- Key Takeaways
- About Khanh Trinh
- Assembly of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
- First Look at the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
- Basics of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
- Exercising with the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
- Pricing of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
- Conclusions about the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
- Frequently Asked Questions About the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
The Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar is simultaneously the shortest and the tallest Free-Standing Pull-Up Bar. First appearing on the show Shark Tank, the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar is now widely available to the public. The advantages of its A-frame design are apparent. You can do full range-of-motion Pull-Ups, and even the tallest individuals won’t worry about hitting the floor. The Khanh Trinh can also be converted into a Static Bar for your Statics and Dips. What’s not to like? We bought the steel version of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar (which is now available in aluminum) for an in-depth review.
You can also watch my Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar Review on YouTube:
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Very tall (258 cm) to very short (118 cm) settings from the same product.
- Very stable A-frame construction that offers (almost) the same stability at any height.
- It requires tools and potentially a lot of nuts to unfasten, especially if you need to make significant height adjustments.
About Khanh Trinh
Khanh Trinh began doing Pull-Up exercises at the age of 15 and initially used a tree branch as his Pull-Up Bar. But when a typhoon destroyed the tree, he got into some serious backyard DIYing, and the result was the prototype of what we now know as the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar. After appearing on the show Shark Tank, Khanh Trinh secured enough funds to start the production of an aluminum version of his idea.
Assembly of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
The first assembly is straightforward and involves joining the correct tubes together and securing them with nuts and bolts. It was a matter of 5 minutes, but I do recommend you RTFM (Read The Fantastic Manual). For a first setup, this is very quick. Adjusting the height is accomplished by unfastening only the screws that hold the crossbars, allowing you to adjust the angle of the A-frame. Optionally, you can also unscrew the bolts holding the top and bottom of the A-frame together for even more adjustability.
First Look at the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
This is a huge bar. Even from the pictures, you can’t truly appreciate the size of this thing. It stands at a whopping 258cm at its tallest. We had it at its maximum height outside just to show you, but it wouldn’t fit in our studio that way. Of course, you can adjust the length of the bar almost seamlessly. The nice thing about this is that even very tall people can do Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups with a full range of motion. There are no worries about touching the floor with your feet on this bar.
The foam sleeves depict the Khanh Trinh logo. I’m not a fan of foam, but it is pretty thin and rigid, at least.
Basics of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
- Maximum height: 258cm (112″)
- Minimum height: 118cm (46½”)
- Bar diameter: 32mm bare / 38mm foam grips
- Bar length: 85cm (33½”) (the usable part)
- Maximum capacity: 350kg (770lbs)
The top bar is a Calisthenics-typical 32mm in diameter with two 6mm foam sleeves. The foam grips will compress more when you grip them. Of the foam grips I used, these aren’t the worst but I’m still no fan of foam in general.
The usable part of the top bar spans 85cm from the end of one foam grip to the end of the other. There is a bit of bar extending the grips on either side, but a hole and a nut prevent comfortable use of that segment of the bar.
A small disclaimer here. We have the steel version, which is much heavier than the aluminum version they sell today. The new version is probably a little less stable, but it is a lot lighter. Aluminum also doesn’t rust, so it is better suited for use as an Outdoor Pull-Up Bar.
Exercising with the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
The main attraction of this bar is its ability to perform Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups with a full range of motion. Even very tall people can do their basic exercises with their legs held straight. The only limitation is your overhead room, i.e. your ceiling height. Placing the aluminum version outside would be the perfect solution for this.
Basic Exercises
The bare grip feels nice, if smooth. I had no problems working out using just the bare grip for my regular and narrow Pull-ups and Chin-Ups. For wide variants, you end up using the foam grips. These grips aren’t the worst. They are firm and feel comfortable. For beginners, these are a nice addition, but once you become more advanced, you should consider removing them, in my opinion.
The A-frame design is very stable from front to back, making it ideal for regular up and down motions, such as standard Pull-Ups. There is a wobble and a lot of rattling when you’re moving it side-to-side by hand. During your exercise, this is less pronounced, and you don’t notice it all that much. The worst it got was with Archer Pull-Ups, and even those, the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar handled fine.
Outdoor Use of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
Not many homes have a ceiling that accommodates a Free-Standing Pull-Up Bar with enough room above to fit your head and upper body. To utilise the Khanh Trinh’s full height and range of motion, placing it outside makes sense. The aluminum version is perfectly capable of spending its days outside so that you can do your exercises in the open air.
The Muscle-Up immediately comes to mind. Both the Pull-Up and transition phase of the Muscle-Up go just fine, but there is a noticeable wobble when doing that final straight bar dip. It probably won’t fall over if you do controlled Muscle-Ups, but the potential of making a 2.5 m fall, along with a bunch of metal pipes, is just a little too scary for me. You notice the wobble even more if you do things like rollovers.
Just like with all other Free-Standing Pull-Up Bars, I don’t recommend doing exercises above the bar with it. That said, no ceiling means nothing to bump your head against with Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups.
Additions to the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
Your Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar matches perfectly with a set of Gymnastics Rings. The height of this bar means you get more overhead room above the rings than is typical for using a Free-Standing Pull-Up Bar in conjunction with Gymnastic Rings. The issue with Free-Standing designs and using rings is that they tend to topple if you try to perform exercises like rows and other diagonal movements.
The A-frame design, however, allows you to do these exercises as long as your arms and the ring straps do not extend beyond the legs of the Pull-Up Bar. If you need to change the angle of your exercise, you can do so safely by adjusting the height of the bar. The A-frame also allows for using Resistance Bands as a warm-up with your extensions, and of course, in the regular way as an assist.
The weight capacity of 350kg is more than enough for full Weighted Calisthenics using either a Weighted Vest or even a Dip Belt.
Use as a Static Bar
You can adjust the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar to almost any desired height by adjusting both the legs outwards and inwards and by changing the length of the legs themselves. That said, you need to unfasten at least four nuts for a basic adjustment, so that I wouldn’t do this mid-training. The paint also damages every time you do this. I think the best practice to keep your Pull-Up Bar undamaged, and out of basic human laziness, is to set this bar up once at your desired height and keep it there.
That said, as a Static Bar, the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar is much more stable the lower it is to the floor. You can still notice the wobble side to side if you force it, but I had no problem performing Muscle-Ups, Straight-Bar Dips, and rollovers in this configuration. This is also the preferred setting for your lever exercises.
Pricing of the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
The aluminum Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar is available at $339.99.
Conclusions about the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
Despite its formidable height, the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar is very stable. As a Free-Standing Pull-Up Bar, it offers excellent stability for Pull-Ups, Chin-Ups, skin-the-cat, levers and all other exercises below the bar. Being so high, it provides people of taller stature with a means to perform a full range of motion exercise without bending their knees. Of course, you need the ceiling height to do so. The aluminum version solves the need for overhead clearance by placing it outdoors.
I also liked the bare grip. It could be coarser, but it’s not bad either. I could do all my exercises without using chalk, but if needed, just a small dab would solve the problem. I’m still not a fan of foam grips.
The forwards and backwards stability of this bar is superb, due to its A-frame design. You can even do your rows using Gymnastic Rings. Side-to-side, your stability quickly drops. It won’t topple on you on a whim, but it does become a problem with exercises above the bar, like Muscle-Ups. Especially from that height, you don’t want to make a tumble. At its lowest height setting, these exercises are possible above the bar.
All in all, the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar is an excellent option for tall people and if you want to combine your Free-Standing Pull-Up Bar with other Calisthenics Equipment like Gymnastic Rings, Resistance Bands and your Weighted Vest or Dip Belt.
If you’d like your own Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar, be sure to use our link to help the Calisthenics Worldwide Community.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar
A few more questions we saw circulating on the internet about the Khanh Trinh Pull-Up Bar.
Is the Khanh Trinh Pull Up Bar Safe?
The Khanh Trinh Pull Up Bar uses an A-frame design which lessens the perpendicular force experienced by the legs. The wider the stance of the A-frame, the more stable it becomes while sacrificing height and in theory total weight capacity. The higher the stance, the less stable it becomes but the higher the top bar will be and the higher the theoretical weight capacity will be. Together with the use of high gauge alloy steel, the Khanh Trinh Pull Up Bar is of a very safe design.
Where does Khanh Trinh come from?
Khanh Trinh is from Vietnam where he started doing Pull-Ups at the age of 15. He used a tree to do his exercises at first. When a typhoon destroyed his tree, he went to design his own Pull-Up Bar. This became the prototype of today’s Khanh Trinh Pull Up Bar.
