Lidl Chin-Up Bar+ Swiss ball

willietherock

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20091005.p.Chin-Up_Bar
I workout at home with a rack/bench/barball/bumbbells/floormat.
Are the chinup bar and swiss ball worth getting?
Does the chin up bar against a doorframe stay in place?I've visions of ending up on the floor looking like a plonker.
Is the swiss ball worth getting? If so what are the best routines that ye use it for?

d'Oracle

I like swiss balls.
You can do some good stuff on them.

I just bought the Bar.
No Idea if its anygood yet.

dioltas

I got a similar bar in argos a good while back, the kind that you stick in the door frame, and never had any problems with it.

Zamboni

Max weight 95kg

Key piece of information right there.

rubadub

Zamboni wrote: »

Max weight 95kg

Key piece of information right there.

I have 2 chinup bars, both said 95kg, and I have had 135kg on both of them with no problems. These all have factors of safety built in. I have over 100kg on my 60kg rated hollow ezcurl bar. My chinup bar is between 2 narrow walls, one is just flimsy partition type wall.

Does the chin up bar against a doorframe

You get 2 sockets that screw into the wall/frame, think of those little candles you get in short metal cups. The cups screw into the wall and the bar has telescopic ends which twist out and into the cups.

If you have a side passage you could get 2 chinup bars and make a dip station.

If I had no walls close together I would not get a door frame chinup bar like that though, too low for my liking. I woudl get a doorway gym type one like this
http://www.irish-lifting.com/product_info_equipment.php?products_id=270
and/or gymnastic rings.

DamienH

I'm pretty sure the factor of safety on most products is 100%, so it'd probably be good for about 190kg. That's the old leaving certificate engineering for ya

Do these chin up bars mark your door frame?

rubadub

Moonbaby wrote: »

Do these chin up bars mark your door frame?

They do, you have to screw in sockets on the wall. Sort of like this set.


I think some people just screwed out the telescopic ends for a friction fit against the frame, but I would not advise this. The one from Irish lifting that I posted is removable and should not mark the frame, you could put extra padding on the bits that contact the wall to be sure.

But in general you have to be quite strong to have good use of a chinup bar. Women naturally have lower upper body strength in proportion to their legs. e.g. I have heard g'em saying she cannot do pullups. I could do 16 proper chins on a good day, and 2 reps with an extra 40kg attached, BUT, g'em can deadlift, bench and squat FAR more than I can. In the US marines they women do not do chinups at all in their fitness tests.

Also overweight lads starting out would find it very difficult. A great progression tool is gymnastic rings, since you can do bodyrows etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNPE40qNQw8

You can eventually progress to chinups and full dips on the rings, and there are many ring exercises I am still nowhere near strong enough to do.

Lots of ones that are not too hard are here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjyRdlhc2bo

Also you could hang rings from a bit of wood spanning your attic hole.

d'Oracle

They have the option Rubadub, but you don't have to screw them in.

I havent used mine yet so obviously I can't say how well it works without them.

rubadub

d'Oracle wrote: »

They have the option Rubadub, but you don't have to screw them in.

I have 2 bars and it looks like one of mine, but in mine the instructions didn't say it was optional, so I presumed this was meant to be screwed in. If your doorframe was slightly tapered the wrong way, i.e. wider at the bottom than top I could see it slipping down. I didn't think the surface area would provide enough area for a friction fit. Perhaps they would fall past 95kg with just friction.

d'Oracle

rubadub wrote: »

If your doorframe was slightly tapered the wrong way, i.e. wider at the bottom than top I could see it slipping down. I didn't think the surface area would provide enough area for a friction fit.

They do include some warnings relating to that in the instructions.
Frankly I'm not sure how much I would trust the fixings anymore than the friction pads.

Anyhow, I will post my experiences when I get a chance.

Out of curiosity, How does the irish lifting one fix?

rubadub

d'Oracle wrote: »

Frankly I'm not sure how much I would trust the fixings anymore than the friction pads.

With the fixings you have the best of both worlds, the pressure is holding it with friction and then the fixings too. There were 3 screws in each socket thing, some have come a little loose in my wall, i.e. they have been forced downwards, elongating the holes. But it is not like they can fall outwards, like if you hung off a wall mounted plasma TV, since the pressure keeps them apart.

You would be surprised at how strong things can be, I test stuff to destruction in work, I have swung out of 3mm diameter screws with all my bodyweight and they were fine! Bu it was tensile, i.e. the screw was pointing upwards.

d'Oracle wrote: »

Out of curiosity, How does the irish lifting one fix?

It is a cantilever effect, when you hold on the bar it sort of hinges on the frame, and a backstop bar pushes on the other side of the doorframe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6uiYbyr6ek

d'Oracle

rubadub wrote: »

With the fixings you have the best of both worlds, the pressure is holding it with friction and then the fixings too. There were 3 screws in each socket thing, some have come a little loose in my wall, i.e. they have been forced downwards, elongating the holes. But it is not like they can fall outwards, like if you hung off a wall mounted plasma TV, since the pressure keeps them apart.

You would be surprised at how strong things can be, I test stuff to destruction in work, I have swung out of 3mm diameter screws with all my bodyweight and they were fine! Bu it was tensile, i.e. the screw was pointing upwards.

I was referring specifically to the Lidl one.
The one in your pick is better, in that it has three screws and a slot-in type bracket if I'm not mistaken.

The Lidl one just has two screws and two plastic studs/washers.
And holes in the rubber pads at the ends.

Not exactly inspiring stuff!!

Cheers, If this turns out naff I might shell out for the IL one.

rubadub

d'Oracle wrote: »

I was referring specifically to the Lidl one.
The one in your pick is better, in that it has three screws and a slot-in type bracket if I'm not mistaken.

The Lidl one just has two screws and two plastic studs/washers.
And holes in the rubber pads at the ends.

Ah, right! Mine came with the caps (they were already on the ends loose) and I also got similar sounding things to what you got, these were intended to be but down low on the doorframe and used for situps, feet going under the bar.

d'Oracle

It appears one end is ceased up....

Up yours Lidl.:mad:

Jimmy Bottlehead

d'Oracle wrote: »

It appears one end is ceased up....

Up yours Lidl.:mad:

Huh??

d'Oracle

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

Huh??

Just got it.

Its got two telescopic ends.
They screw out.
One of the wouldnt move, I thought it had ceased.
But I managed to wrangle it out.

Just hung out of it.
Seems to work ok.

rubadub

d'Oracle wrote: »

Its got two telescopic ends.
They screw out.

The argos york one has only one telescopic end. I prefer the other one as it is more symmetrical. It is best to twist both ends out the same amount, then when both ends are touching the wall you can twist the middle bar, both ends should remain fixed and you are still twisting them outwards as you turn the middle. I used grippy rubber coated gloves to do this.

d'Oracle

Well it works anyway.

Did some body rows and some slow negatives on it.

Thumbs up.

rubadub

d'Oracle wrote: »

Did some body rows and some slow negatives on it.

I never even thought of that! i.e. the fact it is always removable you can change the height as you want, it would be handy for the likes of rows where as you progress you can change height yet keep in your preferred rep range.