Body Solid Power Line PPR200X Power Rack

I have had this for over a year now, and it has been a much better investment than a gym membership.

The cage is 7'' tall, so I had to put it in the garage rather than the basement when we moved to our new home (there wasn''t enough room for pull-ups otherwise...I much prefer lifting somewhere where I can turn the music up and spit in the corner anyway).

The weight catches are sturdy and equipped with safety pins (not the bobby pin type, but the kind with spring-bearings).

I recommend using foam noodles (cut them in half and slice them length-wise) to cover the saber-style catches so they don''t get dings and scratches which could rust... It does come with a small bottle of touch-up paint just in case/when you do scratch it up though.

Couple this with:

....300 lb Olympic Weight Set

....Flat Bench

....Olympic Rings (dips are much more difficult and effective on rings than on parallel bars)

and you will be well equipped to safely perform the six fundamentals:

....Olympic Squats

....Presses

....Pull-Ups

....Dips

....Power Cleans

....Dead Lifts

....Toe Crunches

What more could you want?

This is an extraordinarily useful piece of equipment that should be a part of every serious home gym. With this rack, an adjustable barbell bench, a curl bar, a set of Olympic weights, and a barbell or two, you can do just about every major exercise without a spotter.

ASSEMBLY:

Compared to the eight bolts and four pieces of my Champion Squat Rack, the assembly here was more involved. There are 26 bolts of varying lengths and certain instructions benefit greatly from a second person to hold pieces in place. You''ll also want two socket wrenches.

Three tips: The assembly manual, available for download at the Body Solid website, is not perfectly to scale. I''d suggest sorting the bolts by size and labeling the piles before you begin instead of matching them against the manual. I didn''t and had to disassemble pieces when I grabbed the wrong size. Also, when you''re attaching a solid piece to a hollow piece, the washer is always against the hollow piece. And be careful not to over-torque the connections. The supports are strong, but not so much that they won''t bow inward if the nut is too tight.

Total assembly time for a single person is about 45 minutes.

IN USE:

The resulting unit is very stiff and strong. There''s no amount of weight I''m capable of lifting, presently under 300 lbs, that I feel would unduly stress this rig. It is possible to tip it over from one side if you try, though this is of no consequence for any use inside the rack. If you plan to put a lot of lateral force on it, though, I agree with another review that it should be bolted to the floor.

Adjusting the safety bars takes about thirty seconds.

A few exercises you can do:

Upper back and biceps:

* Pullups (overhand grip, reverse grip, wide, hammer grip while alternating sides)

* Front lever (body straight or bent at waist)

* Rows (with a barbell, or lying through the rack, back to ground, and using the safety bars)

* Deadlift (use the safety bars to set a high starting position)

* Curls (with a curl bar, or with bodyweight and a safety bar)

Chest and shoulders:

* Bench press (incline, decline, or flat)

* Dips (put two barbells across the safety bars, adjust width and angle to preference)

* Pushups (use parallettes or pushups bars and adjust your angle by putting your feet on a safety bar)

* Military press

Legs and lower back:

* Squats (try a board or some 5 lb plates under your heels if you''re tall)

* Calf raises (on the base support holding the safety bar for balance)

* Good-mornings (wouldn''t even try these without the safety bars)

Abs and other:

* Hangs (for grip)

* Hanging leg raises (knees bent or legs straight)

* Hanging windshield wipers (toss a weighted barbell on low supports to minimize rack movement)

* Gravity boots (if your back gives you trouble)

EXTRAS:

One great addition for noise and aesthetics are foam covers for the safety bars. A person above suggested a foam noodle. Another search term is ''foam pipe insulation''. Buy about 6'' of that in the 3/4" size. It''s already split down the middle, so you need only cut it to the right length with scissors. Then grab a roll of black duct tape and put two layers on the surface a falling bar would contact. That''ll improve durability. You can use whatever''s left as comfortable hand grips for the barbells when you do dips.

To minimize errors in setting the safety bars, a label-maker or some other method to number the holes the bars slide into is a great help. As well, the texture of the pullup bar is a bit rough. A pair of gloves will mitigate the inevitable callouses, but I also wrapped mine in athletic tape to vast improvement.

NEGATIVES:

* On my unit, bought secondhand, the vertical supports are ever-so-slightly bowed. The unit looks like it''s skewing in one direction by about half a degree. The previous owner probably wasn''t slinging enough weight to cause damage, but as I can''t verify that, I''ll assume this is not typical.

* The gray paint on the support bars begins to strip off almost immediately. Not in large chunks that would be a baby hazard, but enough to be aesthetically unappealing. The touchup paint has no purpose whatever; better just to cover the bars with foam.

* As above, the hollow frame supports will bow if you over-torque them. The ideal solution would involve wedging something in each one during assembly to prevent this.

* The metal of the support bars is softer than my chrome steel barbells. The barbell grips leave indentations in the support pegs.

* Hole spacing for the supports could be narrower. The solution if you''re benching is either to incline your bench slightly, or throw some weight plates beneath it to raise it up.

* No bars to hold weights. You''ll need a plate tree.

IN SUM:

I''m very happy to have bought this and a set of Olympic weights. It''s gratifying to be able to achieve whatever I need without the cost or rigmarole of attending a gym. Provided you''ve the matching weight set, there probably isn''t a piece of fitness equipment of greater value. If your budget is $350 for a rack, by all means buy this one, or surf the classifieds for an equivalent.

Buy Body Solid Power Line PPR200X Power Rack Now

this power rack was priced really well in comparison to others and it does the job, but i wish the base was a little heavier or something to be a little more sturdy. You can do bench press and squats etc with it no problem but I don''t think it would hold up to a lot of heavy abuse or any cross-fit type workouts. It also has a built in pull-up bar on the top front. A pretty good aspect of the rack is that it is a space saver and fits in well where you need it because it is not bulky and there''s not a lot of parts sticking out. Great for a budget.

Read Best Reviews of Body Solid Power Line PPR200X Power Rack Here

This power rack is a great way to improve your home gym for a reasonable price. It''s a good value and should meet the requirements of all but the heavy duty power lifters. I''m very pleased with it for my purposes of safely training alone with moderate weights. The main shortcoming I see is the 3 inch spacing for adjustments. I would have gladly paid a little more for some heavier gauge uprights with 2 inch or closer spacing. However, I didn''t want to spend at least twice as much for that convenience as with other much more expensive power racks. I figure that I can always add a 1 inch board under my bench if the 3 inch spacing is too inconvenient. Although pin operated safety bars might be more convenient, the sabre type included with this rack are fine for my purposes. I added a couple pieces of rubber pipe insulation to them for use as squat depth limiters and it works very well. The size of this rack fits well in my basement with its 7 1/2 foot ceiling. All in all, I think this rack is a good deal and certainly worth the $300 I paid.

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I ordered the power rack in early November, 2012 and been using it 4-5 times per week. It is a great product for the price. I''m not a huge lifter and I do not know how this would hold up to power lifting but for me, it is perfect. I bench 225, squat 200 (lower back injury, trying to rehab) and the rack can handle it. It''s not a big deal to me but as others have said, the paint on the safety arms does chip off. Again, that is no big deal to me, i will repaint them every 6 month if I have to. I have added $2 worth of insulation foam pipe to the safety bars and this has helped.

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