USAWA

GReat article Al. I gotta say, your rack is the favorite rack I have ever lifted in. The 2 I have do not quite hold up to your standards, but they have held lots and lots of weights!
ET

Equipment for lifting really have come a long ways since the days of Hoffman and Rader. However, I will say this – Good equipment is NOT NEEDED to get stronger. Guys of the past generations have gotten tremendously strong using nothing but a bar and some plates. And poor bars and ugly looking plates at that.

Now a little story. Most of you know I like to also hunt and fish. My grandfather (the wisest man I’ve ever known) would always make comments to me when I came home with some new fancy decoys, the latest in camo, or a upgrade to my shotgun, or a better fishing pool. He would tell me that in his days all you needed to hunt was a gun and a few shells, and to fish all you needed was a rod and reel, a hook, and some bait. Nothing more. However, I thought these new items that I just bought from Cabella’s were going to be the key to my success out in the field. Just look at Cabella’s – a big huge store making a fortune off of nothing more than selling TOYS for the outdoorsman. Nothing they sell will actually make you a better shot, or more finesse with a the tip of the rod when you have a fish on. That comes with practice and experience crafting your talent.

The same thing applies to weightlifting or training in general. The toys (like a fancy power rack) are just a luxury, and the real passion should come “from within” by making the most of your training in every session using whatever equipment is available to you. Al

I agree entirely Al. I worked at a school a number of years ago. They replaced much of the equipment in the weight room (it was lucky for me, caus eI picked up alot of it for cheap or free). But they replced plates. Old iron for new iron. Perfetly functional bumpers for color coordinated ones. Decent power racks that I liked squatting in for ones I disliked (though they were all matching, pretty, and had a pretty color mascot on each of the platforms-mind you I went there a few years later n the mascot insignias were all scratched up). It looked to me like a place where you might talk on your cell phone whilst lifting or read muscle and fitness whilst doing leg extensions. I visited another school where they had rusty dumbbells up to 150s, loads and loads of rusty iron. Big, stout looking racks. It werent pretty, but it looked like a place to get strong. Now, I understand why schools spend money to fancy their weight rooms up. It gets your standard kid to want to come in. A dim, dark place with big rusty plates might be intimidating. I just never went for it. Not that I dont like cool equipment, it just does not need to be fancy, and it needs to be stout. Probably my favorite things in my gym are mt frame which is 450# of rusty iron tube and I beam, or my collection of 100# plates.

I find the rack critical to training alone safely. I no longer will ever train squats or bench solo without one. Too many close calls, and/or dangerous situations.
ET

ET, That is why the power rack is the second most important thing in a weight room (behind bars and plates) – it is needed to insure safety when lifting. And the reason over 50% of my training happens in the power rack. Also – I noticed you had an old school husker rack laying out in front of your gym. Why don’t you have that thing set up to be used???

James – block pulls are WAY BETTER than pulling off pins. I have a set of adjustable blocks (each 2″ thick) to accommodate all types of block deadlifts of different heights. You may also notice that my big monster power rack has platforms to the side to catch the plates instead of catching on pins. I’m surprised no one else that commercially makes power racks have made a rack like mine. Having those platforms to the side allows the plates to land on them instead of having the bar hit the pins, allows for all kind of other exercises to be performed (like rack zercher squats, bottom squats, etc) with ease, and allows for the use of a extra long squat bar with a wide grip (otherwise you hit your forearms on the pins if the pins are set at the right height). Al

Also – I noticed you had an old school husker rack laying out in front of your gym. Why don’t you have that thing set up to be used???

I still have designs on using it. I need to get the safety pins cut though. When I got it, those were missing. What type of metal would be used for such a thing?