The Rack Review—is it Worth It?

The Rack is one of the more prominent all-in-one workout stations around. Portable, multi-purpose, and not taking up much space, it is relatively easy to imagine this miniature gym hogging a spot in the exercise corner of your home.

But taking into account the widespread availability of actual, fully stocked and equipped gyms,  as well as the Rack’s rather immodest price (it commonly goes for around $300), it is easy to wonder whether or not this contraption deserves such an investment.

Those of you interested in our own opinion, please read on!

The Rack Workout Station—What Does It Offer?

The construction itself is quite sturdy and solid—weighing either 23 lbs (the basic variant) or 30 lbs (the heavier Pro version) and with steel framing 1½ inch in diameter, it should be strong enough to resist whatever you could reasonably put it through. Owing to its multi-purpose nature, the Rack can be reconfigured into three different “modes,” as well as an “in-between” variant.

Officially, it has been optimized for 19 different exercises, the most common of which would be push-ups, abs, dips, and rows. The idea is simple: set it up as a platform for exercises that need one, or mount it on your person for some additional resistance with moves that might need it (such as squats, lunges, and the like).

Right from the get-go though, we’ve noticed some potential complications with using it for bar-based moves such as pull-ups and chin-ups, but there’ll be more on that later. But with so much else crammed into a single package, that shouldn’t be an issue, right? Well… we’d say that that depends on what you want from a training session.

But before moving to that, let’s list the pros and cons of the workout station itself:

The Rack Workout Station—What Does It Offer?

The construction itself is quite sturdy and solid—weighing either 23 lbs (the basic variant) or 30 lbs (the heavier Pro version) and with steel framing 1½ inch in diameter, it should be strong enough to resist whatever you could reasonably put it through. Owing to its multi-purpose nature, the Rack can be reconfigured into three different “modes,” as well as an “in-between” variant.

Officially, it has been optimized for 19 different exercises, the most common of which would be push-ups, abs, dips, and rows. The idea is simple: set it up as a platform for exercises that need one, or mount it on your person for some additional resistance with moves that might need it (such as squats, lunges, and the like).

Right from the get-go though, we’ve noticed some potential complications with using it for bar-based moves such as pull-ups and chin-ups, but there’ll be more on that later. But with so much else crammed into a single package, that shouldn’t be an issue, right? Well… we’d say that that depends on what you want from a training session.

But before moving to that, let’s list the pros and cons of the workout station itself:

Pros:

• Sturdy and durable; barring some kind of defect or heavy user error, breaking or damaging a Rack will be difficult.

• Wide assortment of possible exercises (19, as noted above) which can possibly hit seven body parts (chest, lats, delts, traps, triceps, biceps, abs).

• Depending on how you go about your workout (slow or fast), you can use it for either anaerobic or aerobic training.

Cons:

• Heavily limited by its own concept; even the Pro version is relatively light at 30 lbs, which does make relocation easy, but stifles your potential growth. If you train for muscle, you will rapidly shoot past what the rack has to offer, and will want to hit an actual gym anyway.

• Some moves are flat-out impractical to do on it (the ones requiring the bar most notably), suggesting at least another investment for a full home-based workout.

• Without beating around the bush, the Rack fitness station is expensive. 300 bucks is more than enough money for a whole lot of specialized equipment—which may give just as good of a workout while taking up more space.

Of course, all of this matters little if the workout station delivers. But does it deliver? Let’s dive in!

The Rack Workout Review—Taking It for a Spin

Our run with the Rack has consisted of:

• Shoulder presses. Rather easy. Does its job, but this is one part of your workout where you’ll be wanting for heavier weights. That, or replace it with handstand pushups if you can.

• Squats. These are rock solid. Bodyweight squats are always good, and squats with an additional 23-30 lbs of cargo are better by default.

• Squat and Press. A popular way of getting more mileage from the Rack once shoulder presses become too easy; done by squatting, doing a shoulder press, then repeating the motion. Not bad at all.

• Hammer/Bicep curls. These are decent… until you outgrow the Rack. Then you should either move on to something more challenging (like traditional chin-ups), or invest in some dumbbells.

• Squat-Curl-Press Combo. Like with Squat and Press, but adding a hammer curl at the end. Intense, and another good way of squeezing more out of the Rack.

• Lunges. Everything good we’ve written about Rack squats, also goes here. More resistance translates to more gains and better shred.

• Upright rows/Bent over rows. Better than a lot of other weight-training equivalents the Rack has to offer due to the rows being generally more difficult. Unlike the rest, you’ll likely get more mileage out of these.

• Push-ups.
  Classic push-ups; nothing fancy here. What sets Rack push-ups from your regular ones however, is the possibility of combining them with…

• Ab crawls. Whether done on their own or alternated between sets push-ups, these are great! Possibly our favorite feature of the Rack, along with its evil cousin:

• Reverse ab crawls. This one is a real killer. A great move that hits the core right where it hurts!

• Mountain climbers.  Always an excellent exercise, though the Rack neither makes them better or worse.

• Pull-ups/Chin-ups. Severely lacking. Due to your body being mostly on the ground as you do these, they can be considered assisted pull-ups or chin-ups at best. The only way these could have any value would be as part of working up toward strict pull-ups or chin-ups.

• Dips. Now this is another way in which the Rack shines. An excellent way of doing dips right here, and due to the station’s modability, you can swap between bar and bench-variants of dips based on your grip. Great stuff!

All in all, not bad, especially if we count out the inbuilt issue of the Rack’s weight limitations.

The Verdict

Doing everything listed above in a single session is comparable to AMRAP or Tabata, which is solid. But the question is, do you even need the Rack for such an effect? After all, all the aforementioned approaches require is your own body, and possibly a lowly pull-up bar.

In the end, it should all come down to your wants and needs. Is your goal to get as fit as possible, without regarding limitations of time and training space? If the answer is yes, then no, you neither need nor want the Rack.

If however, you’re running on limited space, then the Rack might actually be a great fit for you. Looking for a whole-body workout in a small apartment? This one gives you almost everything, wrapped in a neat little package!

Finally, if you can get it cheaply for whatever reason (and know for a fact that the model in question isn’t faulty), then by all means go for it. It’s not perfect, but with the issue of price somewhat lessened, you may get a great bang for your buck—which is more than we can say otherwise.

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