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The Maximiza Pull Up Bar is a portable straight pull up bar strong enough to support 300 lbs, with quick and easy assembly.
Grip positions are more limited than elevated doorway pull up bars, but you can still perform pull ups and chin ups with a supinated or pronated grip. This helps to strengthen and grow your biceps, shoulders, and back muscles.
But how does the Garren Fitness Maximiza compare to other bestselling home gym pull up bars, like the GoFit Chin Up Bar?
In this review, we’ll walk you through the features and installation process, to help you decide if this is the best pull up bar for your own home workouts.
Design Features
Adjustable to fit doorways from 26 to 39 inches wide, the Garren Fitness Maximiza is one of the best straight doorway pull up bars on the market.
The extended non-slip foam grip covers more of the bar than the j/fit, ProSource, and Sunny Health and Fitness pull up bars. This means you can adjust your grip without relying on velcro fasteners.
This heavy-duty padding also serves to protect your hands during pull ups, and reduce fatigue by improving your grip on the bar.
As with most straight doorway pull up bars, the mounting kits and bar ends are rounded. If the bar is securely tightened before you start your workout, this shouldn’t cause a problem.
Some round doorway bars that become loose can rotate during the exercise. That’s why GoFit created their Chin Up Bar with squared mounting kits, to protect against rotation.
Both the Maximiza and GoFit Chin Up Bar can support up to 300 lbs, but the GoFit version doesn’t extend as far (suitable for 28 to 36-inch wide doorways).
If your doorway is particularly wide, Garren Fitness have a Maximiza Plus Pull Up Bar, which is specifically designed for doorways between 35 and 50 inches in width. The weight capacity has also been upgraded to 330 lbs, and it’s supplied with 3 heavy-duty mounting kits.
Maximiza Pull Up Bar – Product Summary
- Tone and strengthen your back, arms, shoulders and abs muscles for the perfect upper body workout.
- Heavy-duty chrome steel pull-up bar and door mounts provide great support and safety.
- Holds up to 300 lbs (136kg) when properly mounted.
- Comes with 2 sets of heavy-duty and 1 set of medium-duty door mounts.
- Exercises include pull-ups, chin-ups, hanging leg raises, dips, sit-ups and crunches.
- Comfortable non-slip extra-long foam grips for comfort.
- Multiple screw-in door mount kits give flexibility to move to different places or heights.
- Adjustable to fit standard doorways between 26 and 36 inches.
Assembly and Installation
Maximum weights for typical installations are:
- Heavy-duty door mounts: 300 lbs / 136kg (recommended)
- Medium-duty door mounts: 200 lbs / 90kg
Note: should not be installed above waist height
Friction mounting, i.e. no doormounts used, is only to be used for low heights preferably in seating position, e.g. as a foot support for sit-ups.
Exercise Options
One of the advantages of straight pull up bars is they require very little space. There’s also no requirement for the width of the door moulding.
Unfortunately, they don’t offer much in terms of exercise options, and the Maximiza Pull Up Bar is no exception.
The heavy duty mounting kit supports pull ups and chin ups, while the medium duty mounting kit is better for elevated push ups. It can also be used as an anchor point for your feet during sit ups and crunches.
You can perform hanging leg raises, but if you want to keep your arms straight during the exercise, you’ll either need to bend your knees, or have a very tall doorway.
The Maximiza Pull Up Bar is a compact and lightweight piece of workout equipment that effectively works your shoulder, back, tricep, chest, and shoulder muscles.
But if you’re looking for weighted pull ups, buy a ceiling mounted pull up bar. Likewise, if you need a wider range of exercise options, choose a leverage doorway pull up bar, like the ProSource Multi-Grip.
What Do Other Reviews Say?
An important part of any pull up bar review is to look at the feedback from other people who have bought and used the bar in their home workouts.
How easy was it to fit? Did they have a good experience with customer service? Was the bar strong enough, and were the grips comfortable to hold?
But reading through hundreds or even thousands of reviews can be time consuming. That’s why we did the leg work for you, and created a summary of the pros and cons for the Maximiza Pull Up Bar, based on direct customer feedback.
Pros:
- Mounting brackets and locks prevent slipping
- Sturdy design that isn’t affected by door moulding width, which can be an issue with leverage doorway pull up bars
- Quick and easy to assemble and install
- Comfortable grips reduce the pressure on your hands during pull ups and push ups
- Wide range of exercise options
- Lightweight and compact enough to take with you travelling, if you don’t require the mounting hardware
- An affordable way to incorporate body weight exercises in a calisthenics routine at home
- Excellent customer service from Garren Fitness
- Can be used as an anchor point for the TRX suspension trainer
- Some customers found they could still close the door, even when the bar was mounted. This is an advantage over doorway pull up bars that wrap around the door moulding and use leverage
Cons:
- As with any straight doorway pull up bar, you have to frequently check and tighten the ends. This is more ongoing maintenance than ceiling mounted or wall mounted pull up bars.
- Many of the reviews rating the Maximiza 3 stars or less were disappointed about a lack of locking mechanism. This is a problem that has now been resolved.
Maximiza Pull Up Bar Review Summary
Overall Review Rating
4.5 / 5
So, is the Garren Fitness Maximiza pull up bar worth buying?
In our opinion, yes. Garren Fitness have become the specialists in designing high-quality straight doorway pull up bars, and the 300 lb weight capacity is the strongest you’ll find for this type of bar.
The comfortable non-slip grip runs almost the entire length of the bar. This means you don’t have to rely on velcro, and aren’t restricted with your choice of hand placement.
Extending to 39-inches, it’s also one of the longest straight pull up bars on the market. (JFIT Deluxe Pull Up bar goes to 40-inches)
Price is certainly worth bearing in mind, as the Maximiza is more expensive than other designs.
If you need the full length non-slip padded handle, we recommend the Maximiza.
Otherwise, the JFIT Deluxe has the same weight capacity and fits doorways up to 40-inches wide, for around $15 less. Just be aware the JFIT version has fewer mounting kits (2 instead of 3) and shorter padded handles, secured with velcro.
Weight capacity: 300 lbs
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We go to great lengths to ensure that our reviews are completely comprehensive, usually covering everything from the design features to the warranty coverage and exercise options. This is all to help guide you towards the home gym equipment that’s best suited to your goals and budget, whilst also being the highest quality option in your chosen price range.
