Those of you who read my blog regularly know I am a big fan of exercising at home. I can get a great workout in 15 - 20 minutes at my home in the same amount of time it takes me to just get to the gym. Given the convenience of exercising at home I also find that I exercise more consistently, which has allowed me to look and feel better than when I got around to going to the gym.
The key to working out at home for me, however, is that I need to find fitness equipment that is affordable, effective, safe for my family ( especially the children ), and won't clutter my home. In my humble opinion, I have found and reviewed two pieces of fitness equipment in the past that did just that:
Recently, however, I added another piece of fitness equipment to my workout routine that also fits my needs, the Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar - Extreme Edition. I am happy with my level of fitness right now using the equipment above, but I wanted to vary my exercise routine as much as possible to keep from getting bored and to offer a little "muscle confusion" to maximize my exercise experience.
What hooked me about the Iron Gym Pull Up Bar was that it met my needs for home exercise equipment. First, it is very affordable. You cannot beat $39 for a pull up and chin up bar. Second, it truly is effective at giving you a total upper body workout in that it works your arms, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, etc. Third, it is safe for my children as it is lightweight and has no moving parts. Fourth, you can easily toss the Iron Gym Workout Bar under the bed, in a closet, on a shelf, or leave it on the door frame if it is in a doorway out of the way. It meets all my criteria wonderfully.
Assembly
I think we can all agree that assembling anything is not fun. I just finished assembling a new TV stand and the whole experience was painful with all the labeled parts, bolts, screws, and tools that I needed to have on hand to complete it. Luckily, the Iron Gym Workout Bar is a piece of cake to assemble.
You are basically connecting the various bars together by simply fitting a screw through he pre-drilled holes and attaching the nuts. It really is that easy and it even included a simple wrench so you don't need to provide your own tools.
The assembly process took about 30 minutes and was quite simple and intuitive. I am not someone who likes or excels at assembling items, so it really is that easy.
Attaching to Door Frame
Placing the Iron Gym Workout Bar on the door frame takes 5 - 10 seconds and is embarassingly easy. There is no drilling, screwing, or hammering. It just rests on the door frame and you put it on and take if off at will. There is a back plate that sits on the frame moulding on the opposite side of the door to keep the workout bar in the air. There is a long bar that rests against the door frame on the workout side of the door frame that stabilizes the workout bar in the doorway. That's it. Doesn't sounds like much, but it is surprisingly sturdy and secure and easily handles my weight of 160 pounds. It also fits my doorway perfectly as most doorways are a standard size.
What concerned me the most about the workout bar was that it relied on the door moulding to stay lifted in the air. I don't know about you, but the moulding around my doors doesn't feel strong enough to handle the weight of a human body. My biggest fear ( and my wife's ) was that the moulding and workout bar would come crashing down with one pull up or chin up. Hence, I first tried it in a doorway that was out of sight from friends and family :)
Truth is, the physics behind the bar is that it doesn't appear to exert a lot of downward pressure on the moulding on the opposite side of the door. Most of the pressure seems to be inward toward the wall and studs around the door frame, which can handle a lot of pressure and weight typically. It handles my weight with no problems. I hear no creaking, crackling, or anything that I was expecting to hear when I first used it.
I also don't see any noticeable marks on the door frame moulding either. I thought I might see indentations or marks of pressure on the door moulding where the bar rests against it. Apparently the cusion around the bars keeps that from happening. Still, I am inspecting the moulding around the door closely after each workout to see if I start to find marks. If so, I might look into ways to cushion the bar even better. For now, everything looks good. Your mileage may vary dependending on your weight, delicateness of your moulding, and use of the workout bar.
Using the Iron Gym Workout Bar
I purchased the extreme edition which has a few more hand holds for varying your grip and targeting muscles in a different way. I like this as it provides more "muscle confusion" which provides you a much more leaner and "chisled" look. You can work your arms, shoulders, and back in many different ways so that you look more even in your appearance and feel better.
The guide that comes with the Iron Gym Extreme Workout Bar shows you various positions to use it as well as recommendations on a workout program. As always, it is recommended that you consult your doctor before trying this stuff.
That being said, my rule of thumb is to start out slowly with any new exercise or piece of equipment. Do only 1 set of chin ups ( not to exhaustion ) the first time you use it using proper form and see how you feel in 2 or 3 days. It usually takes 2 or 3 days for your body to respond with pain, so let that first set of chin ups or pull ups sink in :)
One of the things I noticed after using it for the first time was some stiffness in my neck a day later. This was me using bad form and either extending or using my neck to get me up above the bar. Very bad form. Thankfully I only did 1 set and only 1 set when first using it so I could detect that problem in form and adjust my behavior properly. Think about the pain that would have been in my neck if I would have done 4 or 5 sets the first day. Yeah, I might not have been able to move my neck.
Again, just to reiterate, start slowly - very slowly. Make sure you are using proper form, breathing correctly, and allow your body to build up with time. The muscles need to adjust to the new exercise and equipment to avoid injury and pain as well as develop properly. Once the muscles adapt, you can then start to add more sets or change grips to create the muscle confusion.
Conclusion
I am still in the honeymoon stage with the Iron Extreme Workout Bar so only time will tell if it truly delivers good results. However, it seems to be working for me so far and has become an affordable, convenient, and safe addition to my fitness routines at home.
However, I recommend checking out the reviews on Amazon to get opinions from others.
For those of you who truly want to start exercising at home, I recommend checking out my reviews on the Ab Rocket and Bowflex Dumbbells as well. Love them!
Be safe and healthy!
David Hayden