A
power
rack is a must if you're going to be
working out at home. You can have a great home gym that doesn't take up
too much space at all with a rack and a few other pieces of weight
lifting equipment. A rack provides the safety you need to work out
alone at home.
Options to look for when buying...
You need to look for a few characteristics to make
sure you're getting a good home gym rack. I'm going to give you some tips for
buying and what you're going want to look for. After reading this, you
should know exactly what to look for when buying.
1. Good Quality
Make sure the power rack is good quality. Just
don't buy the cheapest one that you see. This doesn't mean that the
cheaper one you're looking at isn't a good piece of equipment. If
you're buying online, see if you can find any good reviews on the
equipment before you buy that particular piece.
For example, you can see the rack below is good
quality. It has thicker tubing and is very stable. It even has
a 5 star review on Amazon!
2. Chin Up Bar
Most every rack that I've ever seen has a chin up
bar attached, but I've seen a few that didn't. You're going to want to
get one with a chin up bar. If not, you're going to need to buy another
piece of equipment in order to do chin ups. Why would you want to do
that?
You might as well get a chin up bar with your squat rack because it
doesn't take up any more space and you'd have to do some work just to
find one that didn't have one included already. Just make sure the one
you're looking at has a chin up bar before buying.
3. Dip Bar Attachment
You might not be able to find many that have this
option. The one I bought didn't have a dip bar so I had to buy an extra
piece of equipment in order to do my dips. I'm warning you so you don't make the same mistake that I made!
You can find some good power
racks with dip bar attachments included or some will include them as an
option and charge you extra for them. The image below shows a rack with
dip bar attachments. You can buy it at the link below.
Dips are one of the best upper body exercises and
I always recommend you include them in your weightlifting program as a tricep
exercise. I like to stay as upright as possible during dips so that
the triceps do more work. You can get you a hip belt when you're strong
enough to start adding weight.
4. Pins on outer side of rack
You need to make sure the rack you purchase has
outer pins to set your barbell on when you are doing exercises outside
of the rack.
For example, most power racks will not be tall enough for
you to do standing barbell overhead press. So, you'll need to have the
bar on the outer side of the rack so you can do your overhead presses.
You could do seated overhead presses inside the
rack as another option. You could also buy a taller rack that ensures
you'll never have the need to go outside of it to do any exercise. The
downside to that is many homes will not have the ceiling height for a
taller rack. If you do have the ceiling height, I would definitely get
a taller rack so you have the safety bars to spot you on every
exercise.
When you go outside the rack, you have to be careful because
there is nothing there to catch the weights if they fall except for you
and the ground!
5. Adjustable Safety Bars
I probably shouldn't even mention this one because
every rack should have adjustable safety bars. If the rack doesn't have
them, it probably isn't a power rack. You need the safety bars! The
feeling of safety you have inside the rack is enough to help you lift
more weight. I used to lift from a squat rack, and I just didn't feel
as safe when doing heavy squats. I always pictured myself having an
accident. Once I got a power rack, I felt safer and my squat started
going up again!
6. Weight Holders
You're going to want a rack that has weight
holders attached so you can easily change your weights out from
exercise to exercise. Having these right there on the sides of the rack
will save you lots of time during your workout. No one wants to walk
around carrying weights all over their gym. See the image below for
what weight holders should look like on a rack.
You can get portable weight holder stands and set
them near your rack if that's the way you'd rather go. This might be a
cheaper option for you, but you're more than likely going to have to
bend over much more. And that will stress your lower back a little more.
7. Other Options
If you can find a rack that allows you the option
of a cable pulley system, I would definitely add that option! The cable
system at least doubles the number of exercises you can do and allows
you to do a variety of weighted stretches.
You
can even perform new exercises such as cable pull thru's, new ab
exercises, cable rows, cable curls, tricep pushdowns, and many more!
I also have a smith machine in my rack. I use it
for many calf exercises and some of my weighted stretching. I purchased
the rack with it because I was getting a very good deal on it. The rack
was on clearance at a local store. I got the power rack, cable pulley
system, weight holders, and smith machine all at the price that you can
get a rack alone. I got a great deal so I figured, why not?
The only
option my rack doesn't have is the outer pins and the dip bars. I
simply use my old squat rack for my overhead presses now. I overlooked
that option when buying, so take my advice on this page when buying
yours.
My Recommendation...
I
love the Powertec P-PR Rack. It comes with a chin up bar and dip
attachments so you don't have to purchase an extra piece of weight
training equipment that costs hundreds of dollars.
You can also get a cable system as an add on to this power rack! You can find the links to both in the table below...
If you want a place to store all of your weight plates beside your weight training equipment, see the weight rack below:
Set
a few of those on each side of your power rack, and you'll have
everything you need to add weight to your barbell very quickly. Plus,
your home gym will look great, neat, and organized.
 |
Learn more
about Weight Training Equipment at the Main Equipment Section of the
Website:
Recommended equipment, what to look for in equipment when buying, and
more! |
Or, you can go straight to the guides on each of the pieces of weight
lifting equipment below...
Weight Training Equipment Guides
The
guides above will tell you what to look for in each piece of weight
training equipment. You won't find information like this anywhere else.
Go
back to Weight Training Equipment from Power Rack
