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Thread: Monolift attachments

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Posts
    20

    Default Monolift attachments

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    Hi All,

    I have rolling J-Hook cups, but recently came across the Monolift attachments for my power rack, curious as to if anyone had any experience with these as I’ve never used them. Guess the advantage is that it might be “safer” since it eliminate’s walk-outs on squats?

    Also, I have safety pipes and spotter arms for my power rack, a buddy of mine suggested safety straps as it can preserve my barbell where as the other two don’t. Would that be the only advantage of the straps over what I have?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2021
    Location
    Winter Springs, FL
    Posts
    159

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sdewitt10 View Post
    Hi All,

    I have rolling J-Hook cups, but recently came across the Monolift attachments for my power rack, curious as to if anyone had any experience with these as I’ve never used them. Guess the advantage is that it might be “safer” since it eliminate’s walk-outs on squats?

    Also, I have safety pipes and spotter arms for my power rack, a buddy of mine suggested safety straps as it can preserve my barbell where as the other two don’t. Would that be the only advantage of the straps over what I have?
    Try to get good answers for these questions (i.e. take mine as a starting point but wait for others to reply). As far as I know, there's no good way to use a monolift attachment alone. Once you unrack the bar, the monolift arms move out of the way and you have no way to rerack the bar. So unless you are going to set it down on the pins, every time, I'm not sure how you would make use of it. I'd love to learn something new here, though.

    Stick with the pipe safety system. Straps are hard to setup and have been known to fail. If you bail on a lift (as opposed to just fail gracefully and set it down onto the safeties), if the weight is heavy enough, you will damage the barbell even with straps. I don't know numbers for this. I'm guessing about 600lbs on the pin/pipe safety vs 800lbs onto the straps. Is your rack rated for that much weight?

    The reason the barbell gets damaged if you completely bail is that it is falling quickly and the pipes/straps have very small contact area with the barbell (the pipes' contact area is infinitesimal if both are perfect spheres and don't deform which they will). However, it won't hurt the barbell to be places onto the pipes and then to rest there while you unload it.

    There are some much better squatters than me who have dumped bars inside of power racks and damaged them. I guess I'm not at that level yet. Most I've failed is in the 300 range and I was able to control the bar and set it onto the pins. Maybe there's a scenario I haven't encountered yet.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Joplin, MO
    Posts
    51

    Default

    I use monolifts and I lift alone.
    I bought a set because I was having hip pain on the walk out. Monolift didn't help, turns out I had a leg length discrepancy, but I still use the monolift. I don't compete so not a big deal and reracking the weight is easy. You just lean forward and the monolift catches it. Never been an issue.

    Also, I squat in the rack and have a solid bar safety system. In fact, my rack was built using the plans in the blue book. I've had around 400lbs dropped on them with no significant barbell damage.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2020
    Location
    Round Rock, TX
    Posts
    75

    Default

    I recently got a monolift set for my Rogue rack. I actually have yet to use it for squats, but I got it based on my coach's recommendation to help with my shoulder issues. I use it for bench press, and though it was an expensive addition, I now wish I'd have purchased it much sooner.

    I also have the Rogue safety straps for my rack and I much prefer them to the pins. You can install the straps with one end higher then the other which gives you more finite adjustment options. When I fail to the straps on bench, I have to turn my head and wiggle out. I have it dialed in to not interfere with the lift and still allow me to set it down anywhere on the strap without hitting my body (after lowing back arch). You still want to have the pins for rack pulls/etc.

    Also, I wouldn't worry about the bar getting damaged. You aren't grabbing the bar that far out (maybe in a snatch grip). And if you aren't dumping the bar to the safeties I don't think you are going to compromise the strap or pin safeties or damage the knurling.
    Last edited by Erich Weidner; 05-09-2022 at 11:30 PM. Reason: clairification

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Posts
    164

    Default

    I have both straps and pin and pipes. As mentioned previously, one nice feature of straps is the ability to set one end higher. When I bench, I have the straps positioned higher above my face and lower near my chest where they don't interfere with the bar path. With squats, I have the end behind my back lower, so that the bar will roll away after a failed lift.

    Unless I am mistaken, pipes are more likely to fail than straps. There's a video of someone pushing a bar with over 800 pounds on it off the rack and onto the straps without damaging them. In either case, most of us are not lifting enough weight to cause either to fail and are probably not dumping the bar while standing erect. Since the pins came with the rack, I have the pins set below the lowest strap settings.

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