How To Get A Great Workout With Door Pull Up Bars

How To Get A Great Workout With Door Pull Up Bars

Are you thinking about getting started in your training? But you don’t want to have a lot of equipment lying around? A door pull up bar could be the start you’re looking for. Just make sure to set it up securely first!

Door Pull Up Bars normally consist of one single horizontal bar which either wedges into, or sits around, a door frame. They can be a fantastic tool for working out at home if you have limited space for equipment. Also if you currently have a home office, a door pull up bar can be useful for short quick bursts of training, either just to get up from your desk, or to train over a lunch break for example. In conjunction with resistance bands, you can use a home pull up bar to work on push musculature, as well as the obvious pull. You can also work on squats and hinge work too.

Now, normally, I am all for training in a different space from where you work (a certain analogy of not defecating where one eats comes to mind), but if time and space are at a premium, any work done right is good work, and door pull up bars work perfectly in this scenario. Always start by making sure you can get the right grip width and clearance height, or that you can adapt without compromising form due to the size of your door. Also make sure you can grip the bar strongly. Any bar exercises require a strong grip and that sets the foundation for any movement.

In terms of a workout, varied grip pull ups are the obvious go to, which is great. You can vary the width of your grip to recruit different muscles through the back and shoulders. I like to go from wide to close on pull ups. You can then start mixing grips by changing your hands to a supinated or pronated grip individually and then mix in chin ups too. With a simple addition of resistance bands, you can do high to low cable woodchops, or banded rows, or assisted squats even, whether single leg or not!

You may be thinking that you don’t want to get that advanced with a workout, mostly so you can remember it, do it alone and then get back to work, which is all well and good. But, just remember, you want to try and work multiple planes of motion across multiple muscle groups in a constrained time period. I’ve laid a workout below for you to try, using the door pull up bar and resistance bands (that can easily be stored elsewhere!)

Scapula shrugs x 10 x 3 (lift feet and squeeze scapulae to recruit your lats)
Chin Ups x 10 x 3
Mixed Grip Chin Ups x 10 x 3 (8 in each grip = left hand over, right hand under > Right hand under, left hand over)

Add resistance bands to the bar:
Press Ups (with feet in res bands) x 10 x 3
Band assisted pistol squats x 8 x 3

Banded Ab Crunches (band around feet, pull towards you) x 10 x 3
High to Low Band Woodchoppers x 10es x 3
Band Face pulls x 10 x 3
High to low angle Chest Press using band x 10 x 3

Try this workout on your next lunch break, or if you have a long work assignment and need to get moving using your pull up bar. Gravity Fitness have a range of weights you can add too, when bodyweight starts becoming easier. Check out the Gravity Fitness Shop here!

We want to see your setup and how you make your training work for you, so tag us @gravity.fitness on Instagram and show us those pull ups!  Get the work…through the door…as it were!