Review: the Pro Fit Iron Gym doorframe pull up bar

If you want to decrease the amount of time it takes to work out, become acquainted with the pull up bar.

The pull up simultaneously develops your gripping muscles, your forearms, your biceps, your lats, your shoulders, and your coolness. Telling your office cohorts you can do a pull up is practically guaranteed to receive a few minutes of admiration.

It’s been years since I’ve been able to do pull ups because I reluctantly avoided those gimicky-looking door frame pull up bars. Let me tell you, the Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar is the real deal. It fits securely on the door frame and I can set it up in a few seconds and do some pull ups.

It feels solid when I put my weight on it, but it’s not for those who weigh over 300 pounds. But as far as pull ups go, most people who weigh 300 pounds aren’t doing pulls ups. Don’t try doing kipping pull ups on it, either. You need to be slow and controlled to avoid making the bar jump.

The pull up is a good measure of overall upper body strength. Because it uses so many muscles, you can replace a lot of different exercise with the pull up. Use different grips to emphasize different muscles and to eliminate boredom with the exercise.

If you can’t do pull ups, have someone help you with the pulling part and then lower yourself slowly. If you’re diligent with this, you’ll get to the point where you can do a pull up. You can also bend your knees and place your feet on a chair. Flex your legs to provide assistance with the pull up. Try to accomplish the lowering portion without giving yourself any assistance.

Or maybe you just need to lose some weight.

One fun way to work pull ups is by doing a ladder. You do one rep, then rest the amount of time it would take you to do one rep. Then do two reps, resting the amount of time it would take you to do two reps and then do three. Continue progressing like this, but stop short of failure. Exercise is about success, not failure, so avoid failing to perform a repetition. Leave a rep in the bank.

If you want to have a Pro Fit Iron Gym pull up bar delivered to your home, go here.