Pull-Up Bar
A bar mounted horizontally for performing pull-ups and hanging exercises.
A pull-up bar allows pull-ups, chin-ups, and hanging exercises. It can be mounted in doorways, on walls, or as part of a power rack. Pull-ups are one of the best back exercises, and a pull-up bar is an essential, space-efficient piece of equipment for home training.
The most useful bar in a gym
A fixed horizontal bar for vertical pulling, and the cheapest route to a genuinely hard back exercise. Grip changes the emphasis: pronated pull-ups favour the lats and upper back, supinated chin-ups bring the biceps in substantially and are noticeably easier for most people, and a neutral grip sits between the two and is usually the kindest on the elbows and shoulders.
How to progress
If you cannot yet perform one, band assistance and slow negatives from the top both work, and negatives tend to work faster. From bodyweight, add load with a dip belt or a weighted vest rather than accumulating ever-higher rep counts. Dead hangs from the same bar are a useful accessory for grip and for the thoracic and shoulder positions that overhead work depends on.
Common mistakes
Kipping without meaning to. Generating momentum with the hips turns a strength exercise into a different one, which is fine deliberately and self-defeating by accident. Not reaching a full dead hang at the bottom, so the hardest part of the range is skipped every rep. And mounting a doorway bar on a frame that will not take the load, which is a genuinely common and expensive mistake.
Examples
- Doorway pull-up bar for home
- Pull-ups and chin-ups
- Hanging leg raises for abs
Compound exercises
Put this into practice with exercises from the library.
Extended Range One-Arm Kettlebell Floor Press
Strength · Kettlebells
External Rotation with Band
Strength · Bands
Face Pull
Strength · Cable
Farmer's Walk
Strongman · Other
Fast Skipping
Plyometrics · Bodyweight
Flat Bench Leg Pull-In
Strength · Bodyweight
Floor Press
Powerlifting · Barbell
Floor Press with Chains
Powerlifting · Barbell