Dealing with garage floor slope

Recently put together a very basic garage gym in order to train during COVID. Not much available space so have my squat rack ( 2 independent racks) set up along a side wall. Getting into the high 200s for squats and getting a little more concerned about squatting parallel to the slope. I saw on an old thread from 2011 that moving the rack set up from parallel to perpendicular to the slope is a good work around and wanted to get clarification as to which direction I should be facing. A few comments suggested putting my back to the back wall and facing towards the front of the garage and I wanted to understand why this would be the best way to approach it. If anyone can enlighten me I’d appreciate it. Fwiw, I squat in Adidas lifters with a pretty decent heel. Thanks!

If your driveway slab has a constant pitch from the back to the apron, your rack is going to be out of plumb in one direction or another regardless of how you orient yourself. The if you have your rack fastened to a platform, you can shim the platform with long strips of plywood cut to match the pitch of the concrete. If your rack is free-standing, you can shim the legs.

If you are facing the door then you are increasing the effect of heels in lifting shoes. If you face away from the door you are negating the effect of the heels on the lifting shoes. Its up to you. Do you want more or less heel.

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Originally Posted by Oso Rojo

If you are facing the door then you are increasing the effect of heels in lifting shoes. If you face away from the door you are negating the effect of the heels on the lifting shoes. Its up to you. Do you want more or less heel.

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Are you sure about that ? Won’t a slope shift the centre of gravity from mid foot where it’s supposed to be regardless of heel height ? Just musing because I have the same issue, it’s only 1/8” front to back I can’t figure out the mechanics.

Self leveling compound.

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Originally Posted by Ericw

Self leveling compound.

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Efficacious in every way

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Originally Posted by Nockian

Are you sure about that ? Won’t a slope shift the centre of gravity from mid foot where it’s supposed to be regardless of heel height ? Just musing because I have the same issue, it’s only 1/8” front to back I can’t figure out the mechanics.

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No, because you will stand perpendicular to the earth, not to the platform. If your slope is left-to-right, different story, but front-to-back means you will automatically accommodate by leaning forward. You could also shim your heels, and have garage-lifting shoes. This would be less messy and irreversible than pouring leveling concrete.

My garage slopes 1.5” over 8 feet. You wouldn’t need much of a shim to compensate for the slope over the distance of your foot. In fact you probably wouldn’t notice it if you did nothing, except for the bar rolling into your shins when you deadlift.

My floor slopes about 1" every 6-8', and I never had any trouble with my squats, when facing away from the garage door. I finally built my platform last weekend, and rotated my rack 90deg to the right so the garage door is now to my right shoulder; it has helped my squat stability some but that's only because my left leg is about 1/2" shorter than my right so I'm now using the slope to my advantage on my lifts.

If the slope ever gave me any trouble at all, it was what jfsully mentions above, the deadlift bar rolling back to my shins when facing away from the garage door, making setup difficult. Easy fix though, I used a pair of wheel chocks I bought from O'Reilly Auto to keep the bar in place and maintain proper 1in spacing.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about it, and at most if you feel you need, place shims under your rack and bolt it in place. I haven't felt the need to shim my rack yet, which is 1/2" off side-to-side, maybe down the road but not yet.

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Originally Posted by Nockian

Are you sure about that ? Won’t a slope shift the centre of gravity from mid foot where it’s supposed to be regardless of heel height ? Just musing because I have the same issue, it’s only 1/8” front to back I can’t figure out the mechanics.

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Take a look at your lifting shoes. What do you see? They are angled to pitch your foot forward. its the same effect as if the floor where slanted.

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Originally Posted by jfsully

No, because you will stand perpendicular to the earth, not to the platform. If your slope is left-to-right, different story, but front-to-back means you will automatically accommodate by leaning forward. You could also shim your heels, and have garage-lifting shoes. This would be less messy and irreversible than pouring leveling concrete.

My garage slopes 1.5” over 8 feet. You wouldn’t need much of a shim to compensate for the slope over the distance of your foot. In fact you probably wouldn’t notice it if you did nothing, except for the bar rolling into your shins when you deadlift.

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Effectively like standing on a step, although gravity and lack of friction would eventually make itself known.