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Seth Berkman is a writer covering fitness. He's showered with swim goggles and lugged thousands of pounds of weights on the subway to test durability. brass recessed drawer pulls
After another round of testing, the Ultimate Body Press Elevated XL Doorway Pull-Up Bar is now our top pick.
A great pull-up bar can burn the muscles throughout your upper body (that’s a good thing!) while remaining gentle on your doors and woodwork.
Since 2015, we’ve installed and worked out with dozens of pull-up bars, and we’ve found that the Ultimate Body Press Elevated XL Doorway Pull-Up Bar is the most versatile.
This sturdy pull-up bar has thick, ultra-accommodating grips and can adjust for various doorway sizes, but it takes up more space than most.
Designed for smaller-framed bodies, this more compact bar is solidly built and offers unique grips.
This straight pull-up bar is less versatile, but it’s ideal for someone with a smaller door space.
We prioritized pull-up bars that felt secure and didn’t shake much when we performed our test exercises.
We looked for bars with sturdy parts, easy instructions, and padding to reduce potential door damage.
This sturdy pull-up bar has thick, ultra-accommodating grips and can adjust for various doorway sizes, but it takes up more space than most.
The Ultimate Body Press Elevated XL Doorway Pull-Up Bar barely shook on our door, providing a strong sense of security. The various grip positions accommodate different body sizes and enable you to try workouts at angles that other bars don’t offer. The horizontal crossbar can be adjusted from 24 to 36 inches wide, making it installable in many doorways. It’s just as sturdy on the floor when being used as an aid for push-ups, but it can be difficult to store.
Designed for smaller-framed bodies, this more compact bar is solidly built and offers unique grips.
Along with traditional straight grips, the Stamina Doorway Trainer Plus has curved, U-shaped handles that create a unique secondary grip option, which none of our other picks have. It’s a more compact bar that is better for people with narrower shoulders and/or smaller bodies overall. This bar has a listed maximum weight of 250 pounds, which is 50 pounds less than our top pick’s weight limit.
This straight pull-up bar is less versatile, but it’s ideal for someone with a smaller door space.
The Garren Fitness Maximiza is a straight, simple bar (with no protruding handles) that fits in a doorframe, as opposed to going over the top of a door. Both ends can be extended out to fit 27- to 39-inch widths, and the bar is covered with a soft and comfortable hand grip. You can still do push-ups, perform chin-ups, and hang from the bar like you would on a top-of-the-door model, but you will have less height to do so, making it a not-so-great choice for people with taller frames (unless you have high doors).
To find the best pull-up bars, we interviewed a personal trainer and a sports science professor and coach, read countless customer reviews, and assessed long-term testing notes from Wirecutter staff.
Seth Berkman is a staff writer covering fitness for Wirecutter. He’s also the author of Wirecutter’s guides to adjustable dumbbells and treadmills, among other exercise equipment.
Pull-ups are an effective way to increase strength and coordination across multiple joints and muscle groups. Pulling, as a movement pattern in an exercise context, is essential for targeting the posterior muscles of the back and shoulders and is a more challenging movement pattern to create in a bodyweight training program than its front-of-body partner, pushing. A door-mounted pull-up bar is a relatively inexpensive piece of equipment that makes pull-up exercises accessible for many at home.
Before buying a pull-up bar, you need to measure the height of your doors compared to your height and arm reach, said Joseph Marsit, a teaching professor and program director at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. Taller people who can easily reach above the door height will usually need to bend their knees or modify their position to do a full pull-up.
There is no standard molding size for a pull-up bar’s supports to sit atop or line up against. We wouldn’t recommend using these on wide or crown molding. You should also consider the door-opening depth. If you have exceptionally thick walls plus molding, you may run into trouble with more shallowly built bars.
If pull-ups are too difficult for you, you might want to start by trying chin-ups (in which you grip your hands toward your body, as opposed to away from it) or doing dead hangs, which help improve grip strength and target the upper back, shoulders, and core. Marsit said that while chin-ups are somewhat easier for most people, both chin-ups and pull-ups are compound movements that put greater stress on the bicep muscle group when compared to isolation exercises like dumbbell or barbell curls, and thus create the potential to gain more strength and size in the bicep.
Pull-up bars can also aid in countering upper cross syndrome, a condition caused by “excessive ‘pushing’ patterns, computer, and phone use,” Marsit said. Upper cross syndrome is identified by forward rounding of the shoulders, a forward head tilt, and a rounding of the upper back, so strengthening the pulling muscles helps combat the stresses people encounter in their daily lives.
If you have enough space—like in a garage or basement with beams that can bear heavy loads—you might be able to make your own pull-up bar. Plenty of plans exist online on YouTube and home-workshop sites, but as with any pull-up bar you might install at home, you’ll want to be sure it is structurally sound and can accommodate plenty of weight and force for your needs.
We focused on cantilever-style pull-up bars that can hang in a doorway. They are easy to install and uninstall, and they don’t require any permanent alterations to your house. Most of the models we considered mount directly on doorway molding.
These pull-up bars typically offer several grip options, including wide overhand, close horizontal (popular for underhand-grip chin-ups), and narrow neutral grip, which can be safer for people who have shoulder issues. Different grips also allow you to vary your workouts. Curved or angled grips and elevated bars improve the experience for taller people, who typically have to bend their knees at the bottom of the move.
Altogether we’ve tested 16 doorway-mount pull-up bars. The bars we tested can accommodate maximum weights ranging from 220 to 350 pounds. As we installed and used each bar, we considered:
Grip placement, design, and comfort: Testers of various body sizes and athletic abilities hung from each bar, noting if there was any initial bowing or sagging. Testers also did a variety of pull-ups and chin-ups from each grip on every bar.
Ease of assembly: For each bar, we noted the clarity (or lack thereof) of the instructions and the quality (or lack thereof) of any included tools. We noted whether the bars left marks, dents, or chipped paint on the top of our doorframes, where the crossbar rests.
Ease of storage: We also noted the amount of storage space needed, if you prefer not to have a pull-up bar always hanging on your door or in your doorway.
This sturdy pull-up bar has thick, ultra-accommodating grips and can adjust for various doorway sizes, but it takes up more space than most.
The Ultimate Body Press Elevated XL Doorway Pull-Up Bar offers the most options to accommodate people with different heights, arm lengths, levels of strength, and door sizes. It is also the sturdiest bar we tested. Some testers referred to it as our “Texas” pick, because at 36 inches long—plus four large front handles—it is a behemoth of a pull-up bar (and even resembles the horns on a Longhorn steer). Its design curves up in the front, allowing for more vertical space for pull-ups (which is better for taller frames or people with longer arms).
It accommodates people of many sizes. The Elevated XL Doorway Pull-Up Bar has handles that curve up and away from the horizontal support crossbar, creating a higher point for the main grips. This allows taller people more room, whereas grips that are placed at the same height as the crossbar might mean that a taller user has to bend their knees when performing pull-ups. Smaller people shouldn’t be scared off because of its size, but if you have a tall doorway, you might need to use a step stool to reach the top bars. The bar is rated to support up to 300 pounds.
It fits doors of many different sizes. When assembled with the included crossbar extenders, the Elevated XL Doorway Pull-Up Bar can fit doorways up to 36 inches wide (3 inches wider than most bars available). Without the extenders, it can be installed in doorways as narrow as 24 inches.
It offers a strong sense of security. There is very little movement when doing pull-ups on the Elevated XL (sometimes a crossbar will jerk against your door). The bars are also bigger than the ones on other models we tested, measuring almost 1 inch thicker in circumference than those of our other picks.
It’s good for push-ups, too. Many pull-up bars are designed to support push-ups on the floor. We found the thicker, upward-curved bars to be steady, and they provided an ample anchor for both push-ups and dips.
The bar has a 10-year warranty.
Perhaps because of the sheer size and unique bar placement of the Ultimate Body Press Elevated XL, it took longer to assemble (around 30 minutes) than other bars. The instructions were also not the most straightforward—they consisted of a single diagram, without a written step-by-step guide.
It’s also bulky. If you plan on storing this pull-up bar when not using it, you’re going to need a lot of space. In one tester’s New York City studio, it didn’t fit underneath a bed and took up too much room in a 28-inch-wide closet, so it mostly laid out in a corner when not on the door.
Designed for smaller-framed bodies, this more compact bar is solidly built and offers unique grips.
People with smaller frames or narrower shoulders may be happier with the Stamina Doorway Trainer Plus, which has a lower weight rating than our other picks but is also easier to assemble. It has several grip options that can target many muscles throughout your upper body.
Like the Ultimate Body Press Elevated XL Doorway Pull-Up Bar, this bar can also be used for floor exercises, but it’s less ergonomically friendly for that use.
There are grips galore. On first impression, this bar looks like it has fewer grips than our other over-the-door picks, but its U-shaped handles allow for several hand positions. You can place your hand at the front of the curve or on the outer or inner sides; there’s also space for gripping at the back of the curve where the handle meets the crossbar, as well as on the inside of the crossbar.
It’s better for smaller bodies. The Stamina Doorway Trainer Plus is a bit smaller than our top pick. It also has a lower weight rating (250 pounds).
Expect some slight sag. Testers ranging in weight from 170 to 220 pounds noted that the crossbar sagged a bit in the middle, even with a center bolt that’s meant to provide extra security. If you’re closer to 250 pounds (the bar’s listed weight limit), this could deter you, lest the crossbar bend further or break after repeated use.
The bar has a one-year warranty for the frame and 90 days for parts.
This straight pull-up bar is less versatile, but it’s ideal for someone with a smaller door space.
If you want a doorway-mounted pull-up bar that requires minimal assembly and won’t take up much room, the Garren Fitness Maximiza is a solid option.
You can set it and forget it. The bar can be installed by wedging it in between two sides of a doorframe (think of how you install an extendable tension rod for a shower curtain). While we tried some reps this way, we highly suggest using the enclosed brackets that can be screwed into the doorframe for extra security. You can twist out extenders on each side to fit your doorway—it’s easy to do this while holding up the bar in between your doorframe and then securing the two ends with screws.
It’s stable and comfortable. A cushioned lining around the bar prevents wear and calluses on your hands. For people who want a pull-up bar for hanging, the design of this bar may feel more natural than the curved handles on our other picks. One tester who installed it in a doorway where people enter and exit frequently noted that they barely noticed its presence (you can fully close a door with the bar installed, unlike with our other picks).
It’s less versatile than our other picks. Because of the Garren Fitness Maximiza’s straightforward design, you can’t use it for floor exercises, and your grip positions are more limited. Also, because you put this in a doorway, it will be several inches below the top of the door (you want to leave enough room for your hands to wrap around it). So it’s not the best option for taller people with smaller doorways.
The bar has a limited lifetime warranty.
If you want a wider grip position with extra space for your elbows: The Perfect Fitness Multi-Gym Pro may be the pull-up bar for you. It has three grip positions (including an extra-wide one) and is relatively easy to assemble and store (it is 5.5 inches shorter in width than our top pick). However, some long-term testers have reported quality issues, including gouges and scuffs on doorframes. A 6-foot tester said they felt cramped using this bar. Long-term testers have also said that some of the bar’s parts became loose after repeated use, requiring occasional tightening. In addition, testers who have owned this pick for more than a year have noted that the hand grips have flattened and flaked. The bar has a one-year warranty.
The Decathlon 500 Strength Training Pull-Up Bar is designed very much like the Perfect Fitness Multi-Gym Pro but was less sturdy in our testing, wobbling even with the addition of safety cleats that are supposed to secure the bar to a doorframe. Customer reviews mention bars bending and missing parts.
The Gym1 Power Fitness Package is expensive, but it’s safety rated for use by children. However, it took the longest of any model to put together, and it takes up a lot of space. The addition of vise clamps on the side of the main bar, while adding extra support, also made it a pain to uninstall.
The Iron Gym Pull-Up Bar has the highest weight limit of any bar we’ve tested (350 pounds). However, one tester who weighs 170 pounds observed noticeable wobbling when using the bar and felt like it bent toward the middle during pull-ups. The grip padding is also not as comfortable as other models’.
Slightly smaller than the similarly priced Stamina Doorway Trainer Plus, the Perfect Fitness Multi-Gym Sport is a solid basic option if you prefer a higher, 300-pound weight rating. That said, its grips offer among the least variety, and the wide ones may not be wide enough for people with broader shoulders.
The Perfect Fitness Multi-Gym Elite’s rubber (rather than foam) support bumpers are what dropped it out of contention: Without sitting flush on the walls around your door, they won’t make contact on decorative door trim as well as the more moldable foam can.
The ProsourceFit Doorway Pull-Up Bar, another in-door model, has a weight limit of only 220 pounds. It also felt less sturdy compared to the Garren Fitness Maximiza.
We passed on the Prosource Fit Heavy-Duty Easy Gym Doorway Pull-Up Bar based on customer reviews noting significant doorframe damage.
The Sagler Pull-Up Bar was just about as sturdy as our picks and relatively easy to put together. We had concerns about its durability, though, since its warranty is for only 30 days (most pull-up bars have a warranty of at least one year, while our top pick has a 10-year warranty).
Several customer reviewers have reported needing to wrap door supports on the Yes4All Deluxe Chin-Up Bar with cloth in order to avoid scuffing or digging into a doorframe. We chose not to test it.
This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.
Adolph Bellamy, CSCS, personal trainer and athletic coach, in-person interview, September 6, 2017
Joseph Marsit, teaching professor and program director at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University, email interview, August 9, 2023
Seth Berkman is a staff writer at Wirecutter, covering fitness. He previously covered sports and health for several years as a freelancer for The New York Times. He is passionate about making fitness reporting accessible to people of all levels, whether they’re serious marathoners or first-time gym-goers. He is the author of A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History.
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