Pull ups are a great back exercise you can do from any ledge. All you need is a surface you can grab that’s above you and allows your hands to wrap around the surface. Most often a Pull Up bar, but, you can also do pull ups on gymnastic rings, trees, etc.
You may not need a pull up bar. There are surfaces everywhere you can pull yourself up on, both in the home and outside. But, with a pull up bar at home, you always have access to one of the best exercises you can do for your back.
Below are the best pull up bars you can buy on Amazon. There are many different kinds of bars. Some fit in your doorway without installation, some are collapsible for travel, and heavy duty pull up bars that require manual installation; usually bolted to your door or ceiling. Be cautious because some pull up bars can damage the door frames of your home. To counter this, you can cut pool noodles to wrap around where the pull up bar touches the door frame. You can also skip this and train pull ups at the gym.
There is also extensive benefit to hanging which can be an actual replacement for shoulder surgery by decompressing your shoulders, decompressing your spine, and more. The benefits of hanging are theorized to come from our ancestry as hominids who swung from tree branches.
Pullups are an advance movement that beginners cannot easily perform. You can use a weight-assisted pullup machine at the gym until you get the strength to pull your bodyweight up.
Pull up bar variations.
- Doorway
- Wall Mountable
- ceiling mountable
- Hanging
- Station
Iron Gym Doorway Pull Up Bar
Doorway pull up bars fit nicely on the siding of any door in your home.
However, these pull up bars can sometimes damage the molding in your home. If you’re a two-hundred pound man doing pull ups from your bathroom door you may scratch, scuff, or break your frame. You may not damage anything–use your judgement. You can cut pool noodles to use as barriers where the bar touches your doorframe.
Doorway pull up bars also function for push-ups, dips, and sit ups when placed on the ground. But, this isn’t much of a value add. The best use for the bar is pull ups. If you want to do push ups, do them on the ground the traditional way or use something like a perfect push up. The perfect push up is not much better than regular push ups, but the portable device can be a nice variation of hte standard pushup for not much investment.
The cost for a door pull up bar is usually around 20$. If you want a cheap, easy solution for pull ups, stop here and pick up the doorway pull up bar.
Wall Mount Pull Up Bar
A wall-mounted pull up bar is good for a home gym. This wall-mounted pull up bar from Amazon has options for four grip positions: Wide grip, close grip, narrow, and a chin up position. Hanging bars are good for ab-raises too. You can get straps that hang on your bar designed for training your core.
Ab straps are simple: Place your elbows in the sleeves, then, lift your legs to your torso. This movement trains your lower abs which are difficult to target with traditional abdominal movements.
Ceiling Mount Pull Up Bar
This bar is for 8ft ceilings. Ceiling pull up bars are great for pull ups, but have other uses as well. You can hang Olympic rings from ceiling bars. Olympic rings are plastic circular hoops used in in the Olympics. Some of the strongest people in the world are gymnasts and use rings on a daily basis.
Not only can you use rings for pull ups, you can do bicep curls, tricep extensions, and muscle ups; one of the most difficult exercises using your own body weight.
Hanging Pull up bar
Hanging pull up bars are an alternative to doorway pull up bars–the first entry in the list. You should consider a hanging bar only if a doorway bar isn’t an option. Hanging pull up bars don’t have as many uses as a doorway pull up bar. Also, hanging bars usually require drilling into the frame of your door, which is something to be aware of.
Pull up bar Station 
A pull up station, alternatively known as a power tower; is the most versatile from the list and also the most expensive. A Pull up station averages around 200$ for a decent one. On Amazon, many stations are cheap but still do the trick. The best pull up stations come from high-end strength training manufacturers like rogue fitness.
Pull up stations are made for pull ups, dips, leg lifts for your core, and push ups. The best use of the Pull up station is pull ups and core work using your legs.