Hardcastle Bodybuilding Adjustable Squat Rack with Spotters

I should start by saying I've been using this for a few months now and it's holding up really well. The build quality is very good, though I feel like some extra welds here and there would make it rock solid. Regardless it is sturdy and strong, with a quality powder coated finish. Delivery was excellent. I ordered on Sunday night with standard delivery and it arrived early Tuesday morning via UKMail. The packaging was intact and the contents were in excellent condition. There were a few minor paint chips on a couple of the welds but it's not a problem. Assembly is simple, with only 6 bolts to secure the centre bar. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the uprights are secured with index plungers with large plastic knobs. To adjust the height, simply unscrew a couple of turns (no need to unscrew all the way every time), pull the knob outwards, slide to the desired height and the spring loaded plunger will lock into the hole. Hand tighten to secure. The width and height adjustment is flexible enough to accomodate practically anyone, within reason. I am 6'4" but the uprights extend high enough. The maximum height of the uprights is 151cm to the bar, while the minimum is around 91cm high. The absolute maximum width between the uprights is around 111cm but that would only allow for 1 bolt to secure the centre section, see the product images to see what I mean. The maximum width between the uprights when secured with 2 bolts is around 106.5cm. The minimum width between the uprights is around 67.5cm. For anybody concerned that the rack doesn't extend wide enough, as I was, don't be. With proper form you should be able to bench press with plenty of room for your elbows. I don't have it on the widest setting and I have very long arms. The spotter bars are certainly a necessity for anybody working out alone. They have saved me once so far on a failed bench press and I was able to slide out without being crushed. Just make sure you adjust them correctly. The maximum height of the spotters is around 92cm, while the minimum height is around 60cm. What really sets this rack apart from others on Amazon is the length of the spotters; at 50cm you can always be confident that they will catch the bar if you fail a rep. As for the overall strength, it's rated upto 250kg however I've only loaded it up to 70kg so far as I'm just starting out. It feels strong enough to cope with much heavier weight. I have a minor concern about the rack tipping over when I have a lot of weight and the uprights at their max height but it hasn't been an issue yet. Once I go a lot heavier I'll probably put some weights on the base just to be safe. All in all an excellent product that I'd highly recommend to anybody who doesn't have the room or the budget for a full power rack. Combined with the Hardcastle Flat Weight Lifting/Press Bench , you'll have the perfect setup (except for the bar and weights of course) to safely perform all the compound lifts for a little over a hundred quid.

My review is based on ~ 2 weeks use of the item. The rack arrived within 2 days which was ahead of schedule. Although a large bulky item it was well packaged and free of any damage or scuffing on arrival. Easy to assemble for two, took my son and I less than 10 minutes. You will however need 2 x 17mm spanners. The lock nuts allow for a sturdy stable end product. Point for improvement: Include spanners in future as they are essential to the assembly. The rack is pretty stable however , I've only loaded to 60kg though. The safety bars are a real plus and the main reason for this purchase., loads of adjustment positions too. Point for Improvement: provide rubber covers for the top surface. These scuff quickly with contact to barbell. I have used some off cut foam flooring to remedy this. Works well with a 7ft bar although I imagine it would be fine with a 6 ft bar too. Great product. heard the price jumped during lock down? I've not verified though.

I have found this a reasonable alternative to a full size power rack for my garage as it takes much less space. Of course it's a budget item so it has its limitations. The item was delivered in good time and was easy to assemble. It is light enough for me to move around my garage fully assembled yet seems able to take the max recommended weight (not tested to max). Adjustments to rack height, spotter bars and width are by screw-in studs. They hold the rack parts in place OK but take time to use. Sprung studs would be quicker and probably just as efficient. Because they are screwthread adjusters care is needed to ensure they don't get cross threaded. This could be a problem if you aren't concentrating during a hard workout. I have applied a little grease to the threads which has improved the screw-in action. Having screw-in studs to adjust the width is a fiddle and not something I'd want to undertake while trying to maintain a series of exercises. It breaks up the routine. I'd only adjust the width to use the dip handles and, as others have said, even at the narrowist width setting these are still too wide to dip correctly (I'm 5'11") so I'm not using that feature at the moment. If the maker could fit a narrower type of dip station it would be ideal. Mirafit have done it with their power rack dip bars so I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for this. So for the price this is a pretty good product and does the job for me. One star off for reasons given above

For a home gym setup this is a study well made bargain. Great for squats and bench press, easy to adjust and very strong. Plenty of settings for height and width - also has some study handles for dips. I’ve never used it for that however, I just use mine for squats/press. It’s very sturdy, I have no worries with it at all for that. A worthwhile and bargain addition to a home gym and perfect for anyone that is working hard/progressive loading (it takes a load of weight). Definitely recommended. The finish on it is also very good too. I’ve had well over 140kgs on mine with no issues - and the spotter bars are a nice little extra. I’d recommend getting the Hardcastle bench with this too.

Fantastic squat rack. Well worth the money even at the price of £200. Decided to get this instead of a full power rack as it takes up less space but still does the job! Delivery was fast and it was so easy to set up and assemble - There’s a video on YouTube that shows you how to build the mirafit squat rack which is the same thing as this but just in different colour. Very solid I’m so happy I can bench press and squat safely! I’ve paired it up with the hardcastle bench and I think it looks great!!

It came really quickly. Excellent value for money . solid, very easy to assemble. They could work on the cosmetics . I have a couple of chips on the paint work. But that doesn't really detract from its over all strength and design. I think someone else pointed out that they have a bit of a Q.A.issue. But it's not so bad,that it will put me off looking at their other products. I am very pleased with the rack. I have been pinned down by a barbell, whilst bench pressing. It's really scary,it can never happen again. Also, for the first time, I can now do swats at home. In safety. I go to the gym regularly, and I have shown it to a lot of people. And all agree it's a great bit of kit. Well worth the money.

Easy to assemble and very sturdy. Perfect for bench pressing and squatting with confidence. The spotter arms work perfectly. My only gripe is that the dip handles are too far apart to dip comfortably - even when the bars are as close together as possible it is still too wide. However this did not bother me as the main reason I bought it was for bench pressing and squatting with safety.

Stability: This bench is very solid and feels very stable, I have done squats in it up to 95kg and it felt fine even with the Barbell holder at maximum height. The screws for adjusting the height are very unlikely to come out. However for some reason on the screws they've opted for a spring loaded inner pin (the part which fits inside the holes) and it can unscrew and come loose. Not sure why they opted for this strange contraption and didn't just weld the parts together. Spotter Bars: The spotter bars are good, but I do wish they had slightly smaller increments, however I can understand from a structural integrity perspective they probably couldn't. The spotter bars themselves are stable and you can rest weights on the far end of them without fear of the bar 'hopping' out or the bench tipping (I have only tried this part with up to 70kg). The maximum height of the spotter bar is still quite low, I could see someone who is 6'2"+ struggling to have the correct safety if they started to tip backwards. Dip Handles: They're way too far apart to comfortably dip. I am quite broad and it is possible to dip, but most of the weight will go on your shoulders and not hit your tris/ chest. Also makes it considerably harder to. Like I said, is possible, but difficult. Assembly: There is 6 bolts total, and they are all there for attaching the stabilizing middle portion. If you need to take bench apart multiple times. Buy some wingnuts as the nuts provided are locknuts (have a portion of plastic after the thread to hold the nut still, not for repeated assembling/ disassembling). I would also recommend to anyone with a 5ft barbell to upgrade to a 6ft one. I have a 5ft barbell which means I had to have the width set quite low, giving me a small margin of error for weights hitting the spotter bars and my forearms were very close to the sides during bench press. It's workable, but awkward and a 6FT barbell would save a lot of headache.

Ho ricevuto da poco il rack e devo dire che è molto ben fatto. Risulta piuttosto solido e stabile. Le viti con sgancio rapido sono perfette per variare le altezze dei supporti velocemente. Personalmente le tengo avvitate completamente mentre faccio gli esercizi (per sicurezza). Quando devo variare le altezze, svito mezzo giro e poi tiro il pomello che sgancia, senza svitare tutto. Facilissimo! Il rack è perfetto sia per fare squat che per fare pettorali orizzontali bassi-medi-alti. Sarebbe stato bello avere dei supporti laterali per posizionarci i pesi non usati, ma per il prezzo pagato sono più che soddisfatto. Ho solo riscontrato un piccolo problema in fase di montaggio: una delle viti di bloccaggio non voleva entrare nella impanatura. Ho risolto spruzzando un po' di sbloccante (WD40) sulla vite prima di inserirla ed alla fine, forzando un po' sono riuscito ad avvitarla ed ora non da più problemi particolari. Un'altra miglioria apportabile è mettere un po' di feltro nella conca dei supporti, così da non rovinarli e fare meno rumore quando si ripone il bilanciere. Anche l'imballo è stato utile: quei cani di DHL mi hanno portato la scatola rotta in più punti, con un buco nel quale entrava un pugno chiuso. Per fortuna però, tutte le parti piccole per il montaggio sono state inserite imbustate in una scatola di cartone più piccola, sempre dentro quella grande, così che fosse più difficile perderle. In effetti questa cosa mi ha salvato... Buon allenamento!

Après avoir longuement hésité mon choix s’est porté sur ce modèle. Je l’utilise depuis 3 semaines et suis agréablement surpris par l’impression de robustesse générale. Le rack est stable, les réglages sont pratiques, les barres de sûreté très longs comme il faut. Je suis entièrement satisfait de cet achat à l’usage. PS Je réalise dessus des squats de plus de 150kg sans aucun problème : rien ne bouge.

Stabile Bauweise, sehr gut den Bedürfnissen anpassbar, solide Verarbeitung, gut im Training einsetzbar, vielseitiger Einsatz möglich, würde ich wieder kaufen, Preis-Leistungsverhältnis angemessen,

E' un buon rack che permette di migliorare decisamente i propri esercizi casalinghi, permettendo un incremento di carico che altrimenti sarebbe impossibile senza (immaginate di caricare 100 kg su bilanciere per uno squat e tirarlo dietro la spalle da terra o di mettere 70 kg per le distensioni su panca e mettervi il bilanciere sulle gambe per portarvelo al petto.. non fatelo se ci tenete alla vostra incolumità), inoltre aumenta la sicurezza nello svolgimento di certi esercizi che possono risultare rischiosi sia per la persona che per il pavimento. Direi che sia piuttosto importante per chi fa anche allenamento casalingo. Le maniglie dei dip mi sembrano leggermente troppo distanti tra loro ma non ho idea sinceramente se ne rendano difficoltoso lo svolgimento, probabilmente editerò in futuro il commento per far più chiarezza sulla faccenda. Il rack, se tenuto montato ma stretto al massimo, risulta un pò ingombrante e richiede certo spazio a disposizione, tuttavia si può anche estrarre una barra posteriore in modo da riporlo in due pezzi da qualche parte, per quanto tale procedimento sia un pò macchinoso. Il montaggio è a prova di tonto, è intuibile già senza guardare il libricino in quanto sono 6 bulloni, 6 viti e poco altro. Non ci sono limitazioni legate alla tipologia di bilanciere, sempre che questo naturalmente non sia più corto della larghezza minima del rack ma non ci sono restrizioni per la circonferenza. Il prodotto è arrivato integro, non ho trovato il cartone dilaniato fortunatamente se non da un buchetto ma ci tengo a far presente che la scatola che arriva, 1 è molto pesante, 2 è enorme e posso anche comprendere che in fase di spedizione possa prendere qualche colpo qua e là, questo nel mio caso non ha compromesso minimamente il rack, nè nella vernice e nè nel metallo. Aggiungo un altro paio di informazioni, così da essere il più esaustivo possibile. Con un po' di creatività il rack in questione può tornare utile per molti altri esercizi, nelle military press per le spalle, sia da in piedi che da seduti, per le distensioni su panca, per il curl con bilanciere, usando le barre di protezione come comodo supporto del bilanciere, molto comodo quando si arriva allo sfinimento muscolare, per franch press o skull crasher con bilanciere e tanti altri esercizi, magari scomodi senza una mano in più. Con una panca regolabile, il rack in questione ed un buon stock di ghisa vi fate una palestrina casalinga più che dignitosa, capace di allenarvi più che decentemente, con delle limitazioni ovviamente. Un consiglio su come svolgere le distensioni a 45°: Le barre di sicurezza sono troppo corte e non si riesce a svolgere bene questo esercizio. Conviene posizionare il rack al contrario con la panca posizionata tra la barra posteriore che unisce i due lati ed il bilanciere posizionato sui rack un pò alzati, non sulle barre di sicurezza. Piccola aggiunta dopo un anno dall'acquisto, così da avvisare tutti gli utenti: L'uso corretto del rack per la panca piana è di usare le barre di protezione per il loro scopo, non come porta bilanciere dove poggiarlo per iniziare e finire l'esercizio. Per questo scopo bisogna usare il rack all'altezza giusta. Le barre di protezione vanno regolate all'altezza corretta per la parte finale negativa, così che si riesca a svolgere correttamente l'esercizio in sicurezza dalle barre. Questo comporta però che non tutti i bilancieri vadano bene, perchè occorre tenere il rack piuttosto aperto in orizzontale, quindi quelli da 150 cm sono troppo corti, infatti sul rack ci finisce la parte dedicata ai dischi. Consiglio quindi bilancieri più lunghi, 180 cm almeno. Per utilizzare il rack così descritto non vanno bene bilancieri sotto i 180 cm, altrimenti l'unica è usare le barre di protezione come supporto del bilanciere, solo che,così facendo, si andranno a sacrificare le barre a scopo protettivo. Si può fare certo, io l'ho fatto per tanto tempo solo che, se si usassero le barre solo a scopo protettivo, si protrebbe arrivare a fare qualche ripetizione in più allo sfinimento, cosa che non si fa altrimenti, per paura di rimanerci sotto. Allego un paio di foto.

Suffisamment large et solide, réglages faciles, bon matos..