Swedish Ladder Appreciation Post

There are quite a few outdoor gym setups all over the Austin area. Most of them have these contraptions that look like monkey bars standing erect. I never really gave any thought to what they were for until relatively recently someone I know called one a “Swedish ladder” and said they were great for stretching. Here are a couple of pictures of ladders in their natural habitat.

I decided to look into these things a little more closely and since then I have incorporated Swedish ladders into my outdoor workout routine. I’m going to talk them up here so you might consider doing so as well.

Swedish ladders (also called “stall bars” or “wall bars”) are exactly what they look like. They are a wide ladder with rungs up to a couple feet apart. They can optionally have a pull-up bar on top, like in the picture on the left above. They were created early in the nineteenth century by the Swedish (hence the name) “Father of Physical Therapy”, Pehr Henrik Ling. He has an interesting story that I’m not going to recap here, but I can link to his Wikipedia page and save you a Google search.

The best exercises to do on a Swedish ladder are stretching exercises. You can grab a rung above your head and squat down to get a good stretch through your upper body. You can achieve a similar stretch by grabbing a lower rung and getting down on your knees.

Another thing at which Swedish ladders excel is static strength moves. Obviously you can do dead hangs from the pull-up bar, but you can also do front or rear support holds. A support hold is where you simply grab a rung just above your waist height and hold yourself up in a straight position off the ground. My favorite exercises are inverted rows and decline push-ups with my feet on the rungs.

For those of you who are visual learners and those of you who think I do a lousy job of describing exercises with words, here are two very good YouTube videos that show many different exercises being done with proper form. The first one is from VAHVA Fitness, who also have a great write-up on their website.

Keep an eye out for Swedish ladders the next time you are at a park or a fancy gym. I encourage you to add them to your workout regime if you find them. Even better if you can pair them with rings or resistance bands.