Homemade Pull Up Bar - How to Build a Pull Up Bar

If you happen to be a fitness-conscious individual, you must be well aware of the importance of pull ups in one's fitness regimen. For those of you who are new to the concept of pull ups, here is a bit of information on pull ups and their role in strength training.

A pull up, as the name suggests, literally involves pulling yourself upwards using the strength of your shoulder and upper-body muscles. Pull ups are always performed on a designated pull up bar and they go a long way towards:

• strengthening your shoulder muscles
• building biceps and triceps
• improving your grip
• increasing your forearm strength
• developing your lat or 'wing' muscles, along with your pectoral muscles
• increasing and improving the overall strength of your upper-body.

Pull up bars come in a variety of types. One of them happens to be a ready-to-use pull up bar with rubber suction cups at the ends. It can be fitted in the frame of your door and is mainly popular because it is dirt cheap and easily available. However, if you are serious about your pull ups, I would strongly suggest (and this comes from personal experience) that you do NOT fall prey to these so-called 'low-cost wonder bars'. It is always better to spare an hour or two in making your own homemade pull up bar. Such a piece of exercise equipment can be much more reliable, effective and equally cheap. So for those of you who are busy wondering "How do I build my own pull up bar?", look no further. Here is how to build a pull up bar on your own:

How to Make a Pull Up Bar
This is all you need for building a pull-up bar:

• one 40-inch long plumbing pipe
• two L-shaped end joints
• two mounting brackets or plates
• screws
• one 1ft X 4ft thick wooden plank
• one roll of towel grip.

Procedure:

1. First and foremost, make sure that the plumbing pipe is strong, sturdy and threaded at both ends.
2. Attach the L-shaped end joints to the ends of the pipe. Though threading them seems the most logical thing to do, it is advisable to also bind them to the pipe with a strong adhesive.
3. Next up are the mounting plates. Attach them to the other end of the L-shaped end joints. Once again, bind them with an adhesive in addition to threading them.
4. How and where you wish to install your pull up bar will determine whether you require the wooden plank or not.
5. If you wish to mount the pull up bar on a wall, then you do not need the wooden plank. In this case, you simply need to drill a few holes into the wall and screw in the mounting plates appropriately.
6. However, if you wish to install the pull up bar on your ceiling then it is advisable that you make use of a wooden plank for additional support, especially if it happens to be a wooden ceiling.
7. Screw the wooden plank into the ceiling and make sure that it is firmly fixed. Next, screw the mounting plates into the wooden plank. Make sure that all the screws are tightly fixed before you move on to the next step.
8. Now unfurl the roll of towel grip, apply a layer of adhesive on its backing surface, and wrap it uniformly onto the plumbing pipe. Leave it to dry for a sufficient amount of time before you test the pull up bar.

Making a homemade pull up bar was never this easy! All it will cost is around $20 and a couple of hours of your time. Exercise well and be healthy!