Home gym power rack footprint

I have very limited space at my small home and garage for a gym. I am hoping to find room for a power rack and platform. What do you think is the minimum square footage I need for a rack, platform, and some sort of weight rack? Rip's recommendation for the platform seems to be 8'x8' - but I wonder how much space I need around that to be able to load the weights, etc. Considering a shed in the backyard, e.g.

You'll need more width than depth. 11' wide will give you just under 2' on each side to load the barbell. You could shrink that down to 10' but that's pretty tight.

Depth could be as little as 6' with half of that for the rack and half for a deadlift platform. You could also deadlift inside the rack and make it really compact. The back uprights on the rack can be used for plate storage so you could do without a plate tree.

Get out the tape measure.

Thank you, Steve.

Don't go for too shallow rack. I have made a 30" depth between the front and back posts. 27" may be just enough. 22", as in Rip's original design may not be enough.

Width, yes 11 ft, as Steve mentioned.

One other dimension not to forget is overhead clearance. When I converted my one car garage to a workout room, I discovered the garage door opener and the tracks was an issue, as they didn't give enough clearance for overhead presses or moves. I decided I need 8 feet overhead clearance to be safe.

Thank you, PuliMorgan.

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

One other dimension not to forget is overhead clearance. When I converted my one car garage to a workout room, I discovered the garage door opener and the tracks was an issue, as they didn't give enough clearance for overhead presses or moves. I decided I need 8 feet overhead clearance to be safe.

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Good point. Thanks

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Originally Posted by PuliMorgan

Don't go for too shallow rack. I have made a 30" depth between the front and back posts. 27" may be just enough. 22", as in Rip's original design may not be enough.

Width, yes 11 ft, as Steve mentioned.

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Respectfully disagree. I have a parabody rack. It’s 22” deep. Absolutely nothing wrong with that depth. To me more important is the rack width. My rack is 44-1/2” outside to outside. Again no problems. Lots of people complain about hitting uprights if the outside to outside is 49”

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Originally Posted by Oldandfat

Respectfully disagree. I have a parabody rack. It’s 22” deep. Absolutely nothing wrong with that depth. To me more important is the rack width. My rack is 44-1/2” outside to outside. Again no problems. Lots of people complain about hitting uprights if the outside to outside is 49”

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You are right. 22 inch depth may be okay if the width is 44.5 inches outside to outside. Mine is 48.5+ inches and and I occasionally hit the uprights while stepping backwards for squats.

Details of my rack here: How I built a Complete Home Gym during the COVID-19 Lockdown - YouTube

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Originally Posted by PuliMorgan

You are right. 22 inch depth may be okay if the width is 44.5 inches outside to outside. Mine is 48.5+ inches and and I occasionally hit the uprights while stepping backwards for squats.

Details of my rack here: How I built a Complete Home Gym during the COVID-19 Lockdown - YouTube

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Yikes. I need to correct this.

My rack is 44-1/2” inside to inside. The rack is 2 x 2 so the outside is 48-1/2”. Basically it’s 49” outside. It’s not an,issue. 22” depth still also not an issue

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Originally Posted by Steve R

You'll need more width than depth. 11' wide will give you just under 2' on each side to load the barbell. You could shrink that down to 10' but that's pretty tight.

Depth could be as little as 6' with half of that for the rack and half for a deadlift platform. You could also deadlift inside the rack and make it really compact. The back uprights on the rack can be used for plate storage so you could do without a plate tree.

Get out the tape measure.

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This is good advice. However, during the pandemic I had the gym setup in my one car garage that's only about nine feet wide. It was not super-easy to load the barbell. But I also never hit it against the wall lifting. I have since seen the error of my ways and turned the rack so that it's along the long side of the garage. Of course now I can never park there again. But it's way more convenient.

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Originally Posted by EdTice

This is good advice. However, during the pandemic I had the gym setup in my one car garage that's only about nine feet wide. It was not super-easy to load the barbell. But I also never hit it against the wall lifting. I have since seen the error of my ways and turned the rack so that it's along the long side of the garage. Of course now I can never park there again. But it's way more convenient.

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You mean you started facing (or facing away from) the garage door, and then turned 90 deg for more room on the sides of the barbell to load plates?

Does your concrete have slope leading out to the garage door? if yes, how did you deal with that? or are you just squatting, pressing, deadlifting on a slight cross-slope?

Either squatting away-from or into the slope essentially just changes your heel geometry on your shoes a tiny bit....whereas doing it cross-slope seems a little funky.

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Originally Posted by Oldandfat

Yikes. I need to correct this.

My rack is 44-1/2” inside to inside. The rack is 2 x 2 so the outside is 48-1/2”. Basically it’s 49” outside. It’s not an,issue. 22” depth still also not an issue

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Hey Oldandfat,

Sounds like we have the same Parabody rack, the 843? This one is not mine but it is an 843:

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/attac...3&d=1357557270

How do you handle setting up the bar for the overhead press? I've long been frustrated by the rack's 49" max height limit for the outside bar catches which makes setting up for the press rather difficult. Do you just clean the bar from the floor or just crouch down to the bar awkwardly? I've had this rack for more than 20 years now and it does most of what I need save for the press. I'm frustrated to the point I'm looking at new racks as a result.

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Originally Posted by Farmer

You mean you started facing (or facing away from) the garage door, and then turned 90 deg for more room on the sides of the barbell to load plates?

Does your concrete have slope leading out to the garage door? if yes, how did you deal with that? or are you just squatting, pressing, deadlifting on a slight cross-slope?

Either squatting away-from or into the slope essentially just changes your heel geometry on your shoes a tiny bit....whereas doing it cross-slope seems a little funky.

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My initial setup was such that, when the bench was in the rack, I was facing the overhead door. When I squatted, I was facing the back wall of the garage. The house is new construction. Whatever slope there is in the garage wasn't something that I ever noticed. Although that may have changed if there was any movement of the ground. I'm in Florida where we don't have basements. Just concrete slabs poured directly onto the ground. Others living in this area have tried to setup garage gyms and had real trouble with a noticeable slope so I'm either lucky or brain-dead.

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Originally Posted by buddy0329

Hey Oldandfat,

Sounds like we have the same Parabody rack, the 843? This one is not mine but it is an 843:

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/attac...3&d=1357557270

How do you handle setting up the bar for the overhead press? I've long been frustrated by the rack's 49" max height limit for the outside bar catches which makes setting up for the press rather difficult. Do you just clean the bar from the floor or just crouch down to the bar awkwardly? I've had this rack for more than 20 years now and it does most of what I need save for the press. I'm frustrated to the point I'm looking at new racks as a result.

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Nope, not the same rack. Not sure what the number is. Mine doesn’t have pop pins. 2 x 2 tubing. 1” holes spaced 2-1/2” apart. J cups are kinda like the rip rack “bolts”. They are 1” rod with a square of metal welded at the end.

I,can set mine up for presses.

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Originally Posted by Oldandfat

Nope, not the same rack. Not sure what the number is. Mine doesn’t have pop pins. 2 x 2 tubing. 1” holes spaced 2-1/2” apart. J cups are kinda like the rip rack “bolts”. They are 1” rod with a square of metal welded at the end.

I,can set mine up for presses.

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Thanks.

I decided to just bite the bullet and ordered a new rack.