Inspired by the success of American Ninja Warrior, we decided that it was time to add Peg Boards to our TEAM RAGE home gym!
I had never tried Peg Boards before, but they certainly look VERY challenging and require significant strength to lift your total body weight. I always felt that pull-ups were the ultimate upper body exercise, however, after experiencing Peg Boards, I now feel Peg Boards are the ultimate upper body exercise. To climb Peg Boards you must be able to hold and lift your ENTIRE body weight, ONE ARM AT A TIME ! You can also add pull-ups during your engagement on the Peg Board and climb the board in different patterns working muscle groups in different ways.
The Peg Boards that we invested in for the TEAM RAGE Home Gym are the Advanced Climbing Peg Boards from Executive Manufacturing. After much research I felt that these Peg Boards were the highest quality that met our needs. The company was also very helpful as a bonus (thanks Bobby!). We have wood and aluminum pegs. The Peg Boards are 12″ x 57″ each for a total of approx. 2 feet wide x 5 feet in vertical length. We decided to install these boards side-by-side, vertical with the top of the boards almost flush with the ceiling at around 10 feet off the ground. The Peg Boards were mounted as recommended where 3/4″ plywood was attached to the studs and Peg Boards mounted to the plywood with lag bolts. The boards appear to be rock solid to the wall!
Here is a short video of me trying the Peg Boards on the first day ever of Peg Board work! I had underestimated how difficult Peg Boards are to climb and especially descend as you obviously need the strength to hold and lift your body weight, but also grip strength and strong hand-eye coordination to get the 1-1/4″ pegs in the holes.
Clearly I need some practice, but I am very pleased with our new Peg Boards and my first attempts at the new challenge. I am well aware of some of the strategies to conserve energy and improve performance on a Peg Board, such as keeping arms at 90 degrees, but easier said than done in practice! What a workout… I did about 5 sets on the Peg Boards and my upper body was COMPLETELY exhausted. We are also investing in a MadRock foam pad for the floor beneath the Peg Boards, which is a popular choice for rock climbers. I did fall from near the ceiling at one point and survived, but it will be good to have the extra safety mat below!
I challenge you to try Peg Boards for the ULTIMATE upper body workout experience !!
This was awesome. Nice job, I like that you left the fail at the end of the video, makes it more real. Doesn’t look like 10 ft ceiling from the photos but most folks have 8 to work with. So basically you have to bend your knees at the start? Or maybe mount one horizontally. Did you just luck out with studs or add blocking behind?
oops just noticed this is almost 10 yrs old. hope it’s holding up.
Hey KT! Yes, the peg boards are still holding up well! The ceilings are 10 feet so I do start with bent knees. Works well for us. The Rogue pullup rig is 108″ so that is fairly tall as well. I did measure to hit the studs and used anchors with the plywood backer. Do you have peg boards? What are you doing for workouts these days? Hope all is well!