Finding the perfect power rack or squat rack or home gym is not always a quick and easy process. Over the years we have learned a lot from our customers, and we thought to put at your disposal all our experience to give you the opportunity to choose the best gym rack and home gym thanks to our exclusive guide to choosing the perfect rack.
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Why buy a rack
When designing a home gym for the first time it is always good practice to make a list of the equipment you want to buy and then subdivide it into two sub categories that we will call “essential equipment” and “it would be nice to have”.
Once we do this, we would advise you to include in the list “essential equipment” a power rack or squat rack that you will say.
We believe that a quality power or squat rack is essential in your gym, whether it’s a home gym, garage gym or outdoor gym. Like a gorgeous centerpiece, a rack is always welcome in any gym.
A weight training regime, consisting of precise and standardized movements, should be essential for all training regimes.
No need to stress that such movements cannot be performed safely or effectively without a rack…
Train safely
Probably one of the main reasons to use a rack is safety. When you perform movements such as lifting on a flat bench or squat and you do it yourself without the help of a spotter, having a rack becomes essential.
A quality rack has a range of “security” systems to prevent accidental release of free loads. Such security systems not only protect against injury, but also allow you to use extreme loads that would not be possible to use without the help of an assistant.
Easy loading
If only we could go back 100 years, we would find that at the time the “weightlifters” did not dare to do exercises a squat or bench stretching and watch out, not because they are not quality movements, on the contrary.
The reason was due to the possibility of bringing the weight in safe position for lifting. They could have asked for help from other people, of course, and it’s been done sometimes. But the lack of a type of equipment such as the rack did not allow the evolution of such movements, at least until the invention of the latter.
With the advent of the rack, new, more effective and safe lifting methods were developed. Bench press and squats, for example, became the norm as more and more people had access to rack-like equipment.
Remember : A quality weight training program will almost always contain lifting exercises, which can be performed only with a rack. If you train at home, a rack becomes really essential.
Versatility
What you learn to love and appreciate about a rack is its versatility.
Not only squats and bench, a rack can give you the opportunity to insert a whole series of accessories, which will allow you to achieve a training session always different.
How? Here are some examples:
Pull-up bar
Your rack will provide you with a solid base to make chin-up at the bar, being part of the structure itself, in short, a welcome gift, don’t you think?
Rings for gymnastics
Adding a pair of exercise rings to your order will not change the expense much, but it will allow you to add a very important accessory to your training station. In fact the addition of a pair of exercise rings to your rack station, will allow you to perform different types of exercises that will improve your strength and mobility.
Dip Bar
The Dip Bar takes its name from the most common exercise that can be performed on these training accessories. However, there is a wide range of exercises that can also be performed on the dip bar, to strengthen the upper body muscle groups.
The choice of the correct version depends on how wide are the pillars of the Rig/Rack, on which we will mount the dip bar. It is fixed to the structure from the front with a pin bolt.
Save space for home gyms
Space is precious, it always has been. This metric can be applied to anything in life. Having a pallet rack means concentrating all your equipment in a precise and compact space. Weights, barbells, rings, bench, all in a space that does not exceed 3 square meters… so don’t you think it’s really cool?
Terminology
Surely you have heard during your sporting experience one of these terms :
- Squat rack
- Power rack
- Rig
- Stand
Confused? Do not worry. It is not difficult to explain the difference between these terms :
Stand
One Stand consists of two side supports on which to lean the barbell with heights that hardly exceed two meters.
Power or Squat
A squat rack or a power rack are formed by 4 columns joined together by bars and also hardly exceed 2 and a half meters in height.
Rig
The Rigs also formed by columns are the “training stations” of a Cross Training box and can reach through their accessories even to about 4 meters high.
Now that it’s clear, let’s move on!
Building
To choose the right rack you should have at least some familiarity with the different parts that make it up. Knowing the parts, what they do and how they are built is critical to consciously choosing your rack.
Uprights
The size of the uprights is measured in centimeters of width and millimeters of thickness. All racks are made of steel, what really matters is the thickness in millimeters and the width in centimeters of the pillar.
The best racks on the market have tubular steel with different thicknesses, always remember that a pillar intended to last a lifetime must NEVER have a thickness of less than 3 millimeters.
Remember: A quality rack must always have certain characteristics, always ask the seller the thickness and type of steel used to build its racks, if below 3 millimeters the advice is to leave it alone. Remember that there will be your head under that barbell loaded with 100 kg of bumpers.
You will see many people make a big problem with the quality of welding on some racks. Although you won’t see it until you have the rack in front of you (i.e., marketing photos usually won’t show you the solders), I have some general guidelines to be aware of.
Welding
A nice welding looks like a stack of pennies all in a row and is the signature of a highly qualified welder who made a quality welding, but do not be fooled. An ad hoc welding is a good sign that can keep you going when choosing your new training partner.
Type of hole and spacing
You all know that along the posts there are holes. There are three things to keep in mind to understand if you are buying a quality rack observe such holes.
- how it was built
- Spacing
- Dimensions
To drill a hole in a thick steel pillar, there are two methods. The least expensive of the two is to drill holes with a press. This folds the uprights and does not create clean and uniform holes. It is passable but not ideal.
The best way is to cut the laser holes. This is what the best rack manufacturers like Kingsbox do. The use of a laser to cut the holes leaves the upright intact. This makes the uprights structurally healthier. Also creating an aesthetically cleaner hole. This means that accessories (the reason why profiles have holes) They will enter the premises in a clean and solid way.
The spacing of the holes is another detail not to be neglected. Most inexpensive racks distance the holes by 5 centimeters from each other. The best on the market distance the holes of no more than 3 cm maximum.
Size of the hole.
There is no standard of course, but buying a rack for your gym from Kingsbox guarantees total compatibility with the accessories we have on sale. No surprises…
Rack weight capacity
Always remember to ask for the load capacity not only of the structure but also of accessories, such as arms or hooks like to say you want, it is not always declared and could sometimes be a big problem.
Price ranges
Cheap racks use very thin steel thickness. Hooks, bindings and accessories may break over time, perhaps during a heavy training session… Don’t skimp, stay home a few more saturday nights and save as much as you can to be able to buy a quality product.
A good rack can not cost 200 euros, that’s the truth…. but we can assure you that no less than 1000 euros we can offer you a professional quality product made in Europe by highly qualified personnel, using quality certified materials.
Take advantage of our advice, visit now our section dedicated to Racks and choose the one that suits you, always taking into account our precious advice.
