If you’re looking for the best all-in-one instrument for your calisthenics, you’re looking for the best Power Tower. The Power Tower is the solution to almost all your calisthenics needs and you’ll frequently hear people saying that all you need besides one of these is leg day. The driving power behind calisthenics is that you’re using your own bodyweight to exercise your muscles. A tower can help you utilize your bodyweight in an efficient and effective manner. Efficient, because it makes exercises easier to do from a mechanical point of view. Effective, because it gives you all the more options to overload your muscles. That is why you need the best Power Tower for your home gym.
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What is a Power Tower?
A Power Tower, also called a Pull Up Tower, is a high, horizontal bar suspended between two longer vertical bars which supports your entire bodyweight while lifted off the ground. Most towers combine this high horizontal bar with lower horizontal or protruding and parallel bars to allow for a full, comprehensive work out. A Power Tower is a comprehensive piece of calisthenics equipment and ideal for a home gym situation in which you have little room for much more calisthenics equipment.
The Power Tower can be used for a great range calisthenics exercise such as pull-ups, dips, and hanging leg raises. Many exercises can be combined with additional equipment such as Weighted Vests, Gymnastic Rings and Resistance Bands to allow for an easier, conversely harder, or more varied approach to your calisthenics. The tower is particularly well suited to build up upper-body and abdominal strength. The best Power Towers are sturdy and stable platforms which provide you with a complete solution to your home gym situation with just one piece of equipment.
How to Choose the Best Power Tower for You
Depending on your home gym situation, you will want to pay attention to the unique features of the towers so you can choose the best Power Tower for your needs. Although all these towers may look alike and serve the same ultimate purpose, they are not all created equal. There will be differences in materials, strength, stability and of course versatility. Some of the best Power Towers actually keep the number of frills to a minimum and focus on quality and durability. What to think about when choosing the most stable and best Power Tower for your needs:
Construction, Materials & Safety
One of the most impactful aspects of a tower are its construction and what it’s made off. This will be a major determiner of how safe it is work on but also how durable it is and how much weight it can safely carry. Needless to say, the construction quality will influence all other aspects of the tower. If your tower is very versatile with a great number of attachments, but they’re all weak and break easily you’re still left with nothing. If you’re on a tighter budget, choose for strong construction over frill and attachments.
The only acceptable material is tubular steel. The higher the gauge, the stronger the tower will be and the more weight it can safely carry. You should also look at the joints and how they are connected. Finally, the quality of the coating is an important detail you don’t want to overlook. This should be corrosion resistant and scratch resistant.
Bodyweight, Size & Versatility
The best Power Towers will sustain almost any bodyweight humanly possible where the human in question could still pull themselves up on the bar. If you are not so overweight that you can no longer pull yourself up than a good quality tower can sustain your weight. This ties in closely with the construction materials and methods used but it is still wise to check your tower’s safety parameters carefully.
Versatility is a nice thing to have as long as quality isn’t compromised. You can already accomplish all that you need with a relatively simple tower. Make sure that any add-ons like parallel bars and additional horizontal or vertical bars can take the same weight as the horizontal high bar.
Size & Stability
With size come questions about stability. A higher tower will need a wider base to remain stable. The height of the tower needs to be at least your own length plus an elbow’s length above your head. The taller you are, the higher your tower needs to be. Selecting for a tower of a suitable size can be a quest in and of its own. Many cheaper brands will skimp on material cost which may be a detriment to your safety, especially when the material is stretched to increasing lengths.
Towers are large machines and you can’t simply fold them up and store them in a closet. Most can be disassembled into smaller pieces and put in a bag (which may or may not be included when you buy them), but that is just too tedious to do every time. Before you purchase your tower, measure the space you have available in your home gym situation and make sure the tower will fit, with enough room around it so you can do your work out.
Company Reputation & Customer Service
Last but certainly not least you should look at the company and the brand itself. Unfortunately, there are many shills and white brands out there who care not for quality or for your safety. They’ll off you a tower which looks amazing in the photographs and at a fraction of the cost of actually decent towers. But if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. You don’t want to risk your tower collapsing on you or toppling when you’re hanging there inverted. So, look at the brand you’re buying. Do they seem like a professional brand, or do they seem like a wholesale reseller? How is the customer service? Can you return your tower if something is amiss? And of course, look at the customer reviews. What did people before you think of this product?
The 8 Best Power Towers for Calisthenics
Of course, we’re not leaving you out to dry. Based on the criteria we described above, we’ve selected the 8 best Power Towers on the market right now. We selected these towers for their durability, safety and versatility. You can safely perform your calisthenics with these towers and not worry about quality issues or an unsafe, unstable platform. Pick the best Power Tower for your needs from the following list.
#1 Sportsroyals Power Tower
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One of your best options it eh Sportsroyals Power Tower. This popular tower is made of high-grade 14-gauge square tubular steel, creating a rigid and nearly indestructible frame. The H-frame construction of the base means no twisting or side-to-side wobble can occur. The steel frame is finished with a scratch and corrosion resistant powder coating, making the Sportsroyals Power Tower not only very strong but also very durable. The myriad of additional extensions and grips provide for all the versatility you need in a straight-up Power Tower. Aside from just pull-ups and dips, you can do leg raises, knee-ups and push-ups among other work outs. The adjustable height between 65.5 and 88.1 inches should prove sufficient for 99%+ of calisthenics practitioners.
#2 Gold’s Gym XR 10.9 Power Tower
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The Gold’s Gym XR 10.9 is a solid, reliable Power Tower with the home gym in mind. Coming in at 84 inches high, she should prove tall enough for most. The 57 by 41-inch base makes placement in the corner of an otherwise used room (for instance, a bed room) a possibility in many cases. The round tubular steel frame is solid and strong enough for practitioners up to 200lbs. If you’re looking for a more affordable alternative to the Sportsroyal, this Power Tower has all the same basic features, minus the adjustability and the high-quality fit and finish.
#3 Fitness Reality X-Class Power Hi-Cap Tower
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In the upper price category, we find the professional grade equipment by Fitness Reality. Their X-Class High-Capacity Power Tower is fully adjustable and ergonomically designed to give you maximum versatility. The heavy-duty steel bars allow for a 400lbs weight capacity and it finished in a scratch resistant powder coating. Fitness Reality offers a 10-year warranty on the frame itself. Unless you go at it with an angle grinder though, we don’t think this frame can ever be broken. The Fitness Reality X-Class is equipped with all the required extensions for maximum versatility. All the grips and rests are comfortably padded for maximum grip and cushion during your exercise.
#4 Bowflex BodyTower
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The Bowflex BodyTower is a compact alternative for those home gym situations where space is very limited. With a height of 77 inches, she should fit under any standard door (and thus ceiling), fully built up. The base is 50 by 50 inches, which provides good stability all around and since most of it is empty space, doesn’t impede on the surrounding space too much. Despite its compact size for a Power Tower, you can do all the standard exercises you expect from a tower. As an added benefit, the dip-station can be adjusted for height. The tubular steel frame is suitable for weights up to 300lbs and the slightly sloped backward vertical legs away from the pull-up bar mean that your own weight will naturally shift the balance dead-center of its base.
#5 Health Gear CFT2.0 Power Tower & Workout Bench
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As an all-around package, which includes a Power Tower and integrated workout bench, the Health Gear CFT2.0 makes a solid impression and argument. Made of round tubular steel, which is powder-coated for durability, the Health Gear CFT2.0 has a total weight capacity of 300lbs, the bar, dip-station and bench included. High quality and comfortable paddings are applied where needed for those exercises where your back, shins and elbows could need it. The bench can be removed to allow freer access to the pull-up bar and the parallettes.
#6 STAMINA® Power Tower 1735 (with bench)
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STAMINA® delivers a complete fitness and calisthenics package at an affordable price. With this Power Tower you get the full range of options, including the ability to do leg-ups and a collapsible workout bench. For easily half the price of the other products, the STAMINA® 1735 holds a solid middle ground between white label knockoffs and professional grade gym equipment. The fact that the bench is collapsible means it takes up less space when not in use than fixed bench alternatives. This Power Tower can take a maximum weight of 300lbs while the bench can support up to 400lbs. So, the fact that the bench is on a pivot does not seem to impede durability.
#7 STAMINA® Outdoor Fitness Power Tower
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For the ultimate outdoor experience, the STAMINA® Outdoor Fitness Power Tower is the right choice. Made of thick tubular steel and painted with a special UV-proof, corrosion-resistant, scratch-resistant and chip-resistant paint, this Power Tower is built for outdoor use. Park it in a garage and bring it out when you’re ready to do some powerful calisthenics in the fresh air. The STAMINA® Outdoor Fitness has all the basic extensions of a regular tower, but none of the additional frills which wouldn’t stand up to weather and all the other rigors of outdoor use like UV light (think padding becoming brittle).
#8 KiNGKANG Power Tower
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We know not all budgets are the same and that buying the best Power Tower can be quite the investment. We’ve looked long and hard at the cheaper alternatives from places like China. We’ve found the tower from KiNGKANG to be a suitable entry level machine for people on a tight budget. The reason the KiNGKANG tower works and the other cheap, off brands don’t? There’s absolutely nothing to it. No frills, only thick rugged steel. By keeping their tower simple and made of high gauge tubular steel with a rough powder coating, they can keep the price down and create a safe machine in the process. You can do pull-ups and you can do dips, that’s it. If all you’re looking for is a straight-up pull-up tower and don’t want to spend any extra, this is a solid alternative for you.
Conclusion: What is The Best Power Tower Tor You?
There’s a lid for every pot, they say and for us that has to be the Sportsroyal Power Tower for almost all our calisthenics needs (again, leg day). The Sportsroyal combines everything we need and are looking for in a Power Tower. There’s the robust, durable design making use of 14-gauge tubular steel and the rugged powder coating. But you also get all the versatility you need like padded chin rests while doing knee-ups and the parallettes bars for push-ups. The only thing she’s missing is a bench. But we’re talking about the best Power Tower for calisthenics, not weightlifting. Sometimes less is just better, especially when all focus is put on high quality and durability.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Power Towers
You may be wondering about these questions before you buy the best Power Tower for you.
What is the difference between a Power Tower and a Pull-Up Bar
A free-standing Pull-Up Bar only has the horizontal high bar, while a Power Tower can accommodate for a much wider range of calisthenics exercise. Although a free-standing Pull-Up Bar may allow you to hang inverted, many are not stable enough to try this safely. Wall-mounted or door-mounted Pull-Up Bars can exclusively be used for doing Pull-Ups and in some cases dips.
How do I clean my Power Tower?
Since most of the Power Tower remains relatively untouched, you can suffice with only a periodic dusting off of the equipment. Those places you do touch, like the horizontal high bar, the grips on the dip station, the back-rest, and so on, you can best wipe clean with a damp cloth. Avoid the use of chemicals or excessive water, these can damage the protected powder coating on the metal, diminish the quality of padding or cause corrosion.
How much room should I have for a Power Tower?
The Power Tower will come with the dimensions of the tower itself, the width, length and height. It is best practice to allow for at least an arms-length of room on all sides of the tower’s base and to keep the side with the horizontal high bar facing you completely free.
