I’m considering a major upgrade in the home gym department.
I’m looking mostly at a squat rack and bench as what I’ve got now is old, falling apart and becoming dangerous.
I have some $$$ but want to get the most bang for my limited bucks.
I’ve seen a Parabody squat rack for about $500, holes 2" apart, and a Parabody bench that adjusts to incline and decline angles for $200+.
I can add lat pulldown/rowing feature and end up with what looks like a good setup for $800-$900.
Is this a good use of the $$$? any other recommendations or considerations I should be thinking about?
Not really if you go over to elite at the mo, they have a sale on and you cna get a power rack with 1 inch holes for 499 and their flat benches are 175 and having used the powerrack they are SWEET.
Dan, that is exactly what I have at home. I love it! The adjustable self spotting capability is a must have, and I can go from Decline to Incline, to squats with no problem.
I also got the lat pull-down and row feature with mine. Definitely worth the $$ to add that IMO. Plus, you’ll be able to do pull-ups on it as well.
Complaints? None really. I bought a few extra handles/grips for the cable features, but other than that I can’t think of anything. The bench is very well made too.
Thanks for the replies.
The ‘build your own rack’ rack from EliteFitness looks really good.
The biggest problem with that rack is all the extra expense for shipping.
Warhorse, how much did the lat pulldown/row attachement cost you?
I couldn’t get the guy to give me all the breakout #'s.
I justed bought a basic power rack and flat/Incline adjustable bench from Crain’s Muscle World for around $700 including shipping, I even had to have mine cut down to fit in basement. Check with Rickey he can get you anything you want. The stuff I got is from Promaxima.
MajorDan, check out Newyorkbarbell.com. I got a power rack there with 2-inch gaps between holes for $350 and it was shipped for free. It comes with pull up/dip bars and there a lat-pulldown attachment you can get for it as well. I bought the rack and a bench from them. I’m waiting on the lat-pulldown but i’ll be getting one as well. Good price, good equipment, free shipping. It’s the best deal I found.
For what it’s worth, I picked up a BodySolid rack (WPR-78), row/lat attachment (WLA-78), flat bench to use with rack (WFB-350), and 3 half-inch-thick ‘cow mats’ (RF1) from JesupGym.com. The holes are 3-inches apart - would have rather had 2-inches, but I think it’s good enough. With shipping (from Iowa to Indiana), under $700.00. Likely not commercial-level, but certainly more than good enough for my needs for the forseeable future.
No disrespect but i wouldn’t buy any body solid equip.I have a couple of peices and they use thin gauge metal which in some instances has bent on my stuff.Spend the money and get quality stuff it will last forever and be much safer.
Steve, no disrepect taken, but I’ve already ordered it, and it’s already on its way. I’ve talked to others who are perfectly happy with the equipment, so we’ll just have to see, and hope your experience was an aberration.
Frankly, it’d be nice to get my poundage up enough to bend some equipment :-).
Anyway, thanks much for the input, it is appreciated.
I’m still mulling over my options - haven’t ordered anything yet.
Couple of questions:
I tried the Parabody Incline/decline bench this week. The break in the bench that allows for it to incline and decline was most annoying. At the gym where I do my benching, I use a flat bench. How do you guys work around the ‘hole’ in the bench when benching, if you know what I mean. I didn’t like dealing with that.
The Parabody squat rack has ‘spotter’ side rails. They look big and solid but in fact are held in the holes with short pins. The NewYorkBarbell rack has solid metal rods for ‘spotter’ rails. Is one type better than the other?
I had a custom suede flat bench made because I couldn’t stand flat work on the combo bench. If I understand your description correctly, the parabody rack sounds similar to the elitefts rack in that the pins will bend instead of the rod, making it less of a problem when a mishap occurs b/c the pins are more cost effectively replaced. If this is the case, the parabody style is arguably better.
The Parabody bench is pretty long. When I’m benching I keep head toward the top of the bench and my ass doesn’t even touch the lower pad toward the bottom. I’m 6’3" so if your are much taller than that it might bug you.
Those pins are pretty sturdy. Let’s say you are a 600 lb. squatter and you drop the weight from the top of the squat. It is not going to travel more than 3 feet unless you’re real tall. I think they could hold up to that easily. Maybe there is some other scenario I’m not thinking of that would be worse but I bet they test those things out pretty thoroughly.