New Pull up Bar

Remember this? This is my original pull up bar SD made for me to use in my strength training exercises a couple of months ago.

Swede loved this invention so much he built a similar pull up bar with a little more versatility and has had me use it each week for several new exercises.

Finally SD upgraded my old bar by building me a new one to match Swede's changes and here it is:

The new stands are much taller and have 3 sets of holes so the bar can be raised or lowered to allow this equipment to be used in many more kinds of exercises.

And as you can see it's very sturdy and heavy duty, capable of supporting a lot of weight. Combined the 3 of them weigh about 145lbs. and SD can also hang from this bar and do pull ups.

Instead of the old bar that was part of some scraps from the dog run fence, this new bar is thinner, has better grips and has screw on nuts on both sides of the wood base which makes this pull up bar MUCH more stable! Before the old system would sway back and forth as you hung from it, so you needed someone else to hold the bar still, but this one is way more sturdy and doesn't move at all.

So where'd the new bar come from? From this! Our new weight bench! SD had done some work transferring some old slides into digital photos for a friend at work who gave him $70 for the work, and another guy at work was selling this weight set for only $100...so it only cost us $30 for all of it!!!

The pull up bar stores conveniently behind the weight bench and then we can simply switch the bar back to the weight set when we want to use it. This is so great because it's something SD and I can both use!

I was so shocked and excited at the deal we managed to get on this set and couldn't wait to use it, just thinking of all the new uses in my exercises. We did some rearranging in the living room, moving the girls computer and switching around the furniture to make room for what's becoming our home gym, which is awesome!

Now I have my treadmill, all my hand weights, my foam roll, resistance band, and this new weight bench all in one great location. I still keep my stability ball up in my closet and only bring it out when I'm using it because it's much too much like a big toy for the kids.

And we still have plenty of floor space for exercises and the rest of the living room use. I can't wait to show Swede this new set...although I know I might regret that decision later as he comes up with all kinds of new weight lifting exercises.

But I know if we left this set in the garage I would never use it. Having it in the living room allows me to use the equipment while keeping an eye on the kids at the same time.