Information on how to run faster, lift stronger and think deeper

How to squat in power rack [Article]

Posted by Pascal Landshoeft

Dec 15, 2019 9:00:00 AM

How to squat in power rack

How to squat in power rack

 
Make use of the J cups and safeties according to your height. Keep control of the bar, even if you fail and lower it to safety.
Click for Instagram
 

Related articles

Power racks

 
There are different versions of power racks and squat racks available. What they all have in common as a combination of J cups and safeties. 
 
The J cups are the hooks that your barbell rests on. Some can be completely taken off and stuck back on while others are permanently attached and slide up and down. The more common setup is detachable. 
 
The safeties can also be permanently fixed or adjustable in height. If they are adjustable in height the usually use the same hooking system as the J cups. 
 
Make sure you know how to click things and place and secure them in position. If you are unsure about how it works ask staff to do a demo for you. They might even be able to help you with finding your ideal setup for the squat
 
 

Safety options

 
There are three main safety options for a power rack:
 
 
Safety pins are the most common and are available in almost every gym. They are cheap and stable. They are also great for pin squats when you have problems getting out of the hole. The negatives of safety pins are that they can be annoying to set up. Fiddling the steel rod into the hole of the rack can be time-consuming. More often than not you will not set it up parallel to the ground but with a tilt. Another disadvantage is the bounce. Pins deform and bounce the bar back up. This not what you want on a heavy drop.
 
Safety straps are one step up from safety pins. You don't see them as often as safety pins in regular gyms. The two big advantages are that they are easier to set up and have a dead stop when you drop the bar. No bouncing around The disadvantage is that they are harder to set up at the right height and therefore also not as good for pin squat.
 
The rolls Royce of safeties is the flip-down. The flip-down safety is usually hooked into the rack and has a wider space where you can drop the bar to. And can be used for pin squats and rack pulls with more ease and less noise. To some, you can even attach a seat for box squats.
 
 
 

Squat setup

 
For the squat setup, you want to have the minimal effort to unrack and rack the bar at the beginning of the movement. For this place, your feet parallel under the bar while either setting up for a low bar or high bar squat. You should be able to pop the bar from your cups without driving your feet into the floor or engaging the quads. It should be a simple pop at the hip forward after a slight bend. 
 
To put the bar back into the rack position you are ideally able to fall a little forward into the cups. Especially on a very heavy squat, this is helpful that you can just take a step forward and dump the bar. This means that if there is only a slither between the j cup and the bar on the walkout you might want to adjust it one down to be able for the bar dump. Otherwise, you will hit the cup and have to get on your toes to get that extra inch when you are already in trouble. 
 
Whichever safety equipment you have available, set it up slightly lower than the lowest point you can squat to. On a failed squat you stay in control to this point and then lean forward to dump the bar on the safeties. Ideally, the distance the bar travels is as small as possible when you exit the squat. Avoid dropping the bar from very high as it is dangerous to you, bystanders and wrecks the equipment. 
 

How to squat in power rack

 
Use the J cups and safeties at all times and know which are the ideal heights for you. The best is to experiment as almost any rack, barbell and athlete combination is unique. Get everything in place and check whether it is locked in. Do your warm-up set with an empty bar and decide for a final adjustment if the environment is new to you. Stay in control of the bar at all times even if you fail. Control means that you stay safe. 
 

Topics: Rogue, TITAN