Home-body or traveler, adventurer or weekend warrior, newbie or musclehead — monkii bars 2 give you the freedom to work out anywhere.
monkii bars 2 Features:
- Weight: Adventure kit: 25 oz / Ultralight kit: 15 oz
- Length of bars: 7.3”
- Grip diameter: 1.27”
- Bars: aerospace-grade aluminum with durable powdercoat
- Straps: ultra-strong nylon webbing
- Weight limit: 250 lbs
- Designed in Boulder CO and Made in the USA
- Six color options
- Kickstarter pricing: Adventure kit: $169 (40% off) / Ultralight kit: $119 (30% off)
Last year we tested the original monkii bars, an ultralightweight bodyweight training system that made it easy and convenient to set up a strength training gym almost anywhere. The product was fully funded on Kickstarter in 2014 which allowed the company to build the pilot product and collect customer feedback.
This summer the company is back with monkii bars 2, another Kickstarter project that went live this month and continues through August 22. We were provided a test kit for a couple of weeks to test out the new features in comparison to the original monkii bars.
Three major changes to monkii bars 2 were based on customer feedback:
- They are designed for improved functionality indoors
- They are easier to setup and use
- They now include detachable foot straps for more core and leg exercises.
The new product accomplishes this while staying true to the design that found initial success: ultra-portability, high quality materials, and the versatility to setup and use anywhere.
Our favorite aspect of the original monkii bars was their simplicity and ease of use, and the convenience of stuffing them into a travel bag for business or a hydration pack for venturing out into the wild. The monkii bars 2 ultralight kit is essentially that same kit: two bars, two suspension straps tucked into the bars, and two footstraps. The entire kit is easily transportable and takes just a couple of minutes to set up. Instead of a polished wood finish, monkii bars 2 use a powder coating that makes them both easier to grip and less likely to clang against a door if you drop them.
One major improvement is with the straps, which now utilize the same kind of nylon webbing and cinch-lock closures that you find on roof straps for your car. The old cords use a loop-around locking mechanism that worked well enough, but occasionally became twisted on themselves and could be tricky to adjust. Strap adjustments on monkii bars 2 are extremely smooth and efficient by comparison.
The adventure kit includes a travel case and built-in door attachment that allows you to turn any door frame (think hotel room) into a strength gym. The case is made of sturdy canvas, and the interior surface has a slot where you can stash your smartphone if you’re following a downloaded workout. The entire adventure kit packs down to the size of a Nalgene bottle and is TSA friendly, so you can bring it in a carry on. If you purchase the adventure kit, you can strip it down to the ultralight version for occasions when you’re going minimalist.
Perhaps the biggest development with the monkii bars 2 is the MONKII app (in case you’re confused: the product name is all lowercase, the app name is all uppercase). It’s part geocaching, part social media as you can look up cool workout locations by their GPS coordinates, and access workout submitted by the monkii bars community at each location. This is a sweet feature for people who arrive in new surroundings and don’t have time to search for the perfect tree or swing set to set up the monkii bars; using the app, other users have already done that recon for you.
After our limited trial, our key takeaway was that the monkii bars 2 preserve everything we like about the originals, with even better convenience of use. The adventure kit provides a number of additional workout options, and the app will be an incredibly useful tool if it gains traction among enough users.
Be sure to check out the new monkii bars 2 Kickstarter project which is running through August 22 to find out more about the product and to purchase an advance kit at a significant discount.
More Info: Visit Kickstarter
