One of the best ways to work your upper body is by doing pull-ups. You can give your biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest, back, and even abs, a fast, complete workout in a short amount of time with a good pull-up bar. Even if you can’t do a single pull-up yet, doing hangs and negatives (slowly lowering yourself) is a great workout.

When it comes to at home pull-up bars, they all seem to fall into two categories. The first, require you to drill into your door frame. Personally I hate the idea of doing that, so I opted for the second, which actually wraps around the door frame, and can be put up, taken down, and hidden away within seconds.

There are several of these types on the market, and I wanted a good one that wouldn’t break the bank. Here’s the one I ended up buying.

There are several others like this one out there, but at almost 50% more than this one, I decided to pass. It shipped pretty quickly, and was at my door in less than a week. Assembly was a snap, despite the fact that the box contained next to no directions. I suggest spreading all the parts out and spend a moment thinking about how to put it together and it turns into a pretty simple process. No tools are required, and it had all the nuts and bolts I needed plus a few extras. Assembly took me about 10 minutes, but I also had a curious cat distracting me!

The really great thing about this pull-up bar is the variety of hand positions. While I haven’t tried it, I’ve been told that this bar is ideal for the P-90X program. (I’ll update if/when I start that program)

My one concern is the black foam that presses against the door. Others have had a problem with it leaving black marks on their door frame, but it hasn’t been an issue for me yet. A few quick pieces of duct tape around the foam will take care of that though.

If your nervous about it holding your weight, check the online reviews and you’ll see guys as big as 250+ pounds hanging reliably from this thing! It claims it can also be used for dips and pushups, but I prefer a good set of phone books for that. Also included is a free set of arm slings for doing abdominal work, however you need to pay shipping on them, it’s still a good deal, but to me it makes sense to save the money and just wedge my feet under the couch and do sit-ups.