Wall Mount Bars........forever!

Well, the questions just keep coming so I will stick with it for another week. First, it was about the ideal thickness of a bar, then the finish and now lots of comments and inquires about strength and durability. I have had several guys quiz me on whether or not a bar would collapse or bend under the weight and abuse one would expect in most gym settings.

I gotta tell you, I can't even fathom what kind of bars these guys may have bought or made based on the stories they tell....ouch!

Now, this certainly isn't a new topic for Steelfit to address. After all, Steel is the main attraction in the products we advocate; "Steel for Strength" is our mantra for good reason afterall.

Steel itself is an iron alloy and iron alloys are mixtures of iron with other elements. In the case of most common steel, iron is mixed with carbon which gives it its strength and durability, making it the perfect match for our challenge of strong and durable pull up bars.

With that said, many of the wall mount pull up bars you see for home gyms, doorway types and other commercially available models may be made of steel(and many are not), but that does not make them all equal. You want to look out for those that use light weight wall pipe versus structural grade standard or extra strong steel pipe. If you come across a bar made of another material....aluminum, etc., then run. Also, check out the fabrication which is just as critical when assessing whether the bar will hold a 300 pound guy kipping away at top speed. Are there a lot of bolts that hold the brackets, bars and other components together? Welded joints are ideal, limiting the number of parts that show up in a bag for you to assemble and increase strength, durability and overall quality.

Often the culprit behind those sagging, bending or otherwise ineffective bars is not the bar at all but the quality of the install or the integrity of the surface it ishanging on. If hung hastily or without the proper hardware or expertise, even the most durable of bars won't do much for you in the long run. Don't rush the install and take the extra time to seek some help if you are unsure of the integrity of your install location and best method to ensure success.

Good bars are made with structural grade steel piping. While hanging the bars correctly and on a wall that can handle the load is key,attention to detail, hand welding and minimal bolts for assembly will ensure that your bars will last......forever.

Elk Grove Grinder

It was a few weeks back, but STEELFIT was happy to join the ranks of other fine sponsors for an awesome event out in Northern California. We have been getting numerous requests to support, sponsor, participate and supply bars for CrossFit and other fitness challenges & events around the country (and the globe).........way too cool and we are happy help!!!

Pictured here are the winners of the STEELFIT sponsored 2 Minute Pull Up Challenge at the Elk Grove Grinder hosted by CrossFit 916 earlier this month. Gary Baron of Rocklin CrossFit scored 79 and Valerie Calhoun of Rocklin CrossFit scored 63 taking top honors in the men's and women's divisions.....Awesome job................Henry from SacValley CrossFit and Rafael from CrossFit 209 Sport did 57 pull ups rounding out the top men. Sara from CrossFit 209 Sport who did 46 pull ups was the second place female finisher.



Included here are some other pics from the Grinder....looks like it was a well attended and highly spirited contest. The STEELFIT 2 minute Pull Up Challenge was a mini challenge included in what was an action packed day where the main event included 3 WOD's. The initial two WOD's determined the top athletes who would go on to compete in the Final WOD. Our friend, Blair Morrison, of CrossFit Anywhere took top honors to the day....congrats to Blair.



Wall Mount pull up bars, free standing pull up bars, bars for outdoor events/challenges, bars from beams, bars for heavy bags........full scale Strength Grids and more. STEELFIT has hit its stride as of late in finding all kinds of unique solutions for just about any circumstance dished out. This blog is and always will be about the pull up and about ideas, equipment and ways to enrich our pursuit for perfection. So keep the ideas and the challenges coming for us....its through your requests and creativity that keeps us coming up with new ways to support our passion.
So, the GRINDER earlier this month and other large scale and regional events in DC, NorCal, Virginia, Afghanistan coming up. Clearly, we are having fun with it and best of all, so are you....Keep PULLING!!!!!!!

A pull up for your thoughts.........

Working out for me is often the time where my mind wonders the most. Wondering in a good way that is; not when I am deep into a set of heavy lifts, but for that 60-90minutes that I reserve for myself each day, it is "MY" time.....for thinking, dreaming, organizing and re-grouping. While juggling home, work and so many life priorities, my work-out time is the respite from it all....and the foundation that keeps me going.

When thinking further on the topic, its clear that "rich" is a relative term, no? Rich financially is certainly nice. Honestly, I don't know of too many who say its completely unimportant. After all, we all like to have the money to buy the things we want and to do the things that make us happy. In contrast however, there are many rich and famous (think Charlie Sheen) who seem to be very much deprived of REAL riches in life.

A commitment to daily fitness is so much more than just exercise. For some it may be just a chore, ordered by the DOC to cut some weight or improve cardiovascular health. For athletes, it may be work; the training necessary to actually perform and excel in your chosen field. For many however, it is a choice to find balance and feel better about each day....a way of life that is more fulfilling than the empty alternative.

So one may wish for a penny for THEIR thoughts and seek financial wealth and riches. While that's all well and good, for me the riches found through my commitment to fitness each day is the wealth I seek....."a pull up for my thoughts"......far more rewarding in my book!

Backyard Bar & the "Murph"

Andrew Staples was the winner of the Anywherefit Steelfit pull up challenge back in Janaury. As the voters choice for the most creative "pull up" centric WOD/Video, he won the challenge and a new STEELFIT 48" classic pull up bar. When Andrew told us he planned on installing it out back on his shed, we knew we had to get him the metalized version that will withstand the outdoor elements for decades.

Check out the video Andrew shared recently giving his new STEELFIT bar a test run on a Crossfit classic,"MURPH"...................with a 30lb vest for a little extra fun!

Thanks for sharing Andrew.....

Back to the Basics............

I am reminded constantly at home, work, the gym and elsewhere that regular coaching and a good refresher is often the perfect prescription needed to jump start the mind and body. Getting back to the basics by reviewing the fundamentals and practicing can apply in just about all that we do in life. For example, as a life long sales professional by day, I never fail to gain "something" from going back through the sales process and reviewing the basic steps. This is the case, despite the fact that I have been selling to earn a paycheck for the better part of over two decades.

So what does this have to do with our gym time and with pull ups specifically; everything! In our workouts, we always want to add variety, try new things and keep the body guessing through randomized programming. We know this is necessary for continual gains. However, without the basics as a foundation, advanced work can often be counter productive. For STEELFIT, body weight exercises and specifically, pull ups, are as basic as it gets. If you are not currently dedicating some training time each week to develop the basics, we would encourage you to re-think the plan.

A Pull Up Review: Often overlooked for its awesome ability to build back, upper body and core strength, the pull up is really key for anyone serious about building strength. It's as pure as you can get and all you need is a bar, your body and the will.

As simple as they may seem, pull ups can be very intimidating for someone who doesn't have one yet though; I recall the day that I was right there struggling to get 1 strict dead hang pull up and could only imagine the day when I could blast out 10 or more. What I learned quickly however, was the absolute best way to do more pull ups was to do more pull ups. Like anything you want bad enough (and particularly for me), practice, practice, practice and eventually it clicks.

To learn and improve, I personally included pull up attempts into my workouts regularly with the aim at building strength and improving performance. There is a ton of material out there about how to train for pull up performance and in addition to just doing more pull ups, there were several other things I practiced to eventually get better:

Developing the Pull Up:
1) Do more pull ups - repetitions improve performance
2) Doing negatives - starting at the "up" position, slowly lower yourself down
3) Assisted pull ups with bands - attach resistance bands to a bar and place feet or knees in bands and pull
4) Jumping pull ups
5) Lat pull downs - Machine exercise that closely resembles the pull up motion but nothing beats the real deal

Advanced Pull up Performance:
1) Do more pull ups - practice, practice and practice some more
2) Add weight; use a weighted vest or hang plates from a weight belt with a chain or hold dumbells between your feet or thighs
3) Rope Climbs - a variety of rope climb variations all support upper body and back strength
4) Thick Bar Pull Ups - incredible for forearm and grip strength
5) Kipping - allows for increased "work" and achieving high repetitions
6) Vary hand grips for additional challenge...commando grips, towel pulls, close grip, wide grip, etc.

The case has been made firmly that the pull up is an awesome exercise with a multitude of benefits. Clearly, there are things you can do when you are building the skill initially and even more you can practice to improve advanced performance.

However, don't get complacent and fail to regularly review and practice. If we want to take those next steps and see continual growth and development......Getting back to basics is often just what we need.

Anywherefit STEELFIT Pull Up Challenge...

And the winner is.............Andrew from Virginia Beach. Congratulations!!

To celebrate our passion for pull ups and to support our on-going Pursuit for perfection, we partnered with Blair Morrison and Anywhwerefit to challenge his followers. The challenge was a simple one; create a pull up "centric" work-out, get it on film and make sure it included tons of creativity and of course.......great pull ups.

With over 60% of the votes from Blair's readers, Andrew's (now almost epic) belt video was the winner and well deserved. It goes without saying though that others were VERY impressive too....and the level of passion and creativity displayed overall was very, very respectable. It is pretty clear now to STEELFIT that there are any others that share our passion for the pull up.



STEELFIT wants to give a shout out to Blair for allowing us to partner with him. Andrew will be getting a STEELFIT classic 48" Straight Pull Up Bar this week along with a STEELFIT "S" T-shirt. For now, he's our newest man of steel. Of course, we are hopeful that Andrew will hang up his belt for a while (or hang it from the STEELFIT bar)...... for his next video attempt.

Thanks to all and remember, why just be fit, when you can be STEELFIT!!!

Just Pulls......again!

Not the first time I have titled a post with this simple pledge. This IS the pursuit of the perfect pull up right?

It's been a couple of weeks that I have been working in some gym time with a buddy Mike. My job was to introduce him to some high intensity, CrossFit style work and on "his" days, we would get back down to some old fashioned weight lifting.

He announced that Friday would be Back and Biceps and I was particularly pleased when he inquired if I was OK with a high rep pull up work out. I think he forgot my alter ego as STEELFIT. The workout:

3 sets of each pull up variety until failure
Each set includes the following, with 2 minute second rest between exercises

Behind the neck pull ups
Close grip pull ups
Upder hand grip chin ups
Wide grip strict pull ups

We finished off our pull up work with some off balance negatives..........giving us a jump start to our bicep work. Overall, it was alot of fun and REALLY torched the arms and back. In fact, the workout reminded be of some thougths that I have written about before and often quote when asked.

FROM A PREVIOUS POST:
Often overlooked for its awesome ability to build back, upper body and core strength, the pull up is really key for anyone serious about building strength. It's as pure as you can get and all you need is a bar, your body and the will.

As simple as they may seem, pull ups can be very intimidating for someone who doesn't have one yet though; it wasn't too long ago that I was right there. I recall when I was struggling to get 1 strict dead hang pull up and could only imagine the day when I could blast out 10 or more. What I learned quickly however, was the absolute best way to do more pull ups was to do more pull ups. Like anything you want bad enough (and particularly for me), practice, practice, practice and eventually it clicks.

While there is a ton of material out there about how to train for pull up performance and in addition to just doing more pull ups, there were several other things I practiced to eventually get better:

Developing the Pull Up:

1) Do more pull ups - repetitions improve performance
2) Doing negatives - starting at the "up" position, slowly lower yourself down
3) Assisted pull ups with resistance bands - attach bands to a bar and place feet or knees in bands and pull
4) Jumping pull ups
5) Lat pull downs - Machine exercise that closely resembles the pull up motion

Advanced Pull up Performance:

1) Do more pull ups - practice, practice and practice some more
2) Add weight; use a weighted vest or hang plates from a weight belt with a chain or hold dumbbells between your feet or thighs
3) Rope Climbs - a variety of rope climb variations all support upper body and back strength
4) Thick Bar Pull Ups - incredible for forearm and grip strength
5) Kipping - allows for increased "work" and achieving high repetitions
6) Vary hand grips for additional challenge

So the case can be made that the pull up is an awesome exercise and clearly there are things you can do when you are building the skill initially and even more you can practice to improve advanced performance.

When all is said and done, however, the best way to get better at doing pull ups, is to do MORE pull ups............JUST PULLS.......again and again!!