Pull-ups are one of the best exercises for overall back development. A nice, strong back and good pulling strength is paramount in BJJ.
You need to be able to grip and pull your opponents around if you hope to be effective. A strong back allows you to keep posture, especially when trying to pass guard or just to prevent yourself from being swept.
Pulling strength is far more important than pushing strength in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For example, have you ever seen anyone bench press their way out of being mounted? Not likely, unless they are a freak.
“Technique over strength!” That’s probably something you’ve heard ad-nauseam. But something you’ve also found out, is that that’s not always true.
You need a certain degree of strength and athleticism to pull off your techniques. You might have the best guard pass in theory, but if you don’t have the back strength to stay postured up, and the grip strength to keep your grips as you pass, then it’s useless.
Just remember any time that you’ve been tired during a session and how quickly your technique disappeared on you.
With pull-ups, you work your back and your arms. Particularly your forearms and your biceps so you can get those grips on his/her lapel and keep them.
You do not have to go to a gym to do pull-ups. Gym memberships are expensive and so are memberships to BJJ academies. There’s no need to add to your expenses.
The pull-up bars we’ve listed below are both cheap and effective.
Almost all of them can be hooked on to your door frame without causing any damage and all provide you with an excellent workout.
Best Home Pull-up Bar
Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar
- Pull Up Bar For Doorway: Plan Your Home Workout Regime With Iron Gym Pull Up Bars, Turn Any Doorway Into A Personal Gym And Get The Strong, Lean Body You Always Wanted, Right At Home. It Instantly...
- Ideal For Upper Body Workout: Iron Gym Pull Up Bars Is An Ideal Upper Body Exercise Equipment With Three Grip Positions, Narrow, Wide, And Neutral. It Offers Wide Grip Push- Ups, Pull-Ups, Chin-Ups,...
- Heavy-Duty: Constructed With Heavy-Duty Steel, The Metal Chin-Up Bar Ensures Sturdiness And Reliability, While The Bar Handgrip Has Professional-Grade Comfort Foam For Comfortable Ergonomic Gripping....
- Fits Most Doorways: Comes In A Unit Packaging Dimensions Of 20X3.25X8 Inches, It Fits Up To 35.4-Inch-Wide Door Frames. It Can Be Used For An Indoor Workout, Please Keep In Mind That The Doorway...
- Easy Installation: Our Doorframe Pullup Bar Comes With Come With Safety Brackets, A Safety Manual And Assembly Tools, Making It Easy To Install And Remove In Seconds. It Uses Leverage To Hold Against...
This pull-up bar can be hooked on to your doorframe and then easily taken down and packed away when not in use. No damage to your walls or you doorframe and the low-profile allows you to easily tuck it away wherever you have the room.
It uses leverage to stay in place; as you pull down on the handles, the back plate is pushed against the top of your door so it doesn’t fall off. The harder you pull, the more secure the bar is.
The backplate also features a soft, cushion type fabric so it doesn’t rub off the paint on your walls too.
It can hold up to weights of 300 pounds, so even the heavyweights amongst you won’t go without. The Iron Gym workout bar is constructed with extremely durable steel so you never have to fear the bar breaking when using it.
Pro Source Multi-Gym Pull-Up Bar
- MULTIFUNCTIONAL – 12 comfortable grips & various handles allow you to perform wide, hammer, close-grip exercises
- UPPER BODY STRENGTH - Strengthen entire upper body and abs with pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, dips, and leg raises
- EASY TO ASSEMBLE & INSTALL – Slip-in design fits standard doorways (24” to 36”). Includes 2 optional foam covers for outer handles to protect doorframes
- AT-HOME WORKOUT - Portable design makes it easy to squeeze in workouts and stay fit at home; Exercise guide included
- DURABLE STEEL - Made of high grade steel & built to last, it holds up to 300 lb. and includes a limited lifetime warranty
If you want even more grip options with your pull up bar then the Pro-Source multi-gym bar is right up your street.
You have the choice of grips from super narrow, to super-wide. You can even use hammer grips.
Children to heavyweight monsters can all use this bar with the same effectiveness.
Like the Iron Gym, this bar can be installed and taken down in mere seconds. Though with its low profile you can leave it hooked in without it being an eyesore too.
A pull-up bar that you continually see and walk past makes it easy to use and stay consistent with your pull-up workouts.
Yes4All Wall Mounted Chin Up Bar
The doorframe style pull up bars are incredibly secure. They’re not coming down if you use them correctly and they can normally hold up to 300 pounds of weight.
They are safe.
But understandably, some people don’t want to put blind trust in devices like this and prefer to use something that’s bolted into the wall to provide supreme stability and safety.
Such as this wall mounted chin up bar from Yes4All.
This bar is used by screwing it into the wall as a permanent fixture in your home gym/mobile personal training unit. This is a good idea if you have your own home gym and want a permanent pull up bar in place rather than one that you have to attach and set up before each use.
This bar has a long roll of foam in the centre so that you have an added degree of control over just how narrow your chin-ups/pull-ups are.
As well as foam padding on the end for wide grip pull-ups and hammer grips extended out of the front of the bar.
Sunny Health and Fitness Door Way Chin-Up Bar
If you don’t want the type of bar that latches on to your door frame and you definitely don’t want to go to the trouble of drilling a permanent bar into your wall, then this bar will suit your needs.
The bar is literally just a bar.
You place it in between your doorframe and extend it until it fits tight and snug against the frame. Once it is secured firmly in place, you can use it to your hearts content.
Sunny Health and Fitness offer you two choices; the first has two foam rolls on the bar so you have one choice of narrowness/wideness to use, or the second option where the bar is completely covered in foam. With the second option you can do chin-ups and pull-ups with any degree of wideness that you like.
This bar is also by far the easiest to store away. With a thin narrow bar, it can be stored away pretty much anywhere and be out of sight.
Stamina Doorway Trainer Plus
The Stamina Door Way Trainer is installed within seconds on to your door frame, just like the Iron Gym and the Pro Source options.
You have five grip options, complete with thick, non-slip padding. This padding keeps your hands secure yet comfortable so that your back and biceps tire out before your hands do.
This is vital!
One of the issues with pull-up bars that do not feature foam padding, is that you end up quitting your set due to hand pain/discomfort rather than your muscles being exerted, leading to a lacklustre workout.
When not hooked into the door frame, this pull up bar can be placed on the floor so that you can do dips and pull-ups with a deeper range of motion. You can even hook it on to the bottom of your doorframe to keep your feet in place whilst you do your crunches.
Overall
Pull-up bars are an invaluable piece of equipment and something that everyone would benefit from having.
I cannot stress the significance of having a pull-up bar set up, ready to go and within your eyesight at home at all times. It’s incredibly easy to pump out a few reps every time you walk past it and you’ll find that your discipline and consistency becomes second nature.