Creating a home gym can be a labour of love, but it can also be a period of confusion and frustration. Everything looks expensive, and it is hard to assess what you need and what you don’t need. But one thing that almost everyone could benefit from is a pull up bar. That’s because it is difficult to perform many back exercises in a small space. Sure there’s single arm rows and bent over rows, but exercises like lat pulldowns are impossible to recreate without the correct equipment.
That’s why a pull up bar is so useful, not only can you use it for different types of pull up or chin up but you can also perform hanging leg raises on them or attach a suspension trainer (which adds around 30+ exercises to your routine). When it comes to your choice of pull up bar you can either have free standing, door mounted, or wall mounted. In this article we are going to be looking at wall mounted pull up bars.
Why buy a wall mounted pull up bar?
Other than for the exercise-related reasons mentioned above there are some more practical reasons, whilst door-mounted and free-standing pull up bars are fantastic they will never be as stable as a properly wall mounted pull up bar. If the idea of suspending your entire bodyweight off the ground using a thin bar sends you into a cold shiver then wall mounted is your best bet.
Wall mounted gives you more control over where you place the bar than the other two, a free-standing pull up bar requires a lot of free space and most of them are permanent fixtures that can’t be tidied away afterwards. Whilst a door mounted pull up bar requires a door (obviously).
A wall mounted pull up bar can be placed in a high out of the way place and is unnoticeable to most people. It can even be placed over a door if that’s what you prefer – but it is a more secure option.
What to look for in a wall mounted pull up bar
Well firstly, this product is going to be supporting your entire weight whilst being attached to your wall so one of the first things you should be looking at is whether the studs you are using can hold it up properly. The last thing you want is to bring part of your wall down on top of you mid-pull up. Check out their maximum weight capacity and then place yourself on a set of scales!
Other things you should check out is the durability of the pull up bar, any other functions that it offers, how easy it is to install, and whether the product has a warranty or not. Luckily you won’t have to do any of that because you are reading this article. We will take a look at six wall-mounted pull up bars and review them based on the criteria we just mentioned.
Gronk Fitness Multi-Grip Pull Up Bar
Whilst “Gronk Fitness Products” may be one of the least sexy names in the industry the company has a reputation for well-made equipment that often contains some outside the box ideas. All of their equipment looks cool and has the stability and durability that is required of it. The Multi-grip pull up bar is no exception.
The bar can withstand up to 800lbs of weight so if you are an overweight guy you could perform a pull up with two other guys hanging on to your shoulders and still be in no danger of damaging your wall. There are also a lot of different grip choices available to you, you can do overhand, underhand, neutral grip, but there are also a few extra grip choices that don’t even have names yet! The product has a powdered coating which will prevent rust and should also help improve your grip on the bar.
The bar is raised up slightly between the two stands and according to some reviewers it can be inverted which is great if you have a lot ceiling. There isn’t much information available regarding the warranty, just the standard “contact the seller directly” which is a little irritating, but not a big enough issue to stop you from getting this quality product.
Ultimate Body Press Wall Mount Pull Up Bar
Ultimate Body Press is a fitness company that specialise in equipment for bodyweight training, so pull up bars, free-standing dip bars, body press parallels, etc … they make solid products that do exactly what they are supposed to. This makes their pull up bar an excellent product but difficult to review. It’s a mounted pull up bar with extra handles to perform neutral grip pull ups if need be, and high density foam for more comfortable handles.
The company doesn’t mention how much weight that the bar can withstand but reviewers have reported that it can easily hold weights of up to 300lbs. There is no mention of a warranty, but they do say that your satisfaction is guaranteed, not sure if that counts as a warranty or not though!
Fitleader Wall Mounted Pull Up Bar
With a design that will put you in mind of a sub-machine gun, the Fitleader Wall Mounted Pull Up Bar looks incredibly sturdy. According to the company the bar can withstand weights up to 300lbs, though they say that 250lbs or less would be a more realistic target. There are handles for neutral grip pull ups and a bar for regular pull ups, the neutral grips are a little wide apart for some people but this is necessary to fit the design.
The bar is made from heavy duty steel which should help make it very stable and it is fairly straight forward to assemble. A very decent wall mounted pull up bar at an excellent price.
Titan Fitness Wall Mounted Pull Up Bar
This pull up bar is unlike any other that are on this list, this bar is designed for CrossFit which means that it is designed for the kipping pull up. The kipping pull up is where you use the momentum of your body to throw your body up to the bar. It is similar to a regular pull up but it is definitely a unique exercise of its own.
What makes this bar unique is the distance away from the wall that it is, the bar is 32 inches away from the wall when attached. You can mount it on wood studs to increase the distance further (wood not included). There aren’t multiple grip positions here like the other pull up bars, and this is not as much of a space saver, but if you are into CrossFit (or are looking to create your own Crossfit Box) then nothing else will do.
The bars can withstand up to 500lbs in weight and is very durable. Sadly there is no mention of a warranty whatsoever though you can cheaply replace broken parts – rather than having to re-buy the entire product.
Yes4All Wall Mount Chin Up Bar
You would have thought that Gronk was the most ridiculous company name on this list, but Yes4All has them beat. This wall mounted chin up bar is by a distance the cheapest product on the list, but it still has a maximum weight capacity of 300lbs. It also has multiple grips, foam grips, and is fairly easy to assemble.
It might not look as fancy as the other products, but as a pull up bar it doesn’t really need to. It does exactly what it says it will and is probably the best value for money product here. If you are looking for a pull up bar that is nothing fancy, and you’re on a budget then this wall mounted chin up bar is the one for you.
Valor Fitness CHN-UP
Please don’t ask why Valor Fitness named their product the “CHN-UP” or why they removed the I from “chin”, the answer is known only to Valor Fitness. Mad naming aside, Valor actually have some pretty cool equipment on sale, and their chin up bar is a really decent bit of kit.
The depth is almost as large as the CrossFit pull up bar (but there is no mention of expanding it further like you can do with the Crossfit version) and it has the same multi-grip as the Gronk pull up bar. The CHN-UP comes with a five year warranty, which shows that Valor have a lot of confidence in their product. It has been proven to withstand weights of up to 600lbs so shouldn’t really require a warranty, but it’s always a good sign when a company offers one.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to wall mounted pull up bars they are either decent, well-made products or they are terrible. That makes reviewing them both a difficult and simple procedure. Difficult because it is hard to differentiate between them (they are all excellent for performing pull ups on) and easy because you know that every one of them is a great product. Check them out and pick the one that suits your needs most.
