It didn't occur to me at the time that if the squats seemed too easy I should add weight. I'd been a hockey player most of my life, so in my teens my legs and core were in pretty good shape, making squats done without any additional weight seem too easy. They didn't have the glamorous appeal of pushups and sit-ups, which had clear results on your arms and abs. You probably want an incline bench, some key free weights, and the infrastructure to do pull-ups, but central to this array should also be a squat rack.įor whatever reason, squats always seemed to me to be the least intensive, and therefore the least productive, thing they taught us in gym class. Many of these options come with either a pull-up bar or pull-up handles and dip handles.īuilding out a home gym often requires a steady acquisition of the most important pieces, after which you can afford to dabble in stranger devices like pull-up peg boards or tight ropes. The Body Solid Pro is another sturdy option and I wanted to highlight that by promoting its position in the list.

With that in mind, I’ve taken out half-frame models like the Rep Fitness and Reebok Rack and added sturdy cages like the HulkFit Rack, Body Power Deluxe and Fitness Reality X-Class Light. Unfortunately, a lot of the market is now moving towards half-framed models because they’re slightly more affordable, but I still maintain that there is simply less to worry about with a full cage – you don’t have to worry about going too far forward as you’ll just hit the frame. I know the odds of this happening seem very slim, but I’ve spent enough time in the gym to have seen it happen before. To me, the two-post frames have the potential to be unsafe in case you miss the hooks or lose your balance during a squat. Ultimately, the whole experience made me appreciate the value of a good squat rack and other gym equipment, and while I still prefer a sturdy smith machine, when I have to use a squat rack, I would much rather use the full-cage frames with four vertical posts over those half-frame models. The problem with communal gyms however is that they often lack sophisticated equipment, which was an issue, because I saw the value in using free weights over pulley machines for balanced muscle development, but wouldn’t risk using them without a spotter. During my late teens, I lived in many apartment blocks with communal gyms, and I used to end up using these facilities in order to save on gym memberships.

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