I am tired of working out/PAYING out the ass at the gym and am getting ready to begin building one at my house. I was hoping some people could give me some tips/advice about selecting a power rack. What equipment have you used? Also, what else would anyone recomend in addition to a rack (besides bench and other OBVIOUS stuff)? Thanks.
A lot depends on how much $ you are willing to spend. I went through this process about 2 years ago since the gyms around me kept closing down (poor management). I ended up getting a Power-Tec rack with a lat attachment (hi and lo pulley), bench, a bunch of weights and a set of dumbbells.
I bought the rack new, but it was priced pretty attractively at the time, everything else was purchased from people who simply wanted to get rid of their things so I didn’t pay too much. I did have to pay up for some of the higher weight dumbbells, though. However, you can also simply buy a couple handles for $30 and simply have adjustable dumbbells.
Good luck.
Bands seem like a sensable option.
[quote]maveric wrote:
What equipment have you used? Also, what else would anyone recomend in addition to a rack (besides bench and other OBVIOUS stuff)? Thanks.[/quote]
If you have the money, get the Elite standard rack. Otherwise, there are several others that will work fine. I have a Body Solid power rack, and it works great for me. Others may recommend New York Barbell or Power Tec. I’m sure there are good and bad with any of those brands.
Find a rack that suits your needs. Mine cost $264 new through Play-it-Again Sports. I worked them on the price along with a flat bench ($60) and an Olympic barbell set ($119). This will last me a while, and when my bar begins to suck, I’ll upgrade to the Texas Power Bar sold by elitefts.com.
All you really need is a good rack, Olympic barbell set and a bench. Getting an incline/flat/decline bench is optional. I’ve found that I can make my flat bench incline or decline by putting some weight plates underneath it (per CW’s recommendations).
Shop around at local sporting good stores and online to find some good deals. Obviously, shopping online could be cheaper, as long as they offer free or reduced shipping charges.
Adding dumbbells, an EZ curl bar and other equipment is optional.
Luckily here the gyms have dropped to nothing a month. We have one gym $15.99 a month no money down. Its got loads of racks/benches. No reverse hyper or glute but TONS AND TONS of equipment.
I bought the PowerTec rack and have been very pleased. High quality, very sturdy, assembled easily. Came with dips attachments and pullup bar for the front. Has everything I need.
Cant go wrong with Ny Bar bell IMO. Sure elite has top of the line stuff but once again in my opinion Ny BB is very close and Much better price.
My 2 cc
Phill
I don’t want to seem like a prick, but this is one time you really need to use the search engine. This is one of those “generic” questions that have come up and been debated a bunch of times and you can get a ton of opinions from earlier threads. To answer your question, if you have cash go to elitefts.com, if you are tight go to nybarbell.com. both have great stuff, you get what you pay for.