If you’re looking for a quick and easy, but effective home strength workout, you can’t beat the doorway pull up bar.
Unlike freestanding or wall-mounted bars, they are easy to set up, super convenient, don’t take up heaps of room… and they are very low cost.
But there are important differences between the most popular bars on the market, that you need to know about before making a purchase.
So, I’ve compiled a list of the best doorway pull up bars out there – plus, I’ve added a buyers guide underneath, if you need any more help making your decision.
Magnoos Doorway Pull-Up-Bar “Matador“
The Magnoos ‘Matadoor’ Doorway Pull Up Bar is a really high quality doorway pull up bar. Unlike a lot of the others on the market it’s very well made and incredibly strong. It’ll quite easily support a maximum user weight of 130kg, so will be suitable for most people. The unique handle design allows for a bigger range of movement for more effective training, and the bar design means it can be used for push ups and dips as well, making it more versatile. The fact that it can be put up and down so easily means it’s easy to remove and store when not in use.
Assembly required: none
Grips: multiple grips
Need to screw holes in doorway? No
Max user weight: 130kg
DOBEN Professional Door Pull-up and Chin-up Bar
The DOBEN Door Pull Up bar is a quick-release bar that is adjustable to fit a range of door frames and corridor widths, as long as the walls are sturdy enough. It’s a thick, foam covered bar that is extra comfortable when exercising with – especially when you’re anchoring your feet on it for sit ups. Given you can adjust the height of it quickly, the range of uses is excellent – it can be used for push ups, pull ups, rows, crunches and stretches very easily. The bar is supplied with extra fittings to make it even more secure if you like the extra security.
Assembly required: minimal
Grips: single bar
Need to screw holes in doorway? Optional
Max user weight: 200kg
Innovation Fitness Powerbar
Innovation Fitness Powerbar 2 is another of the home doorway pull up bars that hooks onto a door frame without the need for screwing or adjusting. It has a similar frame design to the Magnoos pull up bar, but it only has the padded wide grips as opposed to the padding along the entire bar, hence the lower price. The frame design allows for an extended range of movement with pull ups, and the frame shape makes it suitable for push-ups and dips. Build quality is great and supports a lot of weight.
Assembly required: None
Grips: Multiple grips
Need to screw holes in doorway? No
Max user weight: 127kg
AhfuLife Pull Up Barfor Doorway
The Ahful Life Pull Up Bar is another great product that is simple to use and very effective. It secures in place on the doorframe with a non-slip silicone pads and a unique wedge design – the more weight there is pulling down on the bar, the more secure it is! The bar is quick to put up and take down, can be adjusted for multiple uses easily and fits a variety of door widths using a twist mechanism. The build quality is excellent and the pads are comfortable.
Assembly required: None/lots
Grips: Single bar
Need to screw holes in doorway? No
Max user weight: 182kg
ONETWOFIT Pull Up Bar door frame
The ONETWOFIT Pull Up Bar is a multifunctional doorway bar that can be fixed in three different ways – via pressure pads or two different types of screw-in fittings. Like others, it widens using a rotating mechanism and can be fixed with different levels of security depending on the intended use. The bar has a thick, comfortable padding and can be used with a number of different width grips for exercise variety. If fitted without the screws it’s quick release, making it ideal for those who will use it at different heights in their workout.
Assembly required: Minimal
Grips: multiple grips
Need to screw holes in doorway? Optional
Max user weight: 150kg
Doorway Pull-Up Bar”Torero”
The Toreo is a simple but effective doorway pull up bar. It’s a doddle to use with its no-screw assembly option (screws are also provided if you’d like a more secure and permanent fitting option) and the extensive padding gives you a number of grip and exercise selections. As you’d expect the maximum user weight adjusts depending on the fitting method you’ve used, but even without screws it’s suitable for users of up to 130kg in weight. This would be fine for those renting or not wanting to potentially damage a door frame.
Assembly required: minimal
Grips: single bar
Need to screw holes in doorway? Optional
Max user weight: 200kg
HAKENO Pull Up Bar Doorway
The HAKENO Pull Up bar is a unique bar in the sense that the grip thickness is the widest of the bars most commonly available, which makes it a particularly versatile bit of kit – it’s really comfortable when used for pull ups, as an anchor for crunches, as a support for the hands or legs with push ups and stretches. It also has the wedge securing system, so the more you pull down on it, the more secure it is. Non-slip silicone pads also protect wooden doorframes from damage during use. Finally it’s quick-release so easy to move up and down in height for various exercises.
Assembly required: none
Grips: single bar
Need to screw holes in doorway? No
Max user weight: 200kg
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Why choose a doorway pull up bar?
A doorway pull up bar has a lot of advantages over either wall mounted or freestanding bars, which I’ll go into more detail on in a second. Remember when buying equipment for a home gym there are concerns that go beyond the workout alone, so you have to think about more than just what you can do with the equipment – price, set up, storage, versatility all play a part in your decision making. Here’s a few things to consider when it comes to home pull up bars…
Huge versatility of strength workouts
A doorway pull up bar can be adjusted REALLY quickly – you simply loosen the bar, place it where you need it next and secure it again. This means you can use them for pull ups, or drop them lower for rows, shoulder push ups, feet elevated push ups, stretches or even a foot anchor for sit ups. You simply can’t do any of that with a wall mounted or freestanding pull up bar – their position is set.
Minimal setup required
Most doorway pull up bars need no setting up at all – no DIY skills required, no drilling or screwing. If you want to secure the doorway pull up bar a little more, you can do so in most cases, but even then it’s a really easy job to do.
Takes up little space
A doorway pull up bar literally fits in a doorway. There’s nothing sticking out of a wall like on a wall-mounted bar and there’s no big frame like on a freestanding bar. When you’re not using it, you can simply take it down and store it in a cupboard or under your bed!
Low cost
A doorway pull up bar can cost as little as £20, whereas a wall mounted or freestanding bar can be literally 10 times that amount. If budget is a concern, it’s an obvious choice.
No need for a gym membership
With the one bar you can perform a huge range of pulling exercises, pushing exercises, ab exercises, lower body exercises and even conditioning exercises. One bar can be the basis of so many muscle building exercises you’ll be amazed!
What to look for in a doorway pull up bar
If you’re going to buy a doorway pull up bar you’ll need to consider a few of the feature points before you make your final decision. Here are the main points I think you need to consider when buying a doorway pull up bar.
Amount of setup required
If you’re not a DIY fan, you need to choose a bar with minimal set up. In the vast majority of cases the bars don’t need any DIY assembly, but if you don’t want to get your drill out, just make sure before you buy!
Multiple grips available
When it comes to exercise variety, the more grip options you have the better. Narrow, wide and neutral are the obvious ones, but don’t think a flat bar isn’t a useful one. If the bar can be adjusted in terms of height, a flat bar can give you a huge amount of versatility. Also, a flat bar with plenty of grip width options is a very versatile bar.
Max user weight
Most doorway pull up bars will range in max user weight from around 120kg up to 200kg if screwed in correctly. If you’re a heavier person, just check the bar you’re going to buy is suitable.
Does it require you to screw holes in door?
Most bars don’t, but just check. If you live in rented accommodation or simply don’t want to damage your door frame, make sure you pick a bar that definitely doesn’t need screwing into the door.
Build quality
Any bar that supports a maximum user weight of over 120kg should be built well, but read other people’s experiences as well. Generally speaking, the doorway pull up bars are well built on account of the fact that they’re quite simple bits of kit.
Ease of storage
A doorway pull up bar will be able to extend or shrink, making it adjustable to suit different doorways. When you aren’t using the bar, see how short you can make it, which will help determine how easy it will be to store when not in use.
Doorway pull up bars – which is best for you?
There’s a lot to consider with doorway pull up bars, but you should now have plenty of information to help you make a decision. The main points are ease of use, set up and versatility really, given the price isn’t hugely varied across the board and the bars will all hold the vast majority of user’s weight.
Armed with the information I’ve given you in this article, you’ve got everything you need to know when it comes to making a doorway pull up bar decision!