I Built These Squat Racks Myself and They Really Work.
I have a barbell, but during the first three months of my pandemic life, I had nowhere to put it other than on the ground. It’s okay if you want to do deadlifts or olympic exercises, or lift and flex, or bench presses. And I did it all. But squatting without a rack will not work.
Then I started to notice that from time to time something interesting pops up on Instagram: people put their rods on piles of lumber, propped up in buckets filled with concrete, and all the time I heard that they are surprisingly stable. In the end, I didn’t believe it until I tried it myself.
To learn more about home workouts, watch the video below:
I built mine this week and my only regret is I didn’t do it sooner. The stands are durable and could be made quickly and cheaply. I learned a few things while doing this, so here’s what you need to know to make a good squat rack.
Read the instructions
There are several sets of plans, but they are all very similar. (I’ll link a few: one , two , three .) It’s good to read more than one and note the slight differences in materials and designs. Some of the plans include a second, lower stance, so you can use them for the bench press as well.
In each of them, you cut several pieces of wood of different lengths, fold them together and secure them in one sturdy post. Then you put that post into a bucket and fill that bucket with concrete. The result can easily support a heavy load placed on top of it, and the concrete makes it difficult for the struts to tip over.
The tools you need are fairly common that you probably already have on hand if you’ve done any home renovations. Otherwise, you can acquire or improvise what you need. The materials themselves are likely to cost less than $ 50 in total.
Know How To Use Squat Racks Safely
This is not a power rack. They have no fuses. These are squat racks , meaning they hold the weight while you load it and give you a place to return the barbell when you’re done. It’s all.
This means that if you squat and cannot complete the rep, you must quit. If you’re nearing your limit, know how to safely get out of bail. As a weightlifter (i.e. Olympic style) I use bouncing bumpers and I’m used to throwing the barbells to the ground – that’s half the fun of the sport. If I don’t squat with a barbell, I lower the barbell (letting it roll down my back), jump a little forward and stand up, as if it’s okay – like in the second video here :
If you can’t get out of a squat without help, whether it’s because of insecurity, lack of experience, or living in an apartment with fragile furniture or neighbors downstairs, heavy squats are not for you . Still want a pair of squat racks for lighter exercises? Maybe yes. Proceed with caution.
Make them shorter than you think you need
There is a beginner’s mistake that many people make even in the gym: squat from a position that is too high on the rack. If you have to shrug or tiptoe to remove the barbell from the hooks, then you set them too high.
This DIY stand is not adjustable, so you can’t just figure out your mistake and slide the hooks down a notch. Make it shorter than you think. It’s okay if the squat rack is too low – you just need to bend your knees a little more as you sit down. If these squat racks will be used by two people of different heights, do not try to divide the difference. Make a stand to fit the shorter person.
To find the correct height, hold the bar in the position you would normally squat and bend your knees slightly, as if you were shifting the bar in the gym. Ask a friend to mark the wall with a pencil and measure its height. Then I would say: Subtract at least two inches. This is the measurement you should use for the board that the bar will rest on. The board two inches higher will be in the front — this is the tab holding the plank in place — and the board on the other side should be high enough for you to use as a guide when transferring. (Don’t hit it; you can knock things over.)
If It Helps: I am 5’6 ” and my squat rack is holding the bar 4 ‘off the ground.
Cut, fold and stabilize wood
Before heading to the store, decide how many wood planks you need and what size they should be. You will probably want to buy the ones that are eight feet long, although your options may vary. Plan how you want them to be cut.
Stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s will often cut wood for you for free, so if you know what size you want, you can cut the lumber before you leave the store. Planning pays off.
Back home, double-check your measurements because you don’t want your squat stance to be uneven. Join the pieces of wood together according to the instructions you follow. I used deck screws.
Don’t hammer in the concrete
Concrete is not easy, so be sure to read the instructions and think it over before you start. Something like Quikrete is perfect here because it’s just one sachet that can be mixed with water. (If you bought plain old cement instead, you will have to mix it with sand and gravel.)
Don’t buy a quick-setting product if you don’t know you can stir it quickly. I already had a concrete mixing tool – like a giant egg beater – and my husband stepped in so we could work quickly. Even then, we barely emptied every bucket in the 20 minute time frame. Here is a table of the various Quikrete products and their benefits . (I promise Quikrete is not paying me for any of this.)
Mixing concrete is dusty, so wear a mask. It can also irritate your skin, so wear gloves. And for the love of God: follow the directions . The ones on the bag, not what you read on the Internet. For example, too much water can make concrete weak; measure it. The post-installation instructions sound great, but if you don’t install the pole in a hole in the ground, they won’t apply. If you’ve never mixed concrete before, watch a few videos to know which tools to use and what consistency to expect. This hand mix is a good place to start.
However, mixing concrete is not difficult and you can do it. When you go to the store, buy three buckets: two for squats and one for mixing. When it’s time to pour the concrete mix from the bag into the mixing bucket, turn the spare bucket upside down to make a platform to hold this heavy bag of concrete while you pour it.
I found that one 60-pound bag filled each of my buckets almost perfectly. If you plan to put your squat racks outside (in which case, I hope you chose treated lumber), fill any empty space upstairs with sand or earth so they don’t collect water and breed mosquitoes.
Align the pillars
I can’t stress this too much: make sure the uprights are completely straight before adding concrete to the buckets. It means:
- Make sure the floor or ground is perfectly level before pouring the concrete (use a level).
- When placing the racks in the buckets, make sure they are level (use a level!)
- Use a companion system: one person should add concrete while the other holds the post perfectly level (Use A. Level).
Fortunately, there is a handy tool that you can buy at any hardware store called the postal level . We already had one, and it still had a price tag on it when we bought it, and it was $ 3.99 on that tag. It absolutely costs four dollars to make sure your squat racks are straight.
Find a permanent place for them on a flat surface and enjoy
Has the concrete withstood as long as indicated in the instructions? Congratulations, you are now ready to squat! And it’s time for you to realize that these things are damn hard. They are not easy to move. Don’t plan to move them to and from the training space every day.
So you need to find a home for them. Make sure wherever you place them is level. If not, use a spacer (a thin piece of wood or even folded paper) to support the shorter part. You can use your post level again for this if you like.
Make sure the racks are the same width as a standard squat rack. Do you know how in the gym you can put a plate on one side of the barbell so that the barbell does not rush at you like a catapult? This is a good thing. If you place the stands too close to each other, all bets will be void.
Now you can finally enjoy! Load up on the weight and have fun finally doing some good heavy squats. However, a little warning: even though the stands are solid and friends who squat told me they can hold hundreds of pounds, they will have their limits. I cannot tell you mathematically what this limit is. Stay safe there.