For those who don’t want to join a gym, a doorway pull-up bar can be a useful exercise equipment at home. And if you don’t have room for an elliptical machine or a treadmill, a pull-up bar, which you can mount above your doorframe, is a great space saver.
Exercises that you can do on a pull-up bar, such pull-ups, chin-ups, and dead hangs, can help improve your upper back strength and grip strength, says Max Castrogaleas, an exercise physiologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
The different grip positions on your pull-up bar will help target different muscles. While both your back muscles and arm muscles are utilized during a chin-up or pull-up, a chin-up, which is done with your hands facing toward you, places a higher demand on the biceps. A pull-up, which has your hands facing away, will place a higher demand on your back muscles, Castrogaleas says.
To find the best doorway pull-up bar, three other CR staffers and I tried out pull-ups, chin-ups, and dead hangs on several pull-up bars. After rounds of evaluation, some clear favorites emerged. Here are the ones we recommend. And if you’re curious about how we evaluated the bars, check out the end of the article.
