A Must Have Item For Your Home Gym!

Star Trac Power Cage 8536 Review

Star Trac Power Cage 8536 review by honx99.

I have had this rack for almost 2 years now. Overall, I'm very pleased with it. The build quality is excellent (2x3 11ga steel, fine welds). It has taken everything I've thrown at it without any issues, and I have no doubt it will last for a very long time.

It weighs around 250 lbs, which is a bit more than the Powertec Power rack.

What I like about this rack:

1.) J-Hooks have a high back and are rubber coated so it makes less noise when dropping a bar into them. Also the lower part of the j-hooks where the bar rests is rounded, so the bar will always lay there straight and you don't have to re-adjust it after dropping it.

2.) Pop-pin safeties are a breeze to adjust and are rubber coated as well.

3.) The rack is pretty deep so you can do exercises like good-mornings inside of the rack even if you're a tad taller.

4.) Straight pull-up bar (1 1/4" dia) with 2 additional slightly sloped neutral grips.

5.) Outside front hooks attached to the safeties.

6.) 2 1/4" hole spacing.

My dislikes:

1.) The lower back frame of the rack, it doesn't have an extended back frame like the parabody, it has a kind of V-shaped part instead, so you need a bench with a small width between its feet in order to get it in deep enough for flat/incline bench presses from the rear hooks.

2.) You can do these presses from the front hooks because the rack is pretty deep, but then you have to rest your feet on this V-shaped frame piece.

3.) Also this part being V-shaped instead of straight makes it harder to get the bench centered and straight.

4.) The dip bars. They don't just hook in like the bodycraft or bodysolid dip attachments; you have to shove them completely through the safeties. The problem about this is that they have a rubber coating on them which has to be removed in order for them to fit through the holes in the safeties. This rubber coating fits very tight and it's annoying to remove it every time.

These are my only dislikes about this rack, and although I wrote a lot of text about them they are actually pretty minor. You can't do standing overhead presses inside of the rack but that's true for all racks designed for home use.

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