The squat rack is a key fundamental piece of equipment for every gym and rightly so, it has plenty to offer you with exercise options and support for your workouts. What are the benefits of squat racks? Well if you are looking to improve your strength, burn fat and build muscle, getting a squat or power rack is a great option for you. Here are some of the key benefits of squat racks that everyone can benefit from.
- Compound Exercises: Having a squat rack enables you to perform compound exercises; squats, bench presses, bent over rows, overhead presses, barbell lunges, pullups, chin ups, bicep curls and many more are all made easy having a squat or power rack. Performing these exercises helps you to effectively and efficiently become stronger by utilising multiple muscle groups as you perform these compound exercises. Training compound exercises helps to strengthen your joints, burn more overall fat and build more overall muscle.
- Lift Heavy: The squat or power rack allows you to add heavy weight you may not otherwise be able to lift. Having a squat rack allows you to rack your barbell and load it up with heavy weight plates in order to perform strength training or train with progressive overload. This is one of the main benefits of squat racks.
- Lift Safely: Having a rack allows you to safely perform exercises by being able to rack and un-rack your barbell. Having J hooks on your squat rack enables you to be able to lift the bar back onto and store your barbell safely between sets. Using safety spotter arms is another safety feature which helps to keep you safe by catching the weight if you should happen to fail to perform an exercise when lifting heavy loads.
- Versatility: More benefits of squat racks are that there is a whole range of different exercises that can be performed using a squat rack. Having a squat rack allows you to perform a tonne of different exercises and even more by being able to add attachments. Many of the well-known fitness equipment brands such as Rogue, Rep, Titan Fitness and Force USA etc. offer a huge variety of accessories that can be added to their signature racks like dip bars, landmines, pully systems for lat pulldowns or low rows as well as different pullup bar options, slam ball targets and much more. Other things you can add or use to your rack are things like resistance bands or TRX resistance training, gymnastic rings, battle ropes etc.
- Storage: Other huge benefits of squat racks is having a central place for you to store your equipment. Leave your barbell and bench in your rack as well as all your other gear to give your home gym a tidy look. Weight plates can be stored on weight plate holders attached to your rack. Having extra weight plates also helps to weigh your rack down making it even more sturdy and secure.
- Convenience: – Having your own squat rack in your own home gym saves you time you would otherwise spend travelling to a gym. A lot of gyms skimp on squat racks meaning you typically are waiting for someone else to stop using it. Having your own is convenient so you can use it anytime that suits you and set it up the way you want it so you can enjoy the many benefits of squat racks.
As you can see there is a whole range of benefits of squat racks. As they are so versatile they really are the all-in-one training tool for your home gym and worth considering adding to your equipment list. I hope this article inspired you to either think about adding a squat rack to your home or garage gym or maybe think about the one you already have to use it in even more ways and get the most out of it.
Here is a post about 7 space saving minimalist squat racks or why I think the yoke might be the perfect squat rack for the average home gym user.