Jungle Gym

I am very pleased with the Jungle Gym. I've used mine for several excellent workouts during week long motel stays. No more finger pain from door pullups and no more fear of the motel room's bathroom door coming off the hinges during the pullups. The Jungle Gym is also great for free hanging pullups, dips or pushups from a tree branch or other suitable surface. The handles are slick plastic and rotate a little against the nylon webbing with makes for a nice grip workout. The instruction sheet packaged with the Jungle Gym demonstrates several more exercises.

I most often add Jungle Gym pullups to a deck of cards workout for time (pushups, handstand pushups, situps, squats, or other bodyweight exercises with a different exercise for the four suits and jokers using the face value for the number of reps) and you can pummel yourself from top to bottom. If you are driving, it's easy to toss kettlebells or clubbells into the fray and you'll know there isn't enough oxygen in the room! These workouts make any Crossfitter proud.

Lightweight, versatile, compact and it's never caused me any trouble getting through airport security - it's one of my traveling staples. I definitely recommend purchasing one if you like being able to work out irregardless of where you are.

Kelly Moore (WISCONSIN United States)

I bought this product to take with me on the road (I travel about 60 days/year) because one of my friends recommended it. Now I use it at home more than most of my other equipment. Super product - I can't say enough about it.
Ana Newman - Chesapeake, VA

I like it quite a bit. I use it in my basement over a beam. Great body weight workout for the back. I also do body weight flyes with it as well (push up position then arms out laterally and back up). Really seems to work the stabilization muscles quite nicely. Dips take on a whole new challenge when you have to control your movement. Overall the workout is similar to gymnastic training for the rings.
C. MacConnell (Ohio)

except for the nifty little metal clips that keep the strap at the length you set until you press on it to lengthen/shorten the strap again. Does exactly what it is supposed to do, and makes for challenging exercises due to the inherent instability. Great for spotting oneself too. I would buy it again, tho I don't think it is as indispensible as some might have you believe.
M. Castaneda (Knoxville, TN United States)

I bought this from lifeline recently and it has been an EXCELLENT addition to my home gym equipment. I'm not a person who travels back and forth to a gym each day. I also do not like paying an arm and a leg for expensive pieces of workout equipment that eventually become expensive coat racks.

This workout solution is about as low tech as it can get. The equipment is simple, but sets up in seconds. The clips adjust quickly and are incredibly secure.

It's so simple--but it really works. The emphasis of the instruction sheet and the DVD that came along with it, is in upper body strength. You can do chin ups--by regulating height, you can work up from lifting part of your body weight to full body weight. For me, this was the best part of the Jungle Gym. My chin ups/pull ups have improved remarkably by using the device.

Body rows, push ups, and fly push ups are also possible. Using the Jungle gym, pushups take on a new dimension with a fuller range of motion (like an Atlas pushup)and given the instability of the webbing, you also get more of a core workout.

You can use the webbing for balance as well as to maintain better technique when doing squats. You can also make the exercises more challenging by using a fitness ball. You can do abdominal crunches by holding the handles and lifting your feet from the floor.

Some exercises (full body rows and dips) are difficult when attached to a door and Lifeline suggests draping the Jungle Gym over a tree limb so you can achieve a truly vertical workout. I have not yet tried using this over a tree limb... However, I was able to perform the dips with some creativity while attached to a door but it was not easy.

This is not a full fitness solution. But when used in conjunction with weights and exercise bands, it really makes the home gym complete. I have searched for a pull up bar for a long time that is removable, but none of the current offerings fit the odd sized door frames and moldings of my 99 year old house. The Jungle Gym has worked. Given the ability to do pull ups of varying difficulty, it has also improved my ability to do pull ups/Chin ups over a short period of time.

The downside of the device is that it requires a STURDY DOOR and DOOR FRAME. I would be leery of using the device if the door does not close securely AND LOCKS or if you are worried about the integrity of your house's construction. Remember, the Jungle Gym is strong enough to hold your body weight, but the door it is connected to has to be able to do the same. If not, you will find yourself flat on your back with a new home improvement project to do. Remember too, that when your feet are touching the ground and you do pull towards the door, the weight decreases as you pull. This is not a defect of the device, it's just the physics of the situation. (With free weights, the weight is stable throughout your range of motion. With exercise bands the weight increases as the band lengthens.) Also, this is a great device for weight/circuit training, but is not really an aerobic solution.

The Jungle Gym, along with a few exercise bands are IDEAL for travel. I used mine with three lifeline exercise bands (2 R6s and 1 R8), exercise band door attachment and the lifeline triple grip handles. This yielded a gym that weighed less than two pounds, fit in my suitcase easily and allowed for a variety of body weight and resistance exercises.

- "jojoleb", Pittsburgh