Introduction
Pulley systems on the power rack are likely the “hottest items” for home gyms.
You can choose from many different setup options based on your budget, current rack, and space requirements.
We asked the community a number of questions on the topic, which are below.
You can also listen to us chat about the results within the clip below.
What “Pulley System” would you get for your home gym if starting today?
Within this Instagram post, the two most popular companies mentioned were REP & Rogue.
There are obvious reasons for this, but it’s most likely because they would choose one of these two racks to start their home gym with & build from there.
Other companies mentioned include:
- Vesta Fitness: many expressed interest in their 3-1 rack which also included a smith-machine.
- Surplus Strength: The UPS is a budget-friendly and versatile lat/low row that can be moved around based on your setup.
- Fringe Sport: Several also expressed interest in The Dane, which is a low priced package option.
- Spud Inc: A few do not see any need to upgrade from their basic pulley, which costs around $100.
- Bells of Steel: This is another popular power rack system that people would likely build around.
- Voltras from Beyond Power: While these are quite expensive right now, technology like this could be the future as prices go down.
View all responses in the post below.
“Ares Style” is the rack-attached option most are likely to get
We asked about four different options that one may add to their home gym with the “Ares Style” being the relatively easy winner with 42% of the votes – somewhat surprising because this is also the most robust & expensive.
Those options on their own combined for almost 50% of the votes with the lat pulldown/low row making up 25% of the votes and 24% with the functional trainer alone.
Only 10% are looking to add a single stack.
Most believe “weight stacks” are typically worth the extra costs when adding to the rack
Weight stacks are typically more than double the price of “plate-loaded” options. Therefore, it was surprising to see nearly three times more votes go to the “weight stack” option.
This just helps to show you how many working out within the home gym love efficiency.
Only about 1/4 want to store dumbbells, kettlebells, etc on their rack.
It seems like many would much rather have a pulley-system on their racks vs. a storage system.
2:1 is the ideal “functional trainer” pulley ratio on a power rack for the majority.
A 2:1 pulley system may not be as heavy as a 1:1 setup, but it will have a more versatile weight distribution for the movements that don’t necessarily need a tone of weight (lots of typical functional trainer movements).
Plus, it includes a lower starting weight that many would appreciate.
That said a 2:1 ratio did receive over half of the votes with 36% going with 1:1.
The functional trainer is the top “standalone machine” choice of these pulley options.
It was pretty neck and neck, but the functional trainer eeked out a victory over the lat pulldown/low row with 46% of the total votes vs. 44%.
Only 19% do not want a pulley system on their power rack.
About 45% already have a pulley system on their power rack, 36% do not but want one, and only 19% have no pulley system on their power rack and do not want one.
