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Nearly all pull-up bars I've seen are fixed, but I have wondered about a bar that is able to rotate/twist.

I'm considering building my own pull-up station so I could design a bar that can spin or be locked in place, are there any benefits to a spinning bar?

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A spinning bar will be much harder to grip, this is why you will often see tourist scams that say "Hang 100 seconds for 100$" and will cost 5$ to attempt. Normally hanging for 100 seconds is fairly trivial for someone who is in shape. Rotating bars make it impossible to use false grip or regrip while also making it significantly harder to just hang on.

(Pro tip for those scams: Sometimes they don't specify which grip you can use. If this is the case, use an alternate grip. One underhand and one overhand, it will counter the spin to make it significantly easier.)

Pros:

  • It will increase your grip strength.

Cons:

  • It will be significantly harder to work other muscles properly.
  • Strict muscle-ups will be near impossible because you can't false grip on spinning bars.

From past experience I would not recommend building a bar that spins unless you are looking to train for the hanging challenges. I ended up building one with a bar that was too thick, which also makes it much harder to grip, and regretted it every time I used it. If you do build one with spin, make it possible for it to swap between spinning and fixed, so it serves the best of both worlds. A simple hole drilled through the bar with a removable pin in it will work just fine.

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    I wouldn't call them a scam, I know a few rock climbers who enjoy those challenges (and some who can do it without breaking a sweat).
    – Dark Hippo
    Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 8:19
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    So maybe fun to have, but I don't want to lose a static bar as my primary use - makes sense.
    – Mr. Boy
    Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 10:01
  • @DarkHippo That is certainly fair, I have thought about training for it myself. The reason I call it a scam is the fact that most people who participate do not know that the bar actually spins or that it will be magnitudes harder to hang on than a bar that doesn't spin. By definition of a scam: a dishonest scheme, I believe it fits this criteria for the majority of people.
    – Eric Warburton
    Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 16:58
  • @EricWarburton Fair point. I think every time I've seen it, I've known the bar spins (as have people with me), so I kind of assumed most people understood that.
    – Dark Hippo
    Commented Feb 20, 2021 at 19:29
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This is not related to a rotating bar, but an interesting read on something more realistic exercise.

Walker et al. published a paper in 2023 in the International Journal of Exercise Science comparing muscle activation and recruitment using EMG during a muscle up between a bar and a ring. It is worth noting that the sample size was small, n= 10. They found that ring muscle up provided appreciable increased in upper trapezius, biceps brachii, forearm flexors. Also muscle activation is higher in the triceps brachii, and biceps brachii.

One part of their hypothesis - ring muscle up would have larger muscle activation in the serratus anterior, lower trapezius, and latissimus dorsi - not supported by the study.

It is likely that the instability in the ring during muscle up made smaller muscle groups to work and stabilise the movements.

You can read the paper here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10824315/

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