Creative Fitness Door Gym

[damned_colonial]

Has anyone here used the Creative Fitness Door Gym? Any reviews/thoughts/comments? Know of a better brand? (I like the look of this one because it doesn't require any installation of the hardware.)

Comments

[sanguinity]

Oh, hey, I own that! Any questions in particular about it?

I have none of the extensions/loops/whatever.

We got it because we have a 1907 house, with wide molding and trim edging and such all on the doors, and it looked like it would fit without manging everything all up. It does.

It's always felt super-solid; I've never had any worries about it dropping me. I never felt like the molding was taking most of my weight, either -- there's a certain cantilevering in the construction that means that most of the support is coming from pressure into the doorframe. And it hooks/unhooks super-easy, no fuss.

I like that it has parallel grips on it -- I've got an old, old shoulder injury that makes non-parallel grips dicey. I suspect that if you primarily wanted to do behind-the-head pull-ups that you'd want that one extension attachment, but like I said, my shoulder doesn't allow that, so I've never noticed not having it.

Neither of us uses it for sit-ups; we've never really felt the need. Same with push-ups or stretching.

Was there anything in particular you wanted to ask?

[holdouttrout]

Hey! I'm not the OP, but I'm glad you chimed in. I liked the look of it a lot, and am glad you actually own it and like it. Of course, I'm not sure if I should even bother, since I can't do one chin-up, let alone more. Still, I'd like to be able to.

[damned_colonial]

There are a bunch of things you can do to work up to full chinups. rydra_wong mentioned negative chinups the other day... that means you use a chair to step up so you're at the uppermost point of the chinup, then let yourself down, trying to let yourself down slowly and controlled. Another option is assisted chinups using resistance bands, a chair, or a partner.

I'm probably going to do negatives and/or get resistance bands.

[holdouttrout]

I think I'm going to have to look at resistance bands to start. I'm pretty sure I'm weak enough that even negatives might be too daunting.

[rydra_wong]

FWIW, one of my next 3W4DW posts is going to be a linkspam of resources on how to work towards chin-ups/pull-ups. Getting to the first one is the hardest bit for almost everyone; you need a bar or something you can hang off to work towards it. It's not like you should only get a bar if you can already do a chin-up *g*.

[holdouttrout]

Awesome! I'll keep my eyes peeled.

[rydra_wong]

Ta-da:

Push-ups and pull-ups

[damned_colonial]

Oh, I'm glad to hear you have a 1907 house, on the west coast of the US, no less, which means we've probably got a bit of architectural similarity going on. I'm in a San Francisco post-earthquake house, probably built 1906-1907, and I was was thinking of using the bar on one of the archway thingies in my hallway, which are built like doorways without doors, or possibly in one of the more solid-looking doorways in the kitchen.

I'm also really pleased with what you say about the cantilevering and the frame bearing the weight. That was the sense I got from looking at it and thinking about the physics, and it's reassuring. I really don't want to pull the molding off!

So yes, that's exactly what I wanted to ask, and you've answered it :)

[sanguinity]

I took some photos for you. Lathe and plaster construction, which means it's a deep doorway, seven inches or so. The gym fits, but it wouldn't fit a door much deeper than this. It hangs on the itty-bitty strip of molding immediately above the door -- the door is deep enough that it won't reach any higher than that. Fortunately, the itty-bitty strip of molding doesn't actually take your weight; it just keeps the door gym in place until you load it with your weight.