Distance between end of barbell and wall?

[Erth]

What's a safe distance between the end of a barbell and the wall? Mostly for exercises like a squat, deadlift, bench, etc.

Then also how much clearance should I have from the ceiling?

[mck1212]

What's a safe distance between the end of a barbell and the wall? Mostly for exercises like a squat, deadlift, bench, etc.

Then also how much clearance should I have from the ceiling?

For the 'safe' distance to the wall, if I were you I'd be more concerned with the 'functional distance'. I.e when your bar is racked how much room do YOU need to stand and put weights on the bar? If you've got room to do that then that should be more room than you are likely to lateral shift during a lift.

If you fail a lift and fall sideways (rare) do you have safeties? Your safeties should catch your bar or even the opposite plates if you are falling sideways so you could measure the distance from the inside of the plates to see the maximum your bar will move sideways in a failure. This will only be a couple of inches, and again you are going to need more lateral room than that if you are standing and loading plates onto the end of your bar.

The ceiling should answer itself: put a pair of your largest plates on and do the highest lift you can, military press for example. If you haven't bought the equipment measure yourself standing with your arms stretched up, palms flat and add half the diameter of the plates you are looking to buy plus an inch should do the trick.

[EPMD]

All good points. A loaded bar isn't going to deviate much from straight up and down. If it does, then you're probably going to drop the weight, hurt yourself, and/or fall over from unequal forces. The real key as mck1212 said is to give yourself enough room (about 2 feet) to load the bar without it being annoying. Buy a rackable 6 foot bar if you have to.

[TomMutaffis]

What's a safe distance between the end of a barbell and the wall? Mostly for exercises like a squat, deadlift, bench, etc.

Then also how much clearance should I have from the ceiling?

I would want to have at least 12" on each side of the bar, but ideally more since it would be somewhat difficult to load weights and you don't want to have a situation where you put the bar through the wall.

[vtshep1]

I am working with about 18 inches, just enough to slide between the barbell and the wall easily. I started with 3 feet, then came multiple gym additions squeezing unused space out As others have mentioned if you are using safeties and not planning to dump plates, you should be fine. Just to check, what kinds of lifts are you planning to do?

[ShepherdGuy]

Ya... i was kind of wondering this also. I think I have about two feet... but on one side is a sliding glass door. So if I fail to that side and my safety spotter doesn't catch the weight plates, it's gonna be bad.

[Seatard]

My rack is against a 10' wall, leaving 18" clearance per side.

I wouldn't want any less, not just for loading plates, but maneuvering an empty bar around, and for stuff done outside the rack, like cleans, where it's not as simple to stay centered between the walls.

[swiftsloth]

my power rack ends at a metre from the wall and is fine for walking past and loading plates. less would be squishy

[desslok]

I had my rack sideways in the garage for a while. Had about 6" Of clearance, but it became a pain to load plates(mainly because the garage door track placement) on so I turned it 90degrees and moved some other equipment around.

[lsi1]

where my rack is located I have about a foot between the end of my bar and the wall. at first it was awkward loading plates on that side but soon it just became as natural as coming straight in at the bar. I do have a larger more open area where I can do power cleans and other large movement exercises but my rack is pretty cramped.