Why Purchase a Power Rack Anyways?
I’m sure you are here looking to buy the best power rack (or new piece of equipment), that you can do a multitude of exercises in your home, garage gym or commercial gym. There are a lot of choices out there for strength training, so I went out and researched the most popular cages out there, by the leading fitness equipment manufactures in the industry. We will short cut your research time in half and you will narrow down the best rack you can buy for your own personal budget.
What’s the big deal anyways about it? Do you really need one? Well no, you can do body weight exercises all you want and not need any equipment. You want to buy one because you don’t want to pay a gym membership and you want to workout at home. If you are at home you want the best bang for your buck because 90% of you will have a small space to workout in. With a power rack also called a power cage you can do ton of exercises.
You can add an adjustable bench to it very easily which now gives you another whole set of exercises you can do with just about any barbell set or a set of adjustable dumbbells. Long story short, it’s easily the best bang for your buck when purchasing fitness equipment for your home gym.
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Buyer Alert
As awesome as this is you might have saw the obvious. You will need to purchase a bench, adjustable dumbbells or standard olympic weight set. It’s really not all that of a surprise to most of us, because that was the whole purpose of wanting a power type of cage but I wanted to point that out. All of the models reviewed here, use very sturdy safety bars, as apposed to safety pins, which are not as effective at stopping an accident. Also, all of these fully replace a traditional squat stand. Of course there is space consideration as well. So make sure you have the ceiling and floor space with the rack you buy.
Power Rack Review Comparison 2021
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Titan T-2 Series Short Power Rack Squat Deadlift Cage Bench cross fit pull up |
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View Latest Deal |
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Cap Barbell Full Cage Power Rack |
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View Latest Deal |
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Body-Solid Powerline PPR200x Power Rack |
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View Latest Deal |
Power Rack Buying Factors
I’m going to keep this straight to the point and short. As you are reading the power rack reviews below here are a few guidelines you might want to consider when picking out the best power rack.
Know Your Gym Space Size
Please, measure your ceiling and the area where you want to put your workout cage. Give yourself a foot around the base of it and at least 6-8 inches above the top bar so you can do a full chin-up above the highest bar and not hit your head on a rafter or the ceiling
Pick out your exercises ahead of time
This will help you keep focused and not spend too much for extra features you don’t need or it will be the opposite, which is to get all the extra attachments you need to complete your workouts.
Do you want to bench press
You might find that odd but that answer well tell you how much more money you are going to spend on setting up your gym because if you do, you will be purchasing a set of dumbbells and you want to make sure the adjustable bench fits nicely inside the power cage workout area.
Are Pull-ups or Chin-ups Important
Every one has a pull up bar but there are some differences in the diameter of the bar and some of them have a knurling pattern on it. I mentioned that when I had the data so you would know.
Ok I would list your budget down as number 5 but that is just a given. You know what you can spend, so let’s get after it and find out what the best power rack is out there for you to buy for your home so you can start getting in shape, toning up or getting ripped. Let’s do this! Note: I do have a number of videos on some of the racks to watch and small picture galleries so you can get a better look at multiple uses of these mini home gyms (great for garage gyms too!). Those pictures are clickable and will go into a slide show to view them
Power Rack Reviews 2021
Powerline PPR200x
Powerline is definitely one of the main manufactures in the industry and their PPR200x model is one of their popular models to add to your home gym. The PPR200x has plenty of walk-in room to do squats, calf raises, shoulder shrugs, bench and even military press exercise. There are two saber style safety bars that can easily be adjusted for various exercises where you need that spotter function.
The cage weights 133 pounds, which is a bit lighter than most but still offers, plenty of stability. The dimensions are 45″ wide x 82″ high and 47 inches in depth. This will definitely fit in you house or garage for your home gym. The rack does have 18 hole positions that you can adjust the height of the safety bars with to accommodate whatever exercise you want to do.
Main Features
There are optional accessories that you can purchase which are the lat attachment and adjustable weight bench. I do want to mention a few small details about the powerline PPR200x which is that the hooks are circles and not j-hooks.
The other small detail you want to know is that the bar for pull-ups has a knurling pattern on it. Most people don’t mind it but you might want gloves on to do chin-ups.
Also, I wanted to mention that the safety bars and lift-off rods are painted. So don’t be surprised that they get scratched when pulling them in and out of the holes.
This has been a go to model for years and the reviews from many happy owners show it. When you add in the 10-year warranty and affordable price this will make a fantastic workout cage for any home gym, or garage gym that you want to build out.
Cap Barbell Full Cage Power Rack
It should be no surprise to anyone who has been lifting weights for any length of time that the cap barbell power racks would be on our list. The company has been producing quality equipment for decades and is absolutely one of the best in the industry.
It is a sturdy but simple design that is a great for a small gym or to use fo pull ups, chin ups, squats, suspension trainer work and although no band pegs, its still great for resistance band work too.
It does not have all the bells and whistles. I bought it personally because it was affordable, I wanted it for pull ups and squats.
- Multiple Color Options
- 43.63 Wide by 47.5 Deep and 84 High
- 500lb holding weights, 750 capacity for pull ups
- Powered Coated Finish
Main Features
The craftsmanship and extra options show it too. The cage is all 12-14 gauge in steel with a 3 step powered coating process. The dimensions are 84″ tall, 47.5″ deep 43.63″ wide. At 84″ inches tall, know right away that you ceilings better be over that before even considering purchasing it.
There is an holder for the bar on one side and olympic weight holder on the other to help keep everyting organized which keeps the foot print small for anyone having a small workout area.
Titan Power Racks (T2)
Titan Fitness produces quality gym equipment at great prices. They have 2 different models to choose from which is the T2 series that is the most basic, the Titan T-3 which has extra pegs to hold the weights and the support bars are thicker. The Titan T-3 also has 2 bars ideal for pull-up, which can be used for crossfit exercise. Lastly you have the wall mount version that you can do pull-ups and squats with.
With that said I’m going to give you the run down on the Titan T-2 Series sqaut rack, which is going to be what most everyone is looking for. It has a capacity of 850 lbs and the whole frame actually weights 107 lbs which is the lightest power rack review I will do in this guide. The Titan is 83″ high x 48″ wide and 48″ deep.
So, this piece of equipment really has a small footprint and will easily fit into a small workout room with plenty of ceiling clearance.
It uses regular j-hook attachments to hold the bar for squats. The bar for pull-up excercises is nice and narrow at 1 ¼ ” in diameter. So you have an easy grip. You will store your weights on the bottom of the rack in back.
Note: The Titan T2 does come with an attachment for dips that hooks onto each side of the frame in front.
Exercises To do With Your Rack
This has to be one of the best benefits of buying one for your own home gym setup. You can do a ton of exercises with it and not have to buy a ton of exercise machines or pay for a gym membership to do it.
Here is a quick sample of what you can do:
- Squats
- Lunges
- Pull-ups/Chin-ups
- Dips
- Shoulder Shrugs
- Dead-lifts
- Bicep Curls
- Military Press
- Calf Raises
- Flat/Incline/Decline Pressing from a Bench
- Resistance Band Exercises
You can easily see that when you make this purchase, you will open the door to a whole new type of set of exercises and you won’t be disappointed!
Accessories to Consider For Your Cage
More than likely you are wanting to use free weights at home for your workouts. So, there are three obvious accessories that you will want to look at purchasing along with the cage.
Olympic Weight Set
These are the standard olympic weights that you would see at a local gym or club. They are always included at the squat rack, left press machine and most free weight areas. Cap Barbell Olympic weights are the standard set to buy by far. In all honesty, this is really a pretty simple purchase to consider.
You need to figure out how much weight you will need. So, anticipate how much weight you think you could squat, bench or dead-lift in your workout. From there you can just go out and find the best weight set. I will note that the only thing you need to look for is if you need the ones with the 2 inch or 1 inch hole to fit the barbell they will be used with. I would personally lean toward the plate that has the hand grip hole built into it as they are easier to handle.
A set usually contains 300 lbs and comes with a bar which you can see the set here on amazon and pick out the type of plate you want.
This leads into our next accessory…
Olympic Barbell
There are various brands to choose from and they also come in two sizes. You will find both a 6 foot and 7 foot Olympic style barbell set. The standard is 7 foot. This is really an important choice by the way. You want to make sure the rack width of the cage will support the barbell when it sits into the catches (bar), or j-hooks is another name for them. You can purchases these separately if you already have weights otherwise it comes with the set.
There are a few things to note about which one to pick.
- The length is important so it fits the weight plate holes and sits in the power rack.
- You will want to know the weight capacity of the bar. More important for power lifters or crossfiters who do a lot of weight.
Here is a brief selection below to help you get started.
Olympic Collars
You will want some way to secure the plates on the bar. You can go really simple and cheap here. If you buy a set they usually come with the solid steel spring clamps that I’m sure you all have seen in the gym or used. There are fancier Weight Collars that you can purchase that lock on better and just look manly! They would only be necessary for those of you who will be pushing a lot of weight and you cannot afford to have the weights moving around.
Adjustable Weight Bench
Last but not least you will want a bench that will fit inside of the workout cage. So make sure to check the dimensions so you have plenty of room in there. You want to be conscious of how low or high you can go with the spotter bars if you are going to be benching alone and need them.
You also want to make sure your bench will fit for incline press and that the bar sits in the right position on the j-hooks to do incline press. I have a nice long review on these type of benches you can read.
Most of the power racks on this page actually have the option to buy the bench with it and definitely make their own brand of benches to work with each model.
The video below is what I’m taking about using the spotter bars for pressing from your incline or decline bench.
My Power Racks Summary
Now that you have a really nice list to start with it is up to you to find the best power rack that will work for your setup. Decide what price range you want to land in, ask yourself do you need the extra attachments for dip and lat pulls. The yes or no answer to that should land you at the right one. If you have any questions please leave them below.
Please feel free to share this with your friends. I spent a ton of time on this to help anyone out looking for the best power rack for their home gym hoping to save them a ton of time from the research I used. Thanks! Eric
