Are Door pull up bars effective?
1) Pull up bars are the staple of strong back
The pull up is arguably one of the most effective compound (recruits several muscles) back exercise you could do. The door pull up bar usually has different grips so that can hit the back in various angles to get a complete back workout.
One of the most used pieces of equipment at the gym, therefore having pretty much the same thing at home is a no brainer. The only downfall (for taller individuals), is that you may need to bend your knees slightly in order to remain off the ground to keep tension on the muscles at all times.
2) Can combine with gymnastic rings to target chest (and other muscle groups)
For about £35, you could easily twin a set of gymnastic fitness rings off of the pull up bar to target other muscles. This would mainly be for completing ring dips to target your chest muscles. However you could also use this to practice inverted face pulls and the Iron Cross (or easier variations) to target your front and rear shoulder muscles.
3) Can combine with resistance bands to target legs
The door frame pull up bar is so versatile, as you can also use this as a leverage to open up lower body exercises. Just by itself, you can already use this to target your lower ab muscles via leg and knee raises. But if you buy a resistance band set, you can hang them off the bar, and use it to grab onto to support your pistol squats (single legged squats).
Summary
So there you go, with a bit of imagination you can fully target your full body with a repertoire of high quality compound exercises. This type of training is also know as calisthenics, and there are a whole community of people training in this style and built incredible strength and physiques – including gymnasts.
The door pull up bar nowadays have an ergonomic design to allow for up to 100kg without damaging your door frame – and they cost only around £30 too.
As always, you get them at very decent prices at FitnessHaus!
