Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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205 of 227 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
So so, July 3, 2008
The product arrived in just over a week from Amazon. Once I opened the shipping box, I was a little surprised to find just a plain cardboard box with the Perfect Pullup parts in it. No fancy packaging here (was this one previously returned?), but I could live with that, and everything that was supposed to be there was. I inspected all the parts to make sure nothing was damaged (this is going to be supporting my body weight after all), and everything seemed all right. The pullup bar itself had quite a bit rust that had developed on the inside of it (it's a tube) that had flaked off and left the exterior of the bar coated in powdered rust. Seemed a little strange; but again, I could live with that, and just cleaned it up best I could.
My main disappointment from inspecting the parts was my discovery that the most innovated and attractive feature of the product, the rotating handles that hook onto the bar, had about half of their construction made of plastic. The red hooks that attach to the bar are made of metal, but the silver/gray, u-shape bar that descends from them and attaches to the grips are made of plastic (and it's relatively thin). This is unacceptable in my opinion, for this plastic part is load bearing and should be made of metal like the hooks are. And for as much as this product costs, there really is no excuse for not making the handles entirely out of metal. The plastic may be high grade, but it's still plastic, and any plastic can weaken and crack over time, much more so than steel. You're trusting this product to always safely support your body weight; plastic is just not something I trust to do that.
So I considered returning the product over the plastic in the handles, but I really wanted to give this product a shot. So I looked over the handles and realized that if the plastic ever failed, it would likely be where it attaches to the grips and the hooks. So I took out a roll of gorilla tape and taped up the handles in these locations to reinforce them. It's not exactly a `perfect' fix (nor a very pretty one), but it made me feel a little more secure about using the product. If the handles would ever break during use, the gorilla tape used on them should keep them together long enough to safely get my feet back on the ground, so I hope.
Anyway, I proceeded to install the product into one of my good, sturdy doorways. And that brought my next disappointment. The mounting brackets (there are four: two for the pullup bar in the standard position and two for the swing arms that support the bar when it's in a swung out position) each only take two wood screws. I have a twenty dollar pullup bar in another doorway, and the mounting brackets for it each take five wood screws, a set up that is very secure. Two wood screws per bracket could cause, over time, a little bit of wobble that could potentially lead, over time, to the screws ripping out of the door frame--not something you would want to happen while your feet are off the ground. These brackets should have been made to at least each take three wood screws. To better secure these brackets to the door frame, I substituted the included wood screws with much longer ones, for I wanted the wood screws to be secured to not only the door frame but also to the studs inside the door frame. This made me feel a little bit better about using the product. I just wouldn't feel safe using this product with the short wood screws included, especially since you can only attach two of them per bracket.
After installing the product, I looked it over and tested it out a little to make sure it was a secure setup. I hung from the bar for a few moments to test the top brackets and swung the bar out and leaned back to test the bottom brackets. The long wood screws I used seemed to be securing the brackets well. The swing arms themselves seemed a little flimsy, though. The inside half of the arms were made of metal and the outer sides, the sides that go against the door frame, were made of plastic. The swing arms are sturdy enough to hold my weight; but for the price paid, I would have expected the swing arms to be less flimsy by being made entirely out of metal.
I was generally satisfied with the safety of the setup, and later that day I decided to finally do a workout with the Perfect Pullup. I placed a sofa cushion on the floor where I would likely fall in case of an installation or product failure, though. I guess I can't help but have a little bit of doubt about the security of this product (as opposed to my other doorway pullup bar that I mentioned that I feel very secure about). It just isn't as well made as I had hoped. It'll likely be fine, but a cushion or two on the floor adds a little more peace of mind when using a product like this that I'm not a 100 percent about.
Anyway, I did a warm up, something you should always do before a workout, and concentrated on warming up the rotator cuff of my shoulders (a couple minutes of arm circles are great for this). I looked over the exercise chart, saw how they recommended doing the pullups, and gave it shot myself. I started with the pullup bar in the standard position, and began doing the pullups with the rotating handles. I love pullups, and I`m very familiar with doing them in various ways, and this movement with the rotating handles gave me a new and unique pullup experience, and I appreciated the way it taxed the muscles of my arms and back. I just did a few reps for the first set to get used to the motion, going slow. I did a second set of five, staying smooth. I then did a third set, going for about eight to ten, and I noticed at about the sixth rep the beginnings of a sharp pain in my right shoulder when I was trying to raise myself up from the bottom position of the movement. I stopped immediately and realized I had just come close to tearing part of my rotator cuff. This was the first time I had ever come close to hurting my shoulder during a pullup exercise.
A little unnerved, I began to immediately reflect on what went wrong that could have caused me injury. I realized that the Perfect Pullup is a fairly safe movement for an exercise except during one position: the bottom position. When you're hanging fully extended in the bottom position during this exercise, your shoulders, naturally, want to come up out of their sockets slightly, and it's your rotator cuff that does the most to get them to stay put when in this position. Now, I get in this bottom hanging position all the time when doing pullups on a regular pullup bar, and my rotator cuff never feels at risk of being injured. The difference here is the rotation of the handles as you pull yourself up from this bottom position. Your rotator cuff is now asked to do double duty in both keeping your shoulder joint stable in this bottom position and rotating them along with the handles. The rotator cuff isn't very strong, and it's being overwhelmed--at risk of tearing--during this part of the exercise if you start the rotation of the handles too soon. So I concluded that to do this exercise safely, you need to keep your shoulders stable as you come up out of the bottom position. You can do this by treating the handles as a standard pullup bar, not letting them move at all as you begin to pull yourself up. Once you get your arms and elbows bending, and some good upward momentum, then and only then start the rotation of the handles. I tried doing it this way a couple days later when I felt my shoulder was okay, and I had no pain and the exercise felt fine. Another way to do this exercise safely is just not to go all the way down during it by keeping a bend in your elbows during the down position.
The little instruction poster that comes with the product gives no information on the risk of rotator cuff injury and how to properly prevent it while doing this exercise. This I find very unfortunate, and I fear more than a few consumers of this product may end up with rotator cuff injuries. A simple warning about not starting the rotation of the handles too soon during the up movement could easily spare injury to a lot of people's shoulders.
The exercises for when the bar is swung out seem fine, and I particularly liked the body weight version of the bent over row (something the instructions call an Australian pullup); put your feet up on a chair to add a little more intensity to this exercise.
I see myself still doing most of my pullups on my other doorway pullup bar, with the Perfect Pullup being an ancillary exercise I do after my regular pullups. I am disappointed in some ways with the Perfect Pullup, but I do plan on getting some use out of it unique movement, so I can't say I regret buying it. But I do think I overpaid for this. I see this product being valued around $69, not a $100.
To summarize the pros and cons:
Pros:
1) Unique exercise movement that tax your muscles
2) Swing out arms add a useful variety to doing pullups and body weight rows
Cons:
1) Plastic construction of the u-frame of the handles; they should have been made entirely of metal
2) Can only attach two screws per mounting bracket, making the setup less secure
3) No information or warning on the possible danger to your rotator cuff when doing the full pullup
4) Over priced
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64 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Problems all around - Beware!!, August 4, 2008
I purchased the Perfect Pushup a year ago and really like it, so I was looking forward to the Perfect Pullup.
I've never had a pullup bar in my house because I'm not into carpentry and don't really have the tools to go drilling holes in the walls/doors. The box illustrated a hand turning an allen bolt to mount the unit and claimed it featured "easy installation".
Fair enough, I purchased and unpacked it and found it had probably been returned several times already. I soon discovered why. The instructions require you to have an electric drill with 1/8 bit for installation, something the exterior of the box conveniently fails to mention. Also, there are only two screws holding in each side of the bar. I weigh 195lbs and wouldn't trust my weight to those when doing hard pullups.
The other MAJOR problem is with the handles hanging down, if I did a pullup from a regular door jamb my knees would hit the floor. I am 6' tall but this just will not work with a standard size door. I bought this more for static hangs than pullups, but I can't do that if I have to do a crunch at the same time, since when I "peel off" the bars at muscle failure I'll land very badly.
I boxed it up and returned it - it will probably wind up with another sucker who buys it "new".
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74 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not so good, July 1, 2008
First thing, it should be pretty clear to most native English-speakers that the bulk of the other reviews aren't real, likely placed there by the company that makes this thing. Next, this contraption is not very sturdy. The screws they supply are of fairly poor quality, the actual bar and fixtures seem like they could hold up well, but you should definitely go beyond the instructions and supplied hardware. I recommend going with another option altogether but if you do, in fact, purchase this, make sure you get better hardware and fasten securely to a stud.
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