People creating their own home gym usually start with things like benches, dumbbells, barbells, and other basic pieces of equipment. However, one piece of equipment that will have the biggest impact on your strength training is a power rack.
Sure, a power rack is big, heavy, and relatively expensive, but it's also one of the most versatile pieces of exercise equipment you could have in your home gym.
As you'll see below, you can perform a wide variety of exercises on a power rack, and they come with many other benefits for home gym use as well. Let's take a look at all of the biggest power rack benefits.
What’s a Power Rack?
Before we talk about whether a power rack is right for you or not, you probably need to know what it is.
A power rack is essentially a large metal frame that is designed to support a barbell for heavy lifts such as presses and squats. Generally speaking, there are four vertical or upright beams, along with a couple of horizontal crossbars at the top, to help add stability and safety.
Power racks usually have many additional features, such as safety bars, safety stops, dip bars, weight storage, and more, along with modular attachments for extra exercises such as pull-ups.
As you can see, they are indeed one of the most versatile tools that you could have in your home gym.
This is especially the case if you plan on lifting very heavy, particularly if you are alone, as power racks can help keep you safe thanks to their great safety features.
Is a Power Rack Right For You?
You might be wondering why you would ever put one of these large metal frames in your home and add it to your home gym. Well, there are actually a number of reasons why power racks are so beneficial, and why they're becoming very popular for home gyms.
Safety Features
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of having a power rack in your home gym is that it helps keep you safe. If you are doing a lot of super-heavy squats, presses, and other heavy lifts, being safe is essential.
Most people in the gym would use a spotter, someone to assist them and keep an eye on them for safety purposes.
However, if you're working out alone at home, you probably don't have a spotter, in which case the safety features that a power rack provides you with are your next best bet.
Strength Gains
The next big benefit of having a power rack in your home gym is that they are excellent for doing heavy lifts.
As we mentioned above, they help keep you safe during heavy lifts. More than that, if you have a good quality power rack, it can handle a substantial amount of weight with ease. This combined with being able to safely get underneath the bar for exercises such as squats allows you to push your limits to unlock strength gains.
They’re Versatile
The next reason why a power rack is a great addition for your home gym is because they are extremely versatile.
We'll list just some of the exercises below, but the fact of the matter is that there are well over 30 different exercises that you can do with a power rack.
If you purchase a variety of attachments, you can almost effectively double this number.
Space Efficiency
Okay, so we mentioned that a power rack allows you to do well over 30 exercises in its most basic form, and many more if you buy the right attachments. The fact of the matter is that although the rack itself is quite large, consider that it replaces dozens and dozens of exercises.
You can therefore use one single power rack for all of your workout needs, instead of having a massive home gym with dozens of pieces of equipment. Not only is the space efficient but in the long run, also ends up being rather cost effective.
Tips on Using a Power Rack the Right Way
Power racks might look quite simple, but if you don't use them the right way, not only will you not achieve the right results, but you also put yourself at risk of injury.
Therefore, we're going to go over some of the most important tips on how to use a power rack safely and effectively.
- Always take your time when using a power rack. Rushing is a great way to hurt yourself. Always make sure to set up the safety pins properly, the J-hooks, and other safety features. Making sure that everything is well set up will help keep you safe during your workout.
- On that note, use those safety features. These racks come with various safety features, such as J-hooks and safety pins for a reason, to catch the weight if you fail to lift it or you have to drop it. All power racks have these safety features, and you need to use them.
- Although this may not have to do much with safety per se, when using a power rack, always stay organized. You want to organize your weights in such a way so that you can easily find and access them whenever you need them. It's all about allowing for greater productivity during your workouts by not having to constantly reorganize and search for your weights.
The Best Power Rack Exercises
Although there are plenty of exercises that you can do on a power rack, some are more common than others. Some of the best exercises to do on a power rack include rows, bench press, squats, pull-ups, military press, deadlifts, barbell rows, and barbell lunges.
The Bottom Line on Power Rack Benefits
If you want to get the most out of your workouts, and going to the gym just isn't an option, then purchasing a power rack is your next best bet.
Remember, you don't have to spend a fortune on a brand new power rack, because there are plenty of used racks out there prime for the taking.