Numbering Your Power Rack

[Cadz]

I've seen a few racks that either come from the factory with the holes marked and on some racks it's an available option.
Unfortunately many racks don't have any numbers at all. It's not much fun having to count the number of holes and then go around to the side and even it out.

My wife Cadz really likes the BodyCraft F430 rack but it's a pain to count holes, so I numbered it. Total cost was like $12. I have extra numbers and letters but 28 holes on 4 posts uses a lot of numbers.
This took about 1.5 hours to do as the 1/2" numbers are a pain to pull off.
Here is the website where I bought the numbers. I bought 3 sets. Now the rack looks even better and is easier to set the bar hooks and safeties. You can get White & Black sets as well. I thought the red was cool!

http://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Adhe...1329220&sr=8-1

Here is what it looks like now.

[Wildtim]

Mine came with numbers.

Another trick is to mark the correct positions for various exercises in grease pencil. It rubs off with just a towel but stays put as long as you want it to. I have severl marks on my uprights all labled with the exercise they are for. I do marks for me in red while my wifes positions are in yellow.

[Cadz]

Mine came with numbers.

Another trick is to mark the correct positions for various exercises in grease pencil. It rubs off with just a towel but stays put as long as you want it to. I have severl marks on my uprights all labled with the exercise they are for. I do marks for me in red while my wifes positions are in yellow.

I will be doing the iside of the supports with abbreviations SQ for squats - MP for Military Press and - BP for Bench Press.

I did use a grease pencil when I was counting out the holes but forgot to wipe it off and now it's fairly permanant. I'm going to scrub it with Dawn detergent, maybe that will get it off.

I like the professional look the vinyl numbers give the unit. Since they don't come on the BodyCraft F430 and they aren't offered an option.

[wolfdragon]

Does look nice. I have mine marked at different levels with paint markers. Not as easy to get off, but it's just different color dots.

[Cadz]

Does look nice. I have mine marked at different levels with paint markers. Not as easy to get off, but it's just different color dots.

Thanks, I could have done it differently but it looks sharp with the red numbers and hey it's custom for cheap money.

[desslok]

Mine came with numbers.

Another trick is to mark the correct positions for various exercises in grease pencil. It rubs off with just a towel but stays put as long as you want it to. I have severl marks on my uprights all labled with the exercise they are for. I do marks for me in red while my wifes positions are in yellow.

Great idea Wildtim! Gotta try that, I usually try to set everything to my wife's settings when I'm done so I don't have to hear about it. I think i have some grease pencils for tile work that may work.

[dumb.bell]

Looks great Cadz. I was considering doing this, and after seeing yours I'm definitely goning to do it.

[buffbrown21]

Looks great Cadz. I was considering doing this, and after seeing yours I'm definitely goning to do it.

Same here.
Reps to cadz.

[Cadz]

Thanks for the Reps, I always Rep back.

I'm glad my idea was helpful. Now if I had a black rack, I'd have used white numbers. If you have a white rack you can use Red or Black.

[desslok]

Thanks for the Reps, I always Rep back.

I'm glad my idea was helpful. Now if I had a black rack, I'd have used white numbers. If you have a white rack you can use Red or Black.

If my rack was white I'd do blue. Mine is black with white letters, but if I chose it would be blue letters on black too.

[Cadz]

If my rack was white I'd do blue. Mine is black with white letters, but if I chose it would be blue letters on black too.

Blue would be cool if you could find 1/2" blue numbers. I didn't see any when I was looking but someone must sell them.

Blue would be really nice looking on a white rack. No idea how good blue would look on black, I guess it would depend on the shade of blue.

[smcleod90]

I just use blue painters tape and it works fine

[Bryan88MA]

Nice. I like those red numbers.

Here's what I did...

Masking tape and black Sharpie. Numbered/labeled every 3rd hole.

[dumb.bell]

Nice. I like those red numbers.

Here's what I did...

Masking tape and black Sharpie. Numbered/labeled every 3rd hole.

What is holding your J-hooks in place? Are those standard size quick release bar collars?

[Squeebo]

Nice. I like those red numbers.

Here's what I did...

Masking tape and black Sharpie. Numbered/labeled every 3rd hole.

That's the easiest way to do it, IMO. I did the same, but just wrote "squat", etc, on each, since I'm the only one using it.

[pumping4life]

Nice. I like those red numbers.

Here's what I did...

Masking tape and black Sharpie. Numbered/labeled every 3rd hole.

Bryan, what is the white material on those hooks? Did they come like that, or did you add them?

[Bryan88MA]

Bryan, what is the white material on those hooks? Did they come like that, or did you add them?

This whole thing is a custom build.

The hooks are 1/4 steel welded together.

It's 1/4" UHMW plastic purchased from a local plastics supplier.

...yes... those are 1" Quick-lee collars for the 1" diameter shaft part of the hook, whick slides right thru the post.

[Skidmarx]

I did one better. I printed out labels on a label machine at work that says what holes are for what.

Squat hook
flat bench safety
upright hook

etc

[Cadz]

I did one better. I printed out labels on a label machine at work that says what holes are for what.

Squat hook
flat bench safety
upright hook

etc

I've done similar with the stickers but the BodyCraft uses Pop pins and the whole J hook unit slides as does the Safeties, so the lables you mention won't work as they are too thick and just scrape off.
Yes, sometimes the numbers scrape off but I've only lost about 5 of them out of all that are on there so it's ok.

So on the inside I have it set up like this

SQ = Squats
BP = Bench Press
SK = Skull Crushers
SMP = Standing Military Press

The safeties are also marked except the SMP is not using a J hook just the safeties.
Labelmakers work great if you use a sabre mount or similar.

[4MEandThem]

I also recommend labeling them with the lifts.

I got mixed up last night and had to dump a squat on the safeties
that were set too low by about 4 inches.(Ouch-Not comfortable)
I was using a safety squat bar and had to dump forward.

I only had lines marked on mine.I am going to lable with the lifts.

[captainmorgan0]

Thanks for the Reps, I always Rep back.

I'm glad my idea was helpful. Now if I had a black rack, I'd have used white numbers. If you have a white rack you can use Red or Black.

If I had a black rack I'd use chromed numbers, I think they would look really good.

[Cadz]

If I had a black rack I'd use chromed numbers, I think they would look really good.

That's great if you can find them. I looked everywhere and yeah there are a lot of numbers out there but then if you label every hole on 4 posts you'd better hope the labels are cheap.
If you just label just the ones you use then it's much cheaper.
Chrome would look very cool on a black rack!

[Keetman]

So your numbers have come off a little, Cadz? I was wondering about that (I have the same rack). I originally put a floppy disk label up at the top of the rack with notes on where the spotters/hooks go (I have about 200 labels left over from the nineties ). Unfortunately, the label has become ripped up over time. Its not as efficient anyway without numbered holes, so I was thinking about doing this.

Are the numbers you bought thinner? Why do they come off less than the labels seem to?

[Essexlad]

So your numbers have come off a little, Cadz? I was wondering about that (I have the same rack). I originally put a floppy disk label up at the top of the rack with notes on where the spotters/hooks go (I have about 200 labels left over from the nineties ). Unfortunately, the label has become ripped up over time. Its not as efficient anyway without numbered holes, so I was thinking about doing this.

Are the numbers you bought thinner? Why do they come off less than the labels seem to?

I'd be interested to see how they stand up over time. My idea has always been to make cheap stencils and either spray or paint numbers on. Would only cost a small can of paint.
I'd also only do the rear uprights on mine as with only 1 set of j hooks doing the front is pretty pointless.

[Keetman]

I'd be interested to see how they stand up over time. My idea has always been to make cheap stencils and either spray or paint numbers on. Would only cost a small can of paint.
I'd also only do the rear uprights on mine as with only 1 set of j hooks doing the front is pretty pointless.

I like this idea too, but I'm a terrible painter.


I'd almost certainly screw it up. Normally I'm game for trying about anything, even if I think I'm bad at it, but if I screw up the paint job on my rack.....I'll be painting the whole thing or looking at my mistake for a long time. <-- Both of these things suck!

[Essexlad]

I like this idea too, but I'm a terrible painter.


I'd almost certainly screw it up. Normally I'm game for trying about anything, even if I think I'm bad at it, but if I screw up the paint job on my rack.....I'll be painting the whole thing or looking at my mistake for a long time. <-- Both of these things suck!

Fair enough, bad paint jobs can ruin anything!

I may try and do this at the weekend, as I'm already doing a couple of minor mods to my rack then. Just have to persuade the missus to pick me up some acrylic to cut stencils from the craft store. Although I don't even really need numbers at the moment, my bench and squat positions are the same so they don't move much, but it would be a nice touch especially for in future.

[tmonkey]

i got two words for you

brother p-touch

buy one i use it for everything - even better get one at work like i did


they have letter/number tapes that come in tons or colors

i always have clear tape with back and clear with white on hand

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...QYNGE0HBVTZBTF

[Cadz]

So your numbers have come off a little, Cadz? I was wondering about that (I have the same rack). I originally put a floppy disk label up at the top of the rack with notes on where the spotters/hooks go (I have about 200 labels left over from the nineties ). Unfortunately, the label has become ripped up over time. Its not as efficient anyway without numbered holes, so I was thinking about doing this.

Are the numbers you bought thinner? Why do they come off less than the labels seem to?

Hi Keetman, yeah some numbers have scrapped off. Since you have one of these you know how the whole piece (bar hook or safety) slides up and down? Well sometimes it scrapes a number. I've lost 5-6 numbers out of well, a ton of them. Since it's 28 holes per post and there are 4 posts mostly 2 numbers per hole. So the amount that has come off isn't terrible and I have extras. The worst is the Letters K an Q as they tend to stick out a smidge and catch on the edge of the bar hook/safety
Lablels from a label maker would be cheaper but no way will the bar hooks slide past them without catching. These labels are very thin. I actually had to put them on the long part of a pen cap and line them up that way, very fast compared to using my fat fingers.

Honestly I don't think these numbers could get any thinner. They are much thinner than teh old floppy disk labels as I still have some of those and they'd scrape up a lot plus cutting them down to a 1/2" no thanks peeling the precut ones off was enough work never mind cutting them.

[Cadz]

I'd be interested to see how they stand up over time. My idea has always been to make cheap stencils and either spray or paint numbers on. Would only cost a small can of paint.
I'd also only do the rear uprights on mine as with only 1 set of j hooks doing the front is pretty pointless.

I looked into this and it was my first idea until my wife pointed out what a hassle it would be to line up all the numbers, tape all the unpainted stuff and then use spray paint in that basement (again) Worse still if it dripped.
Yes it can be done but where would you find 1/2" stencils that would get as high as 28 because lining up a 2 and an 8 or even worse two 1's wouldn't be fun.
My wife actually does a lot of crafts in the winter and she is familiar with this stuff and didn't want to do it as it would have taken days just to prep it.
Stencils would look the best if you had a lot of ventilation and a steady hand
The guy who wanted chrome could also use chrome paint.

[Cadz]

i got two words for you

brother p-touch

buy one i use it for everything - even better get one at work like i did


they have letter/number tapes that come in tons or colors

i always have clear tape with back and clear with white on hand

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...QYNGE0HBVTZBTF

That would work great if you had a Body Solid type of rack or anything with a sabre style mount. They will not work on a BodyCraft F430 rack because the pop pin's are mounted in a thick unit that slides up and down and will knock off a label that is that thick.