Man's Best Friend---The power rack!

By: Jim Brewster

The power rack, which is not as common in many commercial gyms as it once was and certainly not used as often as it once was, is the cornerstone piece of equipment in my gym. I do probably 70% of my movements in the rack. Using a rack provides several advantages - the first is safety – you don't have to worry about dropping the bar on your neck during a bench press because if you fail, you have the pins there to catch the bar. You can use as much weight as you can handle in a rack – again you have the pins there to hold the bar. You can set the bar wherever you want for any exercise you want because you can put the pins anywhere you want. So, I squat, bench, overhead press, do bent rows, deads and cleans in the rack. You can also use a rack for two other important reasons – working the weak link in your range of motion on exercises like the ones I just mentioned and working a partial range rep with weights beyond what you can usually handle. There's nothing quite the feeling of doing very heavy partial squats in the rack – you walk out and think you're about to snap in half from the monster weight on your back, yet you pull it of and knock 4-5 short reps! While I advocate full reps, a partial rep like this allows you work beyond your comfort level and get the feel of another 100-200 pounds on your back and expose your quads to a greater amount of overload than usual.
You can also use the power rack to overcome weak points along the range of motion in an exercise - such as working the bench press in your weakest point. Simply set the pins at the level you want to work and perform your partial rep. In the bench press, for example, the push off your chest is usually the weak link so that first 1-2 inches is what you'd want to work. That's the beauty of a rack, you can work in short increments, you can work the full range and you never have to worry about safety.
So you have the benefits of attempting to strengthen the weak links in your movement, work the strongest range only and to focus on a full, quality contraction over several sets. The rack should be the centerpiece of every home gym and the centerpiece of your commercial gym workouts! Can't find one in your gym? Then change gyms!