Power Rack Training

Edited by Dario Mirra

Introduction

The power rack is a tool invented in the 40s; can be considered one of the most valuable allies of the weight lifter, brilliant in its simplicity as it consists of 4 vertical metal beams, parallel to each other

to form a parallelepiped, and perforated, to insert bars that can be positioned at different heights, and that go to make up a cage inside which a balance can be placed, which will flow inside without trajectory constraints.

Use a power rack

The power rack is such a trivial machine that it seems useless; in fact, I challenge anyone to go to one of the classic commercial gyms and find one. But those who have never tried it or never had the need to use it means that they have never trained seriously with weights.

Why the power rack?

My explanations regarding the validity of this tool are summarized in the following points:

1. SAFETY - the need to push repetitions to the maximum in each series is essential for those looking to make the most of their training. Needless to say, to get to the end we will have such a high fatigue situation, that having that "piece of metal" can be our salvation, under a heavy tiredness it is easy to drop a barbell, to feel that your hands open little by little, that the barbell despite our efforts just can't get any higher; in such circumstances our power rack is an indispensable aid.
2. TRAINING AT THE SALE - by connecting to step one, it is easy to understand that by training in failure safety can be jeopardized, so having the bars of our power rack to give us support and a base on which to leave our barbell can help push the our work-out to the limit, giving us the security we need to focus on the load and not on what could happen.
3. PARTIAL WORKING EXCURSIONS - the power rack with its perforated axes allows insertion of these bars to perform partial work. Conventionally the excursion of each exercise is divided into three zones, namely low, central and high. To mark the three heights we will use two bars, one positioned in the upper part of the movement and the other in the lower part, so as to create a bound work excursion. Take for example the horizontal bench with the barbell, place the bench in the rack and place a bar at chest height, taking measurements with the chest in inhalation and maximum expansion, here we will position the low bar, the other we could position it using as reference the height that reaches the balance when the humeri are parallel to the floor. As for the central position, we will have the low bar positioned as the high bar of the previous position, instead the high bar, will be placed at 10-15 cm from the complete extension of the arm. The high position instead will include what is the remaining trajectory. Working with these partial excursions and trying to push to the maximum on each one, it will be easier to overcome the sticking point or the corners where it is more difficult to overcome the load, thus training the positions where it is possible to give less force to the barbell.
4. STARTING FROM THE LOW POSITION - when training with weights it is usual to start working with the eccentric phase of the movement, perhaps most people do it without realizing it, but the fact of starting the series in this way allows us to use more load, since in the eccentric phase elastic energy is accumulated which will then be returned in the subsequent concentric phase. From here we try to position the safety bar at chest level with an expanded thoracic cage and in inspiration we place the barbell on it and begin our series from the concentric phase. Try to believe, the force falls in a frightening way, also to move the barbell from this position it will be necessary to give a much higher acceleration than the one normally imprinted by accumulating the elastic energy of the eccentric phase.
5. ISOMETRY TO THE SALE - always taking advantage of our horizontal bench with barbell and positioning 2 bars, one in the low position and another at a height that we want "X", we will perform repetitions within this excursion; at the end of this we will work in isometry against the bar positioned high up to failure, or for a few seconds to then continue to throw down some other repetition.
6. INTERRUPTED SERIES - another technique where the power rack can be useful is that of the interrupted series. We always start from the chest position of the barbell, we perform a repetition, at the end of the eccentric phase we place the barbell on the board, we recover a few seconds, grind another repetition and then rest again, until we reach the number of repetitions that we had set.

Conclusions

For anyone who wants to train seriously, the power rack is an indispensable tool needed to understand where their limits are and to go beyond them; furthermore, the reasons and methods listed above regarding the versatility and the usefulness of this tool I hope have intrigued the novice to the use of this machine, and that they have also teased the athlete who entered his job, using some technique of intensity before quoted so as to include it in your work-out.