hollow, but still sturdy.

Yea im 200 solid, so ive been iffy on purchasing this, but I think I just may. Great way to build the lats

Thanks, ill rep once im home.

[sw1tch..]

Thanks for the review. I have been thinking about something like this to use for my 'off gym' days.

[MR_Candyman]

My friend loves his, but I'm too tall for any of these to work. I'm 6'4" and door frames are usually 6'6".

One thing I feel I should warn people about these is that it will damage the wood trim pieces around your door over time. If you do not have trim pieces and only have drywall, do NOT use these, because it will soften the drywall at the contact points, ruin the paint and you'll get the drywall compress.

[d4diesel]

i love the iron gym pull up as well. i have the extreme version. here is a picture:

if anyone in Canada is looking for something like this, try winners/home sense. they sell these for 50% off there. I got mine for $25 (or was it $30??) there.

[revvo]

^ I saw that one, but I wasn't sure how the normal one would hold up. If an extension/upgrade is possible I might get it. Wide grip pull ups are great. When doing chin and pull ups, changing your grip is very beneficial, don't always use the same stance and technique.

One thing I feel I should warn people about these is that it will damage the wood trim pieces around your door over time. If you do not have trim pieces and only have drywall, do NOT use these, because it will soften the drywall at the contact points, ruin the paint and you'll get the drywall compress.

Definitely. If you don't have a solid wooden trim, don't use it there.

At least if you don't want the bar leaving marks on the trim, put a sock on each end of the bar. My bar already left a mark from the foam, so I'll try the socks next time.

[fuel925]

I have something very similar, called the PowerBar. Very secure, and is rubber coated where it meets the door frame, so no damage caused :) great bit of kit, and very quick to put up and take down.

[Solid Knight]

How easy is it to take it in and out the doorway? I don't have any doorways where I could just leave it up.

[revvo]

How easy is it to take it in and out the doorway? I don't have any doorways where I could just leave it up.

It takes literally a second to place it, just resting the top part as you see in the 2nd pic on the top door frame piece. I never leave mine in the doorway and I didn't want those chin up bars that you have to screw in the frame.

[evo0o]

always wanted to get one of these...

[name in use]

Good review Revvo. Always wondered if anyone bought one of those. :lol: