Looking to upgrade my half rack to a full power cage, mostly because of the versatility of it with all the different attachments. It seems like with most of them though, you can get either the lat pulldown/low row cable system or the functional trainer cable system. Does anyone know if it's possible to have both on the same setup and if so, which brand atmosphere allows for this? Also definitely looking for recommendations on cages, and which ones have the best attachments, best for the price etc, besides just rogue since it is incredibly expensive, however I'm open to the idea of it if it is substantially better, which I doubt for just a home gym lifter.
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I went with the Rep Fitness PR 5000 for my rack, largely because of the option to have the lat/low pull and eventually upgrade to their Athena functional trainer attachment, and have both at the same time.
I've since found a setup to let me do cable flies without needing the functional trainer, so I don't know if I'll do that upgrade anymore.
I like the PR 5000 rack, the 93" height gives me a few more inches than Rogue while still fitting in my garage. The 41" width holds my buffalo bar well, I'm not sure how it would fit with the 43" width of Rogue racks. Haven't had any problems with attachments from other companies, and Rep has their own version of the most of the popular attachments anyhow. Plus, Rep has free shipping.
The biggest hangup I had while deciding on what rack I wanted to buy was the 1" holes vs 5/8" holes, and I'm glad I decided on the 1".
Attachments average around $30 more expensive for the 1" versions, but there are a couple of attachments I have that aren't available in 5/8" (most notably my rack mounted dumbbell cradles, and the extension arms I use for standing cable flies)
I doubt you'd have any problems if you went with Rogue, I just liked the free shipping and dimensions of the Rep rack better, and there aren't any attachments that span from one upright to the other that made the 43" width of Rogue a necessary consideration for me.
So all the athena and ares attachments will work for this, as well as other brands like rogues stuff? I have a low ceiling basement setup so 8' would be the max height I can go, and that wouldn't allow me to do pullups. 1" holes I will definitely go for so I can get the most out of attachments in the future if I want.
not 8', 88 inches actually is my max basically with half inch clearance
I think the Athena and Ares attachments will only work with Rep racks, mostly because the cable lengths will be specific to their racks, and Rogue has different dimensions.
I have Rogue and Prime Fitness attachments on my rack and have no problem with them or their fitment.
What did you end up getting for the cable flies?
I bought 2 of the mounting arms for Grip Freak hanging wrist roller, hung a pulley from each, ran a cable across them and attach that to my lat pull with a zip line pulley.
Hmmm interesting. That's a monster setup. What is the pulley system you have with the rack there, and does it come with the 2 upright posts and attachment brackets or did you just buy a 6 post rack?
The lat/low pull system is Rep's plate loaded option, I ordered it the same time as my rack. It works with their 4 or 6 post racks and attaches to the top crossmember. The only additional thing you have to buy with it is their rear base stabilizer to attach at the bottom, but since I didn't intend on bolting my rack down, I was wanting that anyhow
>rear stabilizer
I wondered if this was necessary. I wouldn't be bolting mine down either and saw they recommended the front feet attachment in that case, but I can't imagine that would be necessary? I don't see it on your setup there either. I imagine you've had no issues with stability?
I haven't had any stability issues with my setup. I have my rack on weightlifting platforms, so it sits on a very flat and level surface, but it doesn't shake, hasn't tried to tip, doesn't wobble, it's very stable.
The only kinda sketchy thing I do in it is my bullshit leg press with straps and a Swiss bar, but I have that set up to move into the rack, so it's just moving the weight more into the center of the rack.
The only thing that I worry about is how long the caribiniers and straps are going to hold before they give out, but they're rated at like 1500lbs, and most I've put on it is 595
No point in going with rogue unless you really care about your rack being made in the USA, and don't have enough money to ball out for Sorinex or some other premium company.
Rogue racks are true 3"x3" while most companies that import racks use metric sizing, so the racks are 2.95"x2.95", so there isn't perfect compatibility between attachments but most are close enough.
https://www.tworepcave.com/3006/power-rack-attachments-compatibility-master-list/ is a pretty decent resource for compatibility between all the brands.
If you want true imperial sizing but don't want to pay made in USA prices, bells of steel does that.
Other good options are Griffin fitness and Giant fitness, they both sell import racks but they don't do rep's bullshit airline ticket pricing so you can save a few bucks without compromising quality much.
Yea I've pretty much ruled out Rogue since made in usa really means nothing to me, and seems like its overpriced for no reason, though rep is still pretty expensive. I basically want a solid 1 inch system for the versatility in attachments, and mainly just something I can have a good lat/row pulley and functional trainer pulley for the best price. I'm a little confused with reps stuff right now in how you combine the rack with the pulley systems with the ares vs athena vs whatever else they have and what all it goes with, and their site being the laggiest site of all time is really making it difficult to figure out. I'll check out these other brands you mentioned.
>made in usa really means nothing to me,
Frick you
I'm not even from the states
Excused.
do you need your cables to be integrated into your power rack? there's a lot of decent standalone options that are worth considering if you have the space
I would prefer they are since I am very limited on space. I don't really have a spot for another standalone setup.
rack mounted high/low pulleys are decent, although they can limit what exercises you can do inside your rack (i.e. incline bench).
Rack mounted functional trainers just seem like a gimmick to me though, they don't have proper spacing to do cable flies and they're ridiculously expensive for the just the small number exercises you can do on them and not on a high/low row