The Pull Up Bar

Every home should have a pull up bar. I knew a guy that had three in his house—yes, three. The cost is cheap and the benefits are numerous.

Pull ups are one of the best ways to test your upper body strength. They act as a great bodyweight exercise. After all, you are lifting your whole body.

Pull ups also force you to work your chest as well as your back. Keeping the strength ratio balanced between the two muscle groups will help you break strength barriers and prevent sport injuries in the future.

Everything above the waist (and below the neck) can benefit greatly from the chin up bar. Pull ups and chin ups develop great strength in the chest, back, and biceps. Also, the forearms will benefit greatly as well since they have to hold the weight of your body as you do the exercises; you'll get a strong grip in no time.

Usually hanging from a door frame, this quintessential piece of home fitness equipment is as easy to use as hanging from a tree, er, bar. You can improve the strength in your forearms, shoulders, hands, abs, chest, and back, just by hanging from the bar! Oh, and it also decompresses and stretches your spine to boot.

Even if you can't do one pull up, you can still hang from a bar. Your goal will be the time you can hang for (shoot for a minute for starters).

And if you want to work your abs more, you can do exercises like hanging leg raises or twisting your body left and right.

The Different Bar Types

Not all pull up bars are the same. For home use, I recommend getting the type that can be fixed on the door frame without any screws or bolts. You can put it on and take it off in a few seconds.

Then there are the ones that have to be mounted; these are the more traditional ones for home use. The advantage of doing a wall or ceiling mount is that you have more freedom on where you put the bar, instead of having to use a door frame.

Some nicer bars have an optional wide grip bar for wide grip pull ups.