At Home Pull Up Bar Options + Hand Maintenance

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AT HOME OR ON THE ROAD - WHAT ARE YOUR PULL UP BAR OPTIONS?! One of the recommendations we make for every new athlete - no matter whether you plan to follow A, B, or C - maybe a combination of all 3 - is SOME sort of way to do pull ups.  Upper body pulling - especially pulling your own body weight is a hugely important skill!  It also is one of the best ways to build a nice, strong back!  We program pull ups usually once a week, and toes to bar as well.  We also include upper body pulling a lot of times in Suns Out Guns Out and hanging from the bar in Butts and Guts! We always give options for all different types of scales.  Strict pull ups, kipping, banded, ring rows, jumping.  We film all of these on our small rig on the garage, and that might leave many of you wondering - "What if I don't have space for a rig?" or "What if I can't afford one right now?" NO PROBLEM! We wanted to put together a list of options for you that take up less space and are more affordable if a rig isn't in the cards right now. First - as pictured above - is the simple doorway pull up bar!  We literally bought this one at Target for super cheap.  You aren't going to be able to get a huge kip going on it, and many of you will be so tall that you have to bend your knees, but it is a quick - easy - cheap option that can get you going!  You can definitely do banded or jumping pull ups with this bar too! Next option - a doorway TRX band system!  We actually haven't purchased one of these yet, but this is a GREAT option - and you can travel with it too!  You can't "hang" from it and do kipping pull ups, but you will always be able to do rows.  And, depending on what angle you take you can adjust how difficult the pull is.  You can also do "ring push ups" in place of when we program dips with this option!  There are also a bunch of other movements you can sub and do for Butts and Guts workouts too!   The TRX Systems AND the Bars seen above can be found at roguefitness.com! Rogue also has ceiling mounted or wall mounted pull up bar options.  We know many of you have these already, as we see them in a lot of your videos and pics.  These are great if you love Street Parking - but you are still trying to ACTUALLY park in your garage.  They take up less space, and are cheaper than the whole rig.  Whether or not these will work will depend on the height of your ceilings, but are a great investment that doesn't take up a ton of space! Lastly, if you are stuck in a gym or hotel with no other options - not even a cheesy lat pull down machine - you can ALWAYS sub bent over rows with a barbell or dumbbells as a last resort.  It's not exactly the same type of pull and muscles will be worked from a different angle - but it's a great alternative! Good luck!  Let's get pulling! Have you ordered your Street Parking Tee, Tank or Hoodie yet?!  Also, for those who don't know - log 50 scores in Wodify and EARN a Hoodie for FREE!!! Head over to the site to pick one up!! https://www.parkinthestreet.com/shop/ WE SEE YOUR BLOODY HAND PICS - CONGRATS ON BEING BAD ASS....BUT LET'S FIX THAT FOR YOU!!! It can be almost a rite of passage for some people.  Some of you might even have been excited when you saw that first little (or not so little) tear or blood blister!  But, you REALLY don't NEED to suffer from ripped hands and callouses. First things first.  Ripped hands are USUALLY because you let your callouses get so big that the skin gets thick and rips off.  So, first line of defense against ripping - SHAVE YOUR HANDS! Our favorite is a simple foot callous shaver you might see at any nail salon.  The kind with metal on one side (looks like a mini cheese grater) and a filer on the other side.  These can be bought at almost any grocery store! You can be more aggressive and use one of the callous shavers that is an actual razor blade too.  This is a good option if you have really thick callouses.  Or, you can find something like the Sandbar.  It is made specifically for this purpose - but does the same thing - sands your hands to not allow callouses to become so thick! The best time to do this is when you get out of the shower or bathe and the skin is smooth!    Something else to think about - is in high rep workouts - PROTECT YOUR HANDS!!!  There are a ton of different options for this!  It's all about what you prefer. Typically - straight up gloves are NOT the best idea.  They can be really thick, really bulky, and promote sweat.  When they hands get super sweaty - they get soft.  When they get soft - they are more likely to rip. Instead you can try a bunch of different options for gymnastics grips.  The Natural Grip ones (pictured below) are Miranda's favorite.  A lot of people really love the leather grips from Rogue or Bear Komplex as well.  The Natural Grip ones are a little thinner - so might be better for smaller hands.  The leather ones with velcro straps though are easier to maneuver and last longer. You can always make your own grips too using Rock Tape or Goat Tape - something similar.  We would suggest having SOMETHING to protect your hands with for the workouts with higher reps though. When you put them on - to prevent the sweatiness issue - but chalk between your hand and the grip to help keep them dry.  Re-apply that during the workout as needed! The below images are all from ROGUEFITNESS.COM Lastly - if it's too late and the hands are already ripped - there are some great ointments and stuff out there to fix them with!  It used to be just throwing some Neo-sporin on there, but there are better options now! If it's still a blister and it's got a lot of fluid in it - hate to say this - pop it!  If it's just a blood blister without a ton of fluid in it, you can leave it and actually dry it out by steeping a bag of black tea - letting it cool off a bit and putting it on the blister for a few minutes a few times a day.  Once it's dried out it will eventually shed on it's own.  Either way - you need to wash the wound and get it really clean - and this REALLY freaking hurts!  From there you will want to keep it medicated, but uncovered so it can heal.  Our favorite brand of hand fixing goop are Wod Welder - (this SAVED Miranda after she lost BOTH palms completely at the 2014 Games).  It comes in a stick and is a much thicker consistency than Neo-sporin so it won't get all over everything! Once its somewhat healed and you are ready to try to grab onto at least a bar or your dumbbells again, tape can work, but what can really work is Nu-skin.  This can be bought at any drug or grocery store.  It is a liquid that dries on your skin and becomes like a "new layer of skin" that moves with you and actually works really well! Good Luck!  TAKE CARE OF THOSE HANDS!!! Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*