Power racks are kinda awkward

heartsherps

Or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. Teehee.

First day of SL and I felt really awkward taking the bar out of the power rack to do my barbell rows. Is there a right way of doing it?
Especially when the weights start getting heavier, it seems weird to take a bar with weights out of the rack, but how else will you put the weights on?

CALake

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I use two separate bars. On on the power rack for squats, one on the floor for rows or deadlifts.

Qarol

My gym has spare olympic bars that we use for OHP, DL, and rows. We just put them on the floor and load them up.

iron_jj

My gym doesn't have spare olympic bars so I use the one on the rack as well. You can just put on the weights on the floor later?

heartsherps

I know I sound like an idiot, but:

I don't think my gym has extra bars, so I have to pull one off the power rack.

So if you load it from the floor, do you just pick up the end you're loading and use one hand to put the weight on? Seems awkward, but I'll give it a try. =]

lexagon

I know I sound like an idiot, but:

I don't think my gym has extra bars, so I have to pull one off the power rack.

So if you load it from the floor, do you just pick up the end you're loading and use one hand to put the weight on? Seems awkward, but I'll give it a try. =]

That's exactly what I do. We do necessarily have "spare" oly bars, but we have like 6 different bench/ohp stations that nobody ever uses so sometimes I steal a bar from there.

Just pick up one end, slide the weights on, pick up the other end and do the same. That's how most do it.

heartsherps

So, ya'll don't use the power rack for OHP? How come?

jenluvsushi

I use the power rack for squats and OHP. You can load the bar on the floor for rows or deadlifts. I do load my weights on the power rack since it is easier but you need to move them to the floor to lift on deads and rows. I think some people don't want to hog up the power rack if someone else needs to use it on lifts that actually require the rack....Our gym has two power racks. It is usually open so I don't sweat using it for all of my lifts. If someone else needs it, I will move my other lifts to the regular floor to free up the rack. .

heartsherps

Ah, I see. Yeah, our gym has like 5 or 6 power racks and most people working out there seem to use the machines, so I'm not terribly worried about hogging the rack. Lol.

kazzari

Ah, I see. Yeah, our gym has like 5 or 6 power racks and most people working out there seem to use the machines, so I'm not terribly worried about hogging the rack. Lol.

Yeah, our gym only has one power rack and an angled squat rack. I do my OHP's with the hooks on the outside of the power rack only if the squat rack isn't available as it seems a waste to take up a whole power rack when I don't need it. I wish we had a lot of power racks. I sometimes I wait a half hour for the rack.

Nataliaho

Yep you just load them on the floor, you have to get into a pretty serious PL gym before you're going to have one of those bar loader things. I've only seen one in action at a comp to load the heavy-weight guys deadlift bars.

findingfit23

My rack has moveable pegs that hold the bars. I move them to the last one, then load. Then it is only a short lift from the peg to floor.

Qarol

Ah, I see. Yeah, our gym has like 5 or 6 power racks and most people working out there seem to use the machines, so I'm not terribly worried about hogging the rack. Lol.

We have ONE rack. That's it. So for anything except squats, we find space elsewhere. Sometimes, the only space to do OHP is the floor, so we simply clean lift it from the floor.