First Class Pullup and Dip Bars

[Bob Wildes]

If there are any combination units on the market that are truly first class, I am not aware of it. I own two of these units and one is barely passable, but leaves much to be desired on the pullup part in particular.

There is a new company that is offering a free standing pullup bar unit that looks pretty good, but they are extremely proud of it and are asking about $380 for it.

The only unit I have ever seen that was truly heavy duty and was tall enough and sturdy enough for large athletes was a rectangular setup, in which 4 athletes
could use at the same time. The picture was of the New York Jets training facility in the early 80's.

The main drawbacks that I see with the current units are:
1-They aren't tall enough for even 6 foot trainers
2-They lack stability in the pullup portion, often due to
an insufficiently wide base
3-The pullup bars lack the versatility to allow the trainer
to use any grip from hands together up to at least 32
inches. Often the bar curves downward around the
24 inch mark and the bar fits into a groove that
precludes the gripping of the bar in the area of the
two grooves.

[Tim Wescott]

Three hundred and eighty bucks is a lot of money to dish out for something with no moveable parts!!
I think most people interested would be far better off having a welder build one for them or making one themselves.

I have seen some of these shaky units and I hate the chin portions on most of them for the reasons you stated.

[Bob Wildes]

The expensive pullup setup is on www.torqueathletic.com.

It appears that you could break it down into
smaller parts pretty fast which I consider a
plus, but it doesn't look as sturdy as I would
want for that price.

I think that you are right about finding a welder.

I recently stopped doing a routine in which I did
pullups on a daily basis. I did this for about 3
months and stopped only because my elbows
started bothering the hell out of me. I was out
of town twice during that period and spent a lot
of time and effort locating places to do pullups, so
I would love to have a rugged yet portable pullup
and maybe even a dip apparatus.

[Jesse]

I like the PHUCUM hat... I may get it!

[ChrisC]

If you are thinking about spending that much money, maybe you could consider a power cage? Most cages have the pullup bar at the top plus you get a great piece of equipment you can use for a multitude of exercises.

[Bob Wildes]

ChrisC said:

If you are thinking about spending that much money, maybe you could consider a power cage? Most cages have the pullup bar at the top plus you get a great piece of equipment you can use for a multitude of exercises.

I am not thinking about spending that kind of money. I have a powerack with a crossbar for pullups, another pullup station made of two 4x4's cemented into the ground and a metal crosspiece. I also have a combo pullup-dip station at work.

Ideally, I would like to have a sturdy pullup station that was portable and capable of being broken down into component pices that would be easily transportable.

[MikeKy]

I sort of cheated on the pullup bar here. I made two angle iron brackets and bolted them to the floor joist overhead in my garage downstairs. I attached my bar to those. The only draw back to it is when you are all the way up, your head goes up between the joist. Doesn't bother me though.