Home Gym Equipment Recommendation

zamphir79
zamphir79 Posts: 21 Member
edited February 2023 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi Community:

I'm looking to buy a power rack for my new basement exercise area. But in browsing Amazon, the selection is kind of bewildering. And the reviews tend to be all over the place, even more so than with typical products.

Here's what I'm looking for:
* A pretty basic power rack
* An included bench if that makes $$ sense

Here are my constraints:
* My basement has a drop ceiling, and I'm building a platform on which to mount the rack. So it can't be especially tall. UPDATE: I have 87" from floor to ceiling, but this doesn't yet account for the platform I have to build, so subtract ~2 inches from that.
* I don't see the need for pulley systems and lots of bells and whistles, unless it's economical or you think there's big benefits in those things.\
* BUDGET: $1000 is about as much as I want to spend. I see them for under $300, but I fear that's a "get what you pay for" situation. But maybe I'm wrong?

Anyway, if I could get some recommendations that would be awesome.

Replies

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,848 Member
    edited February 2023
    No specific rec, but you might want to check out this channel and this video. He tried the cheapest rack on Amazon here, $250 shipped, 800 pound capacity, and took it over capacity successfully.

    Some things to think about:

    Does the bench do incline at different angles, and decline? I like the decline for doing hamstring curls with a dumbbell. For the incline, you want multiple angles to better suit incline press, seal rows, etc.

    Will the pullup bar work for you?

    What attachments can you fix to the rack? They can have different hole sizes and spacings. Check out Titan's site e.g. for their attachments, they're a decent budget brand. You might want different hooks, or weight plate attachments, or hooks for storing bands or other things to save room space, etc.

    What type of weights will you go for? Iron, rubber, bumper. Will you get 2" or 1", and will you share them with loadable dumbbells? That's the route I went, loadable db's and a barbell and ez-bar, and I can share the weight among them all. That cuts down on cost and space.

    If a pulley option lets you use your existing plates cheaply, that gives you a lot more options.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvFeJZCaALU

    Bunch of similar videos there with this search below, and there are probably more. Have a look:

    https://www.youtube.com/@GarageGymReviews/search?query=cheapest rack
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    I had a Titan rack and bench for a long time and was very happy. They have one that’s 82”.

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