Parents Pull up bar--what am I looking for?

[NMNorskie]

I've seen people here mention a pull-up bar for strength training at home. That sounds like something I could buy my new gymmie. I have no idea what to look for though...I looked on Amazon and they seem to be meant for grown men. My gymmie is nine years old, 48" tall, and 50 lbs. What should I be looking for?

Also, these seem to hang in doorways. Do they damage the door/moulding? We live in a new construction house, and they sure don't make 'em like they used to. We are the least handy people on the planet, so if we screwed up the doorway, we'd probably have to hire someone with actual skills to fix it (which is money that could be spent on leos ).

 

[Iwannabemargo]

mine has an over the frame model that we got from WalMart, it hooks up, then is easy to take down (no cracked skull when tucking in), its made for an adult man but it works

 

[Ali'sMom]

Ours is actually screwed into the door frame. We were afraid that our sub-par molding over the door wouldn't support an over-the-door one - LOL!

 

[NMNorskie]

Oh, wow, I didn't even think to look at Walmart--cool!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

this is similar to ours

http://direct.asda.com/Fit-4-Life-Chinning-Bar/000934413,default,pd.html?dual=0

 

[MyBoysFlip]

We have the door hanging one too and a new house with "sub-par" workmanship but it holds just fine. In fact- DH will not put it on the doors where he has replaced the molding with good sturdy nice looking stuff. It actually doesn't fit well there. I think we bought ours at target or walmart.

 

[Amusibus]

We used to have one. The supports screwed into the door frame, and the bar sat in it. You could tighten it by twisting it to lengthen slightly. At first my kids loved it. But there were three major drawbacks: 1) The bar was lined with foam, so not at all like a gym bar, which frustrated my gymnast because she couldn't do back hip circles etc. 2) The tensioning was never tight enough, so often the bar would rotate as they held it. 3) It was hard to remove and reposition, ultimately resulting in my husband having a temper tantrum and removing it completely. So... those are some things to consider when searching for one!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

we have had both types, I prefer the lift on as its easy to put away, even holds my hubbies weight which is over 260 lb

 

[OrangeArt]

We also have to kind that screws into the door. My daughter, despite being told not to for safety purposes, kept trying to do tap swings on the over the molding/moveable kind. Of course the bar would jump around=not very safe. But like Amusibus mentioned, the kind we have now constantly rotates (and continues to "stretch" the door frame), making it hard to do things that require a sustained hold (like V and L holds).

 

[Noideaaboutgym]

We have http://www.amazon.co.uk/Golds-Gym-T...qid=1408689648&sr=8-1&keywords=Golds+gym+chin
It doesn't need to be screwed in which I saw as a good thing. We are in a new build house also, the over door ones wouldn't work as all our doors are in the corner of a room. It tightens enough for me and hubby to use, we have a rule about only holding the bar in the way that tightens the pressure not unscrewing. It has been up now for about a year and is used daily, I would highly recommend.

 

[Noideaaboutgym]

Also to add ours is set above our head height so it isn't intrusive, the kids climb the doorframe to get on.

 

[Mom2Chickadee]

We also have the over the door model from Walmart. DD (age 6) only uses it for practicing pull ups and leg lifts, not that often anymore, but no swinging is allowed. We're in a new build too and for her light weight it's absolutely fine, DH refuses to try it out, even though it's rated for way more than his weight, b/c he's worried about pulling the molding off the door. We like the over the door model b/c it's easily hidden away in the closet and when DD was on her 3 week summer break she was able to use the bar on the ground to help with push ups and pike holds.

 

[cbifoja]

My DD has the type that has two brackets that screw into the door frame and then the bar twists into the brackets. It has foam areas to help not tear her hands up.

I have it high enough that she cannot kip on it and positioned so that she can't do tap swings without smacking her feet on the hallway wall. ALL she can do is conditioning type stuff.

She does pull ups, L hangs, and some sort of inverted hanging thing that makes my shoulders hurt. Also does leg lifts. And that's about all she can do in the space that she has.

 

[mommyof1]

We have the "Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar" from Target. It hooks over the door frame with no permanently installed hardware and is sturdy enough to support a large adult. It is easily removed but also hangs high enough that a 6-foot tall person can walk under it. It is safe and useful only for conditioning (no swinging!), which is all we wanted it for anyway. The flimsy door frame of our relatively new house holds it up just fine. The only drawbacks are that it's too high for my 7-year-old to reach without help (which could actually be a good thing if you don't want a kid up there unsupervised), and that it made two small black marks on the door frame.

 

[JazzyMom]

We have the over the door one. Yes, it did ruin the moulding but luckily we are very handy and fix it easily. We also have a Jr. Kip bar but my kids prefer the door pull up bar. It is higher so they have an easier time hanging and doing pull ups.

 

[BlairBob]

If you have the money and space, I prefer a Power Tower. Doesn't need to be fancy or heavy and they usually come with dip handles (that won't be so useful for small kids but still can be).

http://www.wayfair.com/Stamina-1690...L2IzET7vR4WTw7WcyDZQpJ8pYiUvnS9MHsaAqS78P8HAQ

I have one of the bar ones and it's pretty decent but I dislike the foam. Just cut it off and wrap athletic tape around it instead.

I wouldn't trust one of those telescoping ones inside the door. I've seen those fail in videos.

 

[NMNorskie]

You know, it never occurred to me that they'd try and do tricks on these things...but I can TOTALLY see my kid doing that.