Wanted: Pull-up bar that doesn't damage door frame or trim
Yesterday, my son reminded me that he wanted me to install a pull-up bar so he could do pull-ups. I want to encourage him to exercise, and I would like to do pull-ups as well, so I wanted to get something right away. When we lived on the farm, I made a pull-up bar in the barn using construction materials including a 4 foot section of steel pipe, a couple pipe hangers, and some long lag bolts. The materials for this project cost about $15. The steel pipe worked fine, but it would rotate in the hangers and it was a bit hard on hands- wearing gloves when doing pull-ups on the steel pipe was a good idea.This pull-up bar needs to be installed inside the house. I decided to look at purpose-made exercise equipment this time. I knew I might pay a bit more than the $15 I spent hanging the steel pipe, but I wanted something that would be easy to install without damaging the house, and that would make it as easy as possible to do pull-ups.
Internet searching revealed a number of options. The mounting of the pull-up bar was a key issue for me, I did not want something that required a lot of drilling and putting screws into a doorway. I also decided to mount the pull-up bar in an unfinished basement. There are stud walls with doorways, but these measure 34 1/8 inches since there is no door or door frame installed. Many of the pull-up bars requires a narrower opening.
Perfect Multi-gym pull-up bar
I checked the shelf at the local Walmart store and found one that would fit a doorway up to 35 inches wide. It was the Perfect Multi-gym for $29.77. This was a bit more than I was hoping to pay, but looked like a nice piece of equipment. This unit installs without any screws or drilling in the doorway. You can adjust the pull-up bar to fit the dimensions of your doorway, and it uses the trim of the doorway to keep it in place. Most of the weight presses against the door frame, not pulling down on the trim. |
| Perfect Multi-gym for pull-ups and more Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher |
The Perfect Multi-gym has several places covered with foam that can be used for pull-ups to exercise different muscle groups. The unit can also be easily removed from the doorway to use for push-ups, sit-ups, and other exercises.
Since my door frame is unfinished, it does not have trim. I used 6 nails to hang a piece of 1x2 to act as the trim until we install a door. The pull-up bar also comes with a safety clip that provides a catch to keep the pull-up bar from coming down from the doorway, which was easily installed behind the 1x2 trim.
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| Perfect Multi-gym pull-up bar installed in door frame Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher |
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| Perfect Multi-gym pull-up bar installed in door frame uses trim for support Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher |
The Perfect Pull-up Bar
The Perfect Multi-gym will make doing pull-ups easy. The novelty factor is still high- I have done quite a few pull-ups already today, and I think my kids will use it a lot as well. I installed it in a doorway so that the pull-up bar is a couple inches higher than the tallest person, so we can leave it in place all the time. It is comfortable to use and seems well made. The instructions were easy to follow, and I like that installing the unit does not require screwing or drilling into a door frame.
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