Getting stall bars!!! YAY… Which one of these two?

[Lee Brown]

They look great @Suzanna McGee - please make sure you do updates once you've got them set up and in use. 

 

[Barry Johnston]

Congrats on the new bars @Suzanna McGee. Has anyone bought the bars from Rogue Fitness or are they just over priced?

[Coach Sommer]

Hi Barry,

Currently the rogue stall bars are my personal favorite.  Made out of steel and built like a tank.  And at 43" wide they have enough width to accommodate a grown man during straddle work.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Daniel Taylor-Shaut]

On 10/20/2016 at 1:25 AM, Barry Johnston said:

Congrats on the new bars @Suzanna McGee. Has anyone bought the bars from Rogue Fitness or are they just over priced?

As far as I can tell the Rogue products, though expensive, are really well-made. So, the price speaks for itself. Furthermore, the items they sell are hard to find and purchase elsewhere online or in-store. So, it is a tradeoff, I guess. 

[Suzanna McGee]

9 hours ago, Barry Johnston said:

Congrats on the new bars @Suzanna McGee. Has anyone bought the bars from Rogue Fitness or are they just over priced?

I was looking at the Rogue's stall bars at first too, because I liked how wide they are… But they are only 7'6" high and I think if you are taller than 5'10" and want to hang freely then you need higher ones. Plus I like the oval rungs too... I think the price is fine with the quality you get... I am putting mine in the living room, so the wood will fit better, it's going to be like a sexy piece of furniture  

It's funny, I don't have enough space for people to come and sit and socialize, but I have space for stall bars, a pole in the middle of the room, a bunch of kettlebells and rollers and rings and yoga wheels and balance pads, and so much more

[Barry Johnston]

15 hours ago, Suzanna McGee said:

But they are only 7'6" high and I think if you are taller than 5'10" and want to hang freely then you need higher ones.

Thats a good point about the height and hanging freely.  I'm 6'3" so that's something I'll need to consider.

Is it absolutely critical that they are mounted with the base of the bars touching the floor, could I not just mount them higher on the wall?  Or I suppose I could put a couple of wooden blocks on the base so it still has the proper support if I am trying to mount it higher.

If I were to mount my stall bars higher on the wall, would it be a problem not having the bottom couple of bars nice and low to the ground?

[Suzanna McGee]

8 hours ago, Barry Johnston said:

Thats a good point about the height and hanging freely.  I'm 6'3" so that's something I'll need to consider.

Is it absolutely critical that they are mounted with the base of the bars touching the floor, could I not just mount them higher on the wall?  Or I suppose I could put a couple of wooden blocks on the base so it still has the proper support if I am trying to mount it higher.

If I were to mount my stall bars higher on the wall, would it be a problem not having the bottom couple of bars nice and low to the ground?

When I was talking to the gentleman who makes those stall bars, he said that putting a block under them would be ok. You want to support the vertical forces and not let the wall mounting do the work. At 6'3" you definitely want taller ones. Maybe even the 7'10" could be too short, but if you have high ceilings then definitely put a block under. I have the regular 8 inch ceilings, so I don't have much room to play with. I think the raised bottom rungs don't make so much difference in our (tall) case. 

[Kai Ewert]

There are two potential advantages of having low rungs that I am aware of.

1. I have seen people do nordic hamstring curls using stall bars to hold their legs in place. That was the main reason I made sure the rungs on the bars I made for myself extend down all the way, in contrast to the bars that I was using in a gym. As it turns out, I haven't used those bottom rungs for this purpose, instead I've used either a cheap selfmade setup or a lat pulldown machine.  

2. Some inverted stretches on the stall bars will be scarier to do with your feet higher. I'd say it's a minor factor especially if you can get some padding or your bars are solid. I actually had rung on my bar break (these stretches also put a big strain on the bars) - it was a pine rung that I thought I'd test out to compare with the other, poplar, ones (which flex more but haven't broken on me). Nothing bad happened. (I am less than 180 lb in case you are wondering.) 

So in summary, not a major deal breaker from my experience

[Barry Johnston]

@Kai Ewert thanks for your input, gives me something else to consider.

[Tyson Rogers]

Great job deciding Suzanna! I'm having a really hard time picking. 

[Suzanna McGee]

Just wanted to give an update… I finally decided to get the Infitness brand, home made in Maine. I go the Rangeley version: https://infitnessequipment.com/collections/wall-bars/products/rangeley from white ash 7'10" (because I am 6 feet tall). When I hang on the top bar, I do not reach the ground, so it is a perfect height for me. They are a really beautiful piece of furniture.

@Tyson Rogers  asked me a few questions, so I am answering them here in case other people want to know. The rungs are pretty close to the wall. It is not a really big problem, but maybe if I would do it again, maybe I would put the extra blocks that one can purchase to get the stall bars slightly more away from the wall. My toes often hit the wall, so I can rest my forefoot on it (the wall). I am still able to get my arm through behind the wall (not sure if I am going to need it, but some sorts of therapy do that). But my arms are not very big. I am thinking that a man maybe would have problems. 

They were really easy to put together, you get all the screws nicely packaged and labeled, all holes predrilled. The bars were making "cracking" sounds in the beginning, quite noisy. I asked Adam (the company owner), he tested the rung for the pressure and stress, and it is supposedly normal with hard wood that needs to settle (the holes, screws, and all that). As long as they are not falling off the wall, I should be fine  (It took me forever to find the studs in the house, oooooold house, so I am really not sure about my work on that wall, lol)

I love them and highly recommend, if you like that style. 

 

 

[Maaya Wilton]

Hi Suzanna,  I'm new to GB and looking to purchase stall bars for my home. Thank you for your posts, very informative.  I was wondering how you like your Infitness stall bars? How have they held up? Any information you (or anyone else) could share about bars they have purchased and used for at least a few months would be appreciated.  It is not realistic for me to build my own so I'm considering either  Rogue  or Infitness. Thanks so much!

[Suzanna McGee]

@Maaya Wilton, I LOVE my stall bars. They are holding up great and they look really good in my living room as well. The only thing that I sometimes think about is that I got the oval rungs, and sometimes I think if it would have been better to get the round ones. In some things when the hands rotate around the rung during the exercise, it feels a bit uncomfortable. But it could be just because my grips are not strong enough (yet). Maybe some other people can chirp in about the oval/round rungs… Also, my distance of the rungs from the wall is not very far, and sometimes I wish I had more space for my (big) feet  :-) But this is not really a large problem. Besides what I wrote, I wish I got them much much much earlier. 

[John Cunningham]

@Suzanna McGee @Maaya Wilton I have had my stall bars for over a year now and am very happy with them. I have the oval rungs and not felt any requirement for the round ones. If I was to tweak thinks a little now, I would have the lowest rung a little higher so I could comfortably hook my heels underneath for things like the glute ham raise, possibly increase the spacing of the rungs so I could fit my feet through. I have big feet though ! Also make it a little taller as I can just about touch the floor on my tip toes. Although if I had put it on a couple of blocks when I first installed it that would have resolved those issues.

[Maaya Wilton]

Awesome info ! Thanks John and Suzanna. 

[Kai Ewert]

I find that I don't use my stall bars for the glute-ham raise even though I designed the measurements so that I could. They are in my garage though which could be part of it, and I have another option that I made for the glute-ham raises. 

For some of the iMs in the press HS/HS2 course, you actually will want the rungs to be close enough so that you can bridge the gap with your feet, at least that is my experience.

[Benjamin Nutt]

On 10/10/2016 at 3:46 AM, John Cunningham said:

I have that exact Artimex one. It's really solid and well built and will last and look classy too. The oval rungs are best especially when hanging as they are more comfortable on your back.

There are plenty of accessories you can get with the Artimex one like pull up bars and dip stations but I haven't felt the need for them just yet.

Is that thing bolted to the wall? Am I just not seeing the bolts?

Asking because I REALLY want (need) stall bars, and want to do minimal damage to the walls in my rented apartment.

[John Cunningham]

Yes they are. There are two in each of the crossbars on the wall. You can see one bolt in the top one just outside the ring strap. Nothing a little filler couldn't rectify once removed.

[Jin Liu]

18 hours ago, John Cunningham said:

Yes they are. There are two in each of the crossbars on the wall. You can see one bolt in the top one just outside the ring strap. Nothing a little filler couldn't rectify once removed.

I'm getting the same exact one as yours! I like that it has a bar that's further behind all the other bars. More grip options, and gotta be good for stretching the shoulders and T spines too.  Can't wait to get it!  It's been over two weeks. They did create a UPS shipping label, but the item's still not shipped. Is that normal? I'm literally checking it everyday, cuz that's how bad I want it, lol. 

@Benjamin Nutt I was the same! I knew I was going to move, so I waited until I moved to a house now. But I almost got one of those standalone stall bars, with long legs at the bottom. Saw some girl (prolly lighter weight than you) doing a side lever on it, and looks stable to me (she also did it smoothly without struggle). Looked briefly on Artimex, and they carry those but only half height. You can probably DIY. It does require much more space than a wall mount.

[Benjamin Nutt]

2 hours ago, Jin Liu said:

I'm getting the same exact one as yours! I like that it has a bar that's further behind all the other bars. More grip options, and gotta be good for stretching the shoulders and T spines too.  Can't wait to get it!  It's been over two weeks. They did create a UPS shipping label, but the item's still not shipped. Is that normal? I'm literally checking it everyday, cuz that's how bad I want it, lol. 

@Benjamin Nutt I was the same! I knew I was going to move, so I waited until I moved to a house now. But I almost got one of those standalone stall bars, with long legs at the bottom. Saw some girl (prolly lighter weight than you) doing a side lever on it, and looks stable to me (she also did it smoothly without struggle). Looked briefly on Artimex, and they carry those but only half height. You can probably DIY. It does require much more space than a wall mount.

Any chance you've got links to a DIY version? Those half height ones won't cut it for me at 6' tall

[John Cunningham]

@Jin Liu Yeah, I'm in the UK and they did take a little while , I can't quite remember how long it took but they were delivered from Germany. I'm sure they will get there ok.

[Kai Ewert]

stand-alone stall bars just sound sketchy as heck to me... Four bolts are all you need, into studs. And you can use the newer screws that replace lag bolts, they will leave a smaller hole... something like this: http://a.co/3vc7ISp

[Jin Liu]

2 hours ago, Benjamin Nutt said:

Any chance you've got links to a DIY version? Those half height ones won't cut it for me at 6' tall

I agree with Kai that if there's studs in your wall, it's better to do the wall mount. It's just better than the standalone in every way. I used to rent in a high rise, and it's all metal frame + dry wall, and no wood studs to be found. I don't have any link to a standalone DIY. I just briefly saw this girl's instagram vid a while ago. Found the link (ok, remembered it wrong. It's a guy on the standalone stall bar, and it's a bit shakey). But if you are really stuck and out of option, at least the standalone is good if you are not too heavy or don't climb too high or swing too much (lol, that's a mouthful). Otherwise, make some really long and heavy legs at the bottom. But why bother all of this if you have wood studs in the wall?

 

 

[Kenneth Stainback]

@Suzanna McGee, the 2-inch offset for the top bar... has that been good for your hanging leg lifts - your back is supported properly, etc.? I'm trying to confirm the top bar distance best for HLLs. It appears Infitness no longer makes the 7' 10" model. The Rangley is currently 7' 6" (see table of models at the bottom of this page). If I go up in height to the Portland model (8' tall), the top bar offset increases from 2" to 5 1/4". I'm guessing if 2" works well for you, 5 1/4" would be to much.

[Matthias Schwartz]

Folks, I bought the Vita Vibe stall bars and they are great. Super solid metal frames and 2" dowels. 350 lb. is their stated capacity. Will post pics at some point. Have them installed in my little home office room. This is the one I got:

http://www.vitavibe.com/36-Wide-Non-Adjustable-Stall-Bars-Swedish-Bars-With-Chin-Up-Bar_p_70.html

Matt