I started making workout “ladders” several years ago. Some friends who’ve used it have made them too. The ladders are fast to use, cheap to make, and allow you to control your hand positions.
It’s a fast workout. I use the ladders three times a week. There’re three rungs, letting you do pull-ups, dips, rows, push-ups and inverted dips. Just drop down another rung on the ladder to do a different exercise, there’s no fussing with equipment. You can come up with other exercises too as you get used to using it.
Making the ladders is cheap.All you need is plastic pipe for handles, one inch wide webbing between the handles, and two carabiners to hang it up.
Because you’re able to pick your hand position, you can control the torque on your joints because your hands aren’t forced into the rigid positions they’d be in on a fixed bar. Smaller muscles are also brought into play on a flexible, hanging ladder.
Also, as you go through the different exercises you’ll be alternating between pulling on the joints and pushing on the joints.
Looking at the picture, you can see how it’s built.
In case you’re interested, here’re the dimensions I use. Each handle is about 4.5 inches, the top triangle has 11inch sides, the middle section is 40 inches between handles, and the bottom section is 28 inches between handles. Add 8 inches to each end for tying the knot, and cut off the excess afterward.
The hardest part is the tying the knots so both ladders are the same length. If you have a sewing machine, bar tacking the loops instead of knotting is the way to go.
The ladders are also very light and portable.
There’s the TRX, if you want to buy something similar. But it’ll be more much more expensive and not as easy to use as these ladders. Have fun.