The Must-Have Piece of Equipment for Your Home Gym: Best Squat Racks (2022)

By Lauren Strong

The squat rack is more versatile than it sounds. If you’re a strength training enthusiast, a squat rack is the piece of equipment you’ll center your workouts around. A squat rack accommodates the Big Three (squat, bench press, deadlift) in addition to other compound movements such as overhead press, incline bench, floor press, front squat, barbell lunges, barbell rows, inverted rows, and pull-ups.

If your goal is to get stronger or increase muscle size, eventually you will reach a point where dumbbells and resistance bands don’t create the same kind of stimulus they once did. Performing compound lifts with a barbell gives you unlimited opportunity to progress.

Shopping for a squat rack is an exciting new adventure in your fitness journey, but it’s also a big investment. Take your time to scope out the best squat rack for you, so your purchase works as a long-term investment for both your physical space and fitness goals.

The Fringe Sport Garage Series Squat Cage is made for saving space while having all the requirements of a full squat cage. It has everything you need from a squat cage without it taking up the entire floor space of your home gym. The 16-gauge steel construction, although not quite as beefy as other racks on the market, holds up to 700 pounds in racked weight. This makes the rack more than heavy-duty enough for the average exerciser.

This rack also comes with safety spotter arms and plastic-coated J-cups that let you squat and press without a human spotter. The Garage Series Squat Cage is a great all-around cage for your home gym, but it does fall short if you plan to lift more than 700 pounds or do weighted pull-ups totaling more than 400 pounds. Another thing to note: This squat rack is shorter than most racks—lifting inside the cage and doing pull-ups may be hard for taller people.

The REP Fitness PR-4000 is a customizable power rack that allows you to design a rack that fits your needs and works for your space. During the design phase, the REP Fitness website walks you through options like rack height, depth, color, weight plate storage, and a variety of pull-up bars just to name a few. There are also an enticing number of attachments you can add onto this power cage after the initial purchase, like a front-mounted pull-up bar, cable attachment with selectorizer, pegs for bands, and a monolift attachment.

Due to the ability to customize, the prices vary for every purchase, but you can estimate to pay around $1,000. What does not waver is the solid 3-inch-by-3-inch, 11-gauge steel uprights, 1-inch-hole spacing for the bench area, and 2-inch-hole spacing around the rest of the rack.

The Titan T-2 Series Power Rack is a great budget choice for the home gym owner. It has the bare minimum of what you need in a squat rack for under $400. There are two options for rack height, making it compatible for a basement or garage gym, based on ceiling height. The T-2 is surprisingly solid for the budget-friendly price and the 2-inch-by-2-inch construction. However, the 12-gauge steel uprights make it as sturdy as other top brands on the market.

The T-2 might lack bells and whistles, but one nice feature is the option to buy a center-mounted lat pulldown attachment from the Titan website. This adds even more versatility to your home gym equipment. Other add-ons include spotter arms, multi-grip pull-up bar, landmine attachment, vertical barbell storage, and strap safeties.

The Rogue Fitness HR-2 Half Rack is right up there with Rogue’s other top-notch fitness equipment products. It’s made from solid 3-inch-by-3-inch, 11-gauge steel and comes backed with Rogue’s lifetime warranty on structural welds and frames. This model is compatible with Rogue’s Monster Lite Series and the 17-inch crossmembers on the back of this squat rack allow for ample storage.

The HR-2 does not come with safeties, but is compatible with Monster Lite Safety Spotter Arms, a more versatile option than the pin and pipe safety bar (that can be purchased from a drop-down menu while selecting other options for your HR-2) and placed between the cross section of the front and back uprights. The safety arms are more versatile because you will lift outside of the rack in the HR-2, unlike a full power rack.

The PRX Performance Profile ONE Folding Squat Rack is a space-saving solution that doesn’t require disassembly to fold it away. The squat rack is mounted to the wall and the uprights sit on the floor when you’re ready for your training session, then folds upward for storage. In the folded position, the uprights sit 18 inches higher, which means you need 91-inch ceilings to accommodate the upward storage.

The Profile ONE Rack will function differently if you are used to squatting inside of a rack. Lifting in this folding rack is more like using a squat stand than a power cage. Although this rack has a versatile footprint and is easy to fold, this is the base model of the PRX Performance squat rack and it does not have a pull-up attachment or safety catches. Another shortcoming is it will cost you an additional $50 for a reinforcement kit if you plan on lifting more than 500 pounds.

The Rogue Fitness SML-2 Squat Stand is an impressive piece of equipment featuring 3-inch-by-3-inch, 11-gauge steel uprights all made in the USA. When you make a purchase from Rogue, you have their warranty to back up your purchase. Structural welds and frames have a lifetime warranty, making this squat stand worth the investment.

Although the SML-2 is not a full rack, it is one of the most solid options you can buy with a weight rating of 1,000 pounds and all with an affordable $525 base price. The price doesn't include Rogue’s optional safety arms, floor mounting feet, or a wheel bracket set. However, if you add all three options to your order, your total cost won’t exceed $800 for the full set up.

Safety arms are recommended for any squat stand for safety and peace of mind that you will not get stapled under your big lifts. Consider adding the floor mounting feet to your order as well; multiple reviewers mention that the SML-2 rocks even when bolted to the ground while racking and unracking weights or while doing kipping pull-ups.

The Synergee Squat Rack V1 is a quality option for starting a home gym on a budget. The squat stand offers a small footprint, plus safety arms that are included in the sale, and all for under $200. With the affordable price tag comes concern with the 2-inch-by-2-inch, 16-gauge steel uprights. This doesn’t match up to the 14- to 11-gauge steel frames of other squat racks. Additionally, like many racks that are not bolted to the floor, racking and unracking weight can cause this squat stand to rock back and forth.

However, If you’re just starting out on your fitness journey, this budget rack does have a lot to offer. The rack can withstand up to 500 pounds as the maximum weight capacity and is equipped with a pull-up bar, J-hooks, and safety arms. It’s a straightforward purchase that will allow you to invest in other areas of your home gym. For a no-frills rack that can hold up to 500 pounds, the Synergee V1 gets the job done.

The F2C Squat Stand is a two-piece, freestanding barbell rack with the ability to adjust its two legs to different heights between 40 and 66 inches high. Unlike a squat rack or a single squat stand, two separate pieces allows for easy storage options and a compact footprint. You can find the F2C on Amazon for $75, but there are shortcomings with this low price.

The uprights are not the most stable steel construction, and are advertised as 1.5-millimeter steel tubing, which converts to about 17-gauge steel. There are also no options for bolting the stands to the floor or pegs to weigh the stands down, so the legs may wobble.

While this will work for the majority of people, people who are doing heavy powerlifting or want compatibility with accessories like dip bars or weight storage should look to other options.

Benefits of Squat Racks

The benefits of owning a squat rack are many. When the weight is racked and off the floor, you have so much more potential to progress and perform your lifts safely.

• • Safety: To use barbells properly, a rack will be essential for pretty much all lifts—except those that come from the floor, like deadlifts and power cleans—to safely set up, brace, perform the exercise, and re-rack.
• • Adjustability: It’s easy to change the height of the J-cups depending on your height and desired exercise including floor press, overhead press, front squats, back squats, etc.
• • Progression: Owning a squat rack increases your potential to get stronger. It’s likely you can lift more, and continue to progress over the course of time, if you can set up for an exercise in a racked position versus starting by picking up a barbell (or dumbbell) off the floor.
• • Bone density: Barbell lifts are a phenomenal way to add stress to the skeletal system, which stimulates cells to begin new bone formation and in turn improve bone density to help reduce your risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis.
• • Versatility: Squat racks aren’t just for squatting. In fact, that’s far from their only functionality. High-quality squat racks typically have options for chin-up bars, dip stations, pulley systems, and more. And don’t forget, with a weight bench, you can get to bench pressing with your squat rack, too.

What to Look for in a Squat Rack

A squat rack is a big investment to your home gym. There are many factors to consider when comparison shopping. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Stability and Durability

The steel gauge rating will give you an idea of the stability and lifespan of your squat rack. Heavy-duty steel, specifically 11-gauge steel, is commonly used in reputable brands like Rogue Fitness and REP Fitness. The higher the number goes (13, 14, 15, etc.) the thinner the steel becomes. When the steel is not as thick, it becomes susceptible to warping over time, especially under heavy weights.

Space Requirements

Take measurements of both your floor space and ceiling height before you can make a decision on a squat rack. Keep in mind that both the collar and sleeve of an Olympic barbell sit on the outside of the squat rack—give yourself a 2- to-3-foot buffer zone on both the left and right side of the squat rack. This clearance will allow safe loading and unloading of your barbell.

Versatility

Each type of squat rack offers a different range of versatility. Most racks on the market are going to allow you to squat, bench, and deadlift. However, you’ll also want to consider if your rack comes with a pull-up bar and if there are safety features so you can lift alone.

A full power rack with four uprights offers the most versatility for progressing your lifts (and keeping safety in mind) with overload methods like added band tension, chain resistance, and the use of safety pins for dead-stop repetitions.

Squat rack stands like the F2C stands we recommend offer the least versatility, but the most portability and the smallest footprint.

We recommend checking for accessory compatibility before buying to ensure your rack will have everything you need to do your preferred style of strength training, whether that’s CrossFit or powerlifting.

Price Range

Squat racks have a wide range in price—from a few hundred dollars to well over a thousand. The thing is, this type of purchase will be at the center of your workouts. Purchasing the best squat rack you can afford (and one can fit in your home gym) is the best way to go, so you don’t get stuck with a rack you need to upgrade in a few years. A well-built, solid squat rack can last you a lifetime of workouts if it fits your needs.

How We Chose the Best Squat Racks

Our team of product testers has tried every big name on the market. We choose products that we think will last, work well for a variety of spaces, and can tolerate enough weight for even the seasoned lifter.

Your goals and needs are unique to you, and the same goes with your space and its limitations. The best squat rack for you will depend on a variety of factors including the overall footprint, rack height, how much weight it can tolerate, safety features, and the sturdiness of the steel material it's made from.