Power Rack - What to look for?

CoderGal

I'm shopping and I have no idea what I should be looking for. What do I look for? They all look the same to me but so significantly ranged in price :S

CoderGal

http://www.treadmillfactory.ca/p-1606-c--strength-armour-deluxe-power-rack.html <- That one's cheap, what's bad about that one? What's fancier about others other then support load? I'm in the 120s with a bad spine so I'm assuming support wise all of them will due. I am plotting to take over the world though, so who knows.

taso42

Height - make sure it fits where you want to put it.
Pullup bar - It's nice when there is one built in (again pay attention to height so your head doesn' hit the ceiling
Dip attachments - nice to have
Hooks on the outside as well as inside - nice to have, may come in handy for OHP if it's not tall enough to do OHP inside
Adjustabiolity - more holes/slots closer together is better than less hole/slots, so you can adjust the spotter bar to be exactly where you want it
Some have built in plate storage hooks on them. I sort of wish mine did,
Make sure you can slide a bench in there for bench press

Other than that, they're all functionally about the same. Go with what you can find the cheapest.

wellbert

Get the best you can afford from Rogue or Elite FTS and you're good. Both usually have 'bench spacing'

bench spacing is closer holes in the bench area. That way the safeties are more versatile.

CoderGal

Height - make sure it fits where you want to put it.
Pullup bar - It's nice when there is one built in (again pay attention to height so your head doesn' hit the ceiling
Dip attachments - nice to have
Hooks on the outside as well as inside - nice to have, may come in handy for OHP if it's not tall enough to do OHP inside
Adjustabiolity - more holes/slots closer together is better than less hole/slots, so you can adjust the spotter bar to be exactly where you want it
Some have built in plate storage hooks on them. I sort of wish mine did,
Make sure you can slide a bench in there for bench press

Other than that, they're all functionally about the same. Go with what you can find the cheapest.

Thank you Taso! And as far as the hooks go, I notced those...can you purchase them separately? Is there a standard hole size on these things? Can I buy things from other places assuming it will fit whatever rack I (hopefully) get?

Factory_Reset

Bumping for info

taso42

Height - make sure it fits where you want to put it.
Pullup bar - It's nice when there is one built in (again pay attention to height so your head doesn' hit the ceiling
Dip attachments - nice to have
Hooks on the outside as well as inside - nice to have, may come in handy for OHP if it's not tall enough to do OHP inside
Adjustabiolity - more holes/slots closer together is better than less hole/slots, so you can adjust the spotter bar to be exactly where you want it
Some have built in plate storage hooks on them. I sort of wish mine did,
Make sure you can slide a bench in there for bench press

Other than that, they're all functionally about the same. Go with what you can find the cheapest.

Thank you Taso! And as far as the hooks go, I notced those...can you purchase them separately? Is there a standard hole size on these things? Can I buy things from other places assuming it will fit whatever rack I (hopefully) get?

It depends on the rack. the one i have is pretty proprietary so i don't think i can get any 3rd party hooks that would fit. generally everything you need would come with the rack itself.

CoderGal

I am assuming you can face everything in both directions? IE if I wanted to do something in front of the squat rack or in it I could move the pins the weight lays on from inside to outside no matter what rack I get?

wellbert

I am assuming you can face everything in both directions? IE if I wanted to do something in front of the squat rack or in it I could move the pins the weight lays on from inside to outside no matter what rack I get?

For the vast majority of racks, yes.

There's a handful here and there with fixed pins.