Pics of Vintage 1960s Power Rack as promised

[Bo_Flecks]

This is the type vintage of rack that was being discussed in this thread: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=118105191

It's been stuck over in the corner of the school's weight room and has been demoted to the pull up station. It's still in really good shape. I used to do squats in this thing weekly back in the early '90s. Never had a problem.

[Skidmarx]

For 100 why not. Prob do deads inside it too

[Bo_Flecks]

I've never really figured out why it has two safety sabers on each side. Usually, one was set at the proper lift height, and the other just left toward the bottom of the rack while it was being used.

I couldn't find the pins to get a pic of them...I guess the PE staff has them locked away. Anyway, each has two prongs on the back that stick through the holes. The top prong is threaded, and has a nut you screw on to hold the pin in place.

The pins with the big nut is the most annoying part of the rack. You always had to be ready with a wrench when it got too tight.

[Skidmarx]

You could probably drill it out vertically so you can slip a pin in, like a lot of racks

[trythis]

I've never really figured out why it has two safety sabers on each side. Usually, one was set at the proper lift height, and the other just left toward the bottom of the rack while it was being used.

I think you push/pull the barbell against the second set of sabres ie bench press deadlift etc with a bit less weight on the bar it helps to get past sticking points.

[chris423]

This is the type vintage of rack that was being discussed in this thread: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=118105191

It's been stuck over in the corner of the school's weight room and has been demoted to the pull up station. It's still in really good shape. I used to do squats in this thing weekly back in the early '90s. Never had a problem.

Thanks for posting the pics. This is exactly the rack I was talking about. I called the guy today and told him I'd take it for 100 bucks.

[Wildtim]

That looks exactly like all the racks in the Rippetoe DVD.

[Bo_Flecks]

That looks exactly like all the racks in the Rippetoe DVD.

It's really not a bad rack. For squats, rack pulls, etc., its very stable given the fact that the frame is on a square base, and you stand on the plywood that is attached to it. Very little movement.

The problem comes when you try to put a bench inside the rack for military press or bench press. That raised base gets in the way and makes most benches difficult if not impossible to use. I think that is why you don't see this style in modern racks any more.

Edit: Oh...and you can easily do curls inside this style rack, also.

[Wildtim]

It's really not a bad rack. For squats, rack pulls, etc., its very stable given the fact that the frame is on a square base, and you stand on the plywood that is attached to it. Very little movement.

The problem comes when you try to put a bench inside the rack for military press or bench press. That raised base gets in the way and makes most benches difficult if not impossible to use. I think that is why you don't see this style in modern racks any more.

Edit: Oh...and you can easily do curls inside this style rack, also.

Yea with the raised base you would really want this to be set at the head of a lifting platform to get full use out of it. At the same time, this isn't exactly a hard project to build and would add to your gym even if it didn't improve the utility of your rack.

[Bo_Flecks]

At the same time, this isn't exactly a hard project to build and would add to your gym even if it didn't improve the utility of your rack.

You're right about that.

If you look at the right side of the top pic, you can see a stack of platforms we built that were used for evening out the rack base. We also used those platforms for deads and hang cleans (football coaches love the hang cleans).

[iliftstuff]

That looks exactly like all the racks in the Rippetoe DVD.

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking.

Gotta love that squat depth. I'm guessing it's about 16 inches or "just enough."

[chris423]

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking.

Gotta love that squat depth. I'm guessing it's about 16 inches or "just enough."

The one I'm buying looks just like that one except it may be a bit deeper. I examined it closer yesterday and measured it and it is 21 inches between fthe ront and back uprights. That's only 3 inches less depth than you would get with a powerline rack so thats not too bad. I noticed yesterday that it also has T handles over the bolts on the back of the pins that hold the weight so that you won't need a wrench if it gets too tight.