Beyond Balance Stall Bar Review + Beginner's Guide to Stall Bar Training
Britt here, with a review of the Beyond Balance Stall Bar (use code kbfitbritt for 10% off). After almost two years of near-daily use, I've had plenty of time to put this stall bar through its paces — and I'm sharing my thoughts: the good, the bad, and everything you need to know before bringing one into your own home.
So what do I think of the Beyond Balance Stall Bar, and is stall bar training right for you? 🤔 👀 Read on to find out...
Disclosure: Beyond Balance gifted me this stall bar, though this review wasn't part of that arrangement — all opinions are my own. I'm also a Beyond Balance affiliate and earn a commission on sales that use my discount code.
What is a Stall Bar?
Before diving into the review, let's cover the basics. A stall bar is a wall-mounted set of horizontal rungs used for strength, mobility, and flexibility training. If you've done research on stall bars, you may have seen them called by other names: Wall Bars, Swedish Ladders, Schroth Therapy Wall Bars, Stahl Bars, Pilates Spring Ladders, Yoga Walls, or Gymnastic Ladders. They're all the same tool, just made from different materials or with different numbers of rungs and spacing.
Stall bars are typically made of either wood or metal. The Beyond Balance Stall Bar is made of wood, with 14 rungs and one offset rung at the top designed specifically for hanging. Two uprights hold the rungs together (and double as anchor points for resistance bands), and the whole unit mounts to the wall using two back plates and four screws.
Most Common Concerns About Stall Bars
If you're considering a stall bar for the first time, you likely have a few questions. Here are the three I hear most often:
Will it hold my weight? The Beyond Balance Stall Bar is rated for 350 lbs. After two years of daily use — including hanging upside down and doing flag drills — I've never once felt unstable on it.
Will it fit in my house? For most homes, a stall bar will fit unless you have unusually low ceilings. Beyond Balance lists exact dimensions on their website so you can check before you buy.
Does it require a lot of maintenance? Not really. There is a recommended maintenance routine (mainly oiling the bars periodically), but after almost two years, I haven't done any maintenance and it still looks as good as the day we got it. That said, if you live in a very damp or very dry climate, the wood may need more attention.
Materials
The uprights and back plates are made of Baltic Birch wood for strength and durability. The rungs are made of either Poplar or Beech — the main difference being color, with Beech running slightly darker and more consistent, and Poplar staying lighter (though it can have dramatic color variation, including purple or green streaks).
You can also choose between round or oval rungs. Round is the standard choice for most people, while oval rungs are often used specifically in physical therapy settings.
The whole stall bar is finished with nontoxic, food-grade mineral oil, and the stall bar is made in the USA using globally sourced materials. Beyond Balance is also a sponsor of the National Forest Foundation Sapling Program, which means they plant one tree for every unit sold.
Installation
Installing a stall bar is more approachable than it might seem. You'll want a construction buddy, a stud finder, a drill or impact driver, a Phillips head bit, wood glue, and a rubber mallet to help seat the rungs into the uprights. You have two options: mount into the wall studs, or into drywall using drywall anchors. Both methods are rated for up to 350 lbs.
You also get to choose your mounting height — the uprights can rest on the ground or be mounted up off the ground, depending on your height and how you plan to use it.
Benefits of Stall Bar Training
After two years of consistent use, here's what stands out most:
A complete home gym. Strength, mobility, fitness, and fun in one tool (great for breaking up long stretches of desk work!).
Progressive strength. Endless ways to scale difficulty as you improve, from basic holds to advanced calisthenics.
Mobility. Nearly endless ways to work mobility from head to toe.
Grip strength. A well-known indicator of overall health and longevity, trainable one- or two-handed and at varying levels of bodyweight support.
Core strength. Unmatched variety of core training angles, with or without accessories.
Rehab and prehab. Thanks to the many attachment points for resistance bands, you can do lots of rehab and prehab exercises. Stall bars are also used in physical therapy settings, including for scoliosis correction.
Scalability. The same tool serves complete beginners and advanced athletes alike.
It's fun! Kids and adults both end up playing on it, so it doubles as a home jungle gym.
Stall Bar Accessories
Beyond Balance also offers several accessories that expand what the stall bar can do. My three most-used accessories are:
Pull Up/Dip Bar — my personal favorite since it lets me do pull ups and dips at home. It can also be used in several different configurations for exercises like Rows, Pushups, and more.
Incline Bench — great for bench work plus core and leg raise training at adjustable angles.
Pilates Push Thru Bar — useful for Pilates work, and I personally like using it to train Pistol Squats and other squat variations.
Third-party accessories like resistance bands, gymnastic rings, or a suspension trainer also pair well with the many anchor points on the stall bar.
Value
At the time of filming, the base Beyond Balance Stall Bar costs $615. The Personal Training Station (stall bar + pull up/dip bar) is $820, and the Pilates Workout Station comes to $1,000. For comparison, local gyms in my area range from $229 to $2,300 per year — meaning even a modest gym membership would cost more over 3-4 years than the stall bar itself. It's an investment, but one that holds its value well against the cost of separate equipment or an ongoing gym membership.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Easier to install than expected. I was using mine the same day!
Extremely versatile: strength, mobility, flexibility, and conditioning all in one tool.
Attractive — it functions as a piece of wall art as much as a training tool.
Accessories meaningfully expand its capabilities.
No harmful chemicals, and a tree planted per unit sold.
Made in the USA, by a small, dedicated team that cares about the quality of the product.
Cons:
The bars creak occasionally during use.
Pull ups are hard to do without the pull up/dip bar attachment, since this is a traditional stall bar style.
Being made of wood, it does require occasional maintenance (oiling) depending on your climate.
Who Should (or Should Not) Buy the Stall Bar?
Stall bars are often associated with gymnastics or physical therapy, but their real strength is how they adjust to the individual — from complete beginners to seasoned athletes. That includes physical therapists, chiropractors, calisthenics athletes, gymnasts, handstand enthusiasts, dancers, acrobats, circus and pole athletes, wrestlers, MMA fighters, and anyone in a physically demanding profession like firefighting, police work, or active duty military.
They're also a great fit for older adults, since the many hand and foot holds allow you to stay stable while safely strengthening weak areas — and for kids, who love playing on them.
Stall bars are probably not the right tool if you're solely focused on maximizing your body composition or raw strength, like a dedicated bodybuilder or powerlifter — or if you’re a CrossFit athlete narrowly focused on competition results. They can still be a nice complement to that kind of training, but it may not be specific enough to their sport to justify the cost.
Beginner to Advanced: Stall Bar Exercises
One of the best parts of stall bar training is how much room there is to grow. A few examples from each level:
Beginner: Supported Squat, Supported Lunge, Incline Pushup, Assisted Hang, Hamstring Stretch, Thoracic Spine Stretch.
Intermediate: Hang, Scap Pullup, Hanging Knee Raise, Standing Backbend, Flag drills.
Advanced: Flag, Dragon Flag, Toes to Bar, Hanging Leg Circle, Assisted Handstand.
Final Thoughts
I highly recommend the Beyond Balance Stall Bar as both a standalone training tool and a strong complement to other training styles — I personally pair mine with Kettlebell Solo, the training system I teach. It's made my training more enjoyable, playful, and it’s become a part of my daily life, not just my workouts.
Watch the full video review here for the complete walkthrough, including installation footage, my factory tour with Beyond Balance, and the full exercise breakdown from beginner to advanced.
If you're ready to try one for yourself, use code kbfitbritt for 10% off at beyond-balance.net.
Have questions about the Beyond Balance Stall Bar or stall bar training in general? Drop them in the comments — I'm happy to help!