8 Best Squat Racks with Pull Up Bar | Lifting and Calisthenics Combo!

An age-old debate in the fitness community is whether calisthenics or weight training is better for the body. However, research consistently shows that resistance training of all types is great for a range of health outcomes. That’s why smart exercisers incorporate both weightlifting and bodyweight training into their workouts.

And while each mode of training has its advantages and disadvantages, combining them is a great way to continually build your muscle size and functional strength, and improve your mobility. For this reason, if you’re training at home then a squat rack or power rack with a pull-up bar is the best choice. We’ve selected 8 such models that represent excellent investments in your strength, physique, and overall health!

Top Squat and Power Racks with Pull Up Bar At a Glance

The 5 Best Squat Racks with Pull Up Bar

1. Rogue SML-2 Monster Lite Squat Stand

Despite the best efforts of various brands on the market, Rogue is still the benchmark of quality when it comes to fitness equipment. Their SML-2 Monster Lite squat stand is both the best Rogue has to offer in this segment and the best you can find on the market right now.

The SML-2 is a part of the SML family of racks. The SML-1 is similar but doesn’t feature the pull-up bars, while the SML-3 also comes with two pull up bars but is 108″ tall compared to SML-2’s 90″ of height. Rogue has arguably nailed the perfect combination of features and price for advanced home lifters.

Going with the SML-2 gives you access to a heavy and durable squat rack that features 3″ x 3″ 11-gauge steel uprights and steel base tubes. It’s also worth mentioning that SML-2 comes with a Westside hole pattern and Rogue’s well-known UHMW lined J-cups. This is a US-made rack that’s rated for 1,000 lbs of weight and is a good option if you’re looking to safely lift heavier weights.

The SML-2 features two pull up bars. You have the skinny one for regular pull-ups and the fat bar which can help you develop your grip strength and work on your lats simultaneously.

Rogue has two additional sets of squat racks that are similar to the SML series. There’s the S series which is made of lower gauge steel, and the SM series which features a higher gauge of steel as well as a few other features that make it more durable than the SML. However, SM is considerably more expensive than the S and SML series, especially the SML-2, which is all an average user needs for their home gym.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price at Rogue Fitness

Back to navigation

2. Rep Fitness SR-4000 Squat Rack

REP Fitness is often seen as the main contender to Rogue, and for a good reason. This company is full of value for money products such as the SR-4050 squat rack. REP Fitness may not meet the same levels of build quality as Rogue, but they offer near-peer value at a much lower price point. SR-4050 is a perfect example of what we mean.

This squat rack features 2.5″ x 2.5″ uprights that are made of 11-gauge steel. Compared to our top pick, this rack is using slightly slimmer steel tubing. However, both are rated for over 1,000 lbs making them nearly equal in performance.

Where things really become interesting are the accessories. REP Fitness offers these with 2 rear weight horns included as standard. Not only that, but you’re also getting a pair of spotter bars and band pegs at the bottom as well. All of these features are something Rogue charges extra for. That being said, REP’s SR-4050 lacks the Westside hole pattern. However, that’s a small price to pay for everything else you’re getting.

This squat cage is 94″ tall and features two pull-up bars. You’ve got the 1.25″ diameter slim bar at the bottom and a 2″ fat pull-up bar at the top. Both are easily removable, allowing you to quickly set up the rack however you want.

Overall, SR-4050 is the best bang for the buck value you can find at the moment. This rack is sturdy, durable, and affordable. It doesn’t get much better than that.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price at Rep Fitness

Back to navigation

3. CAP Barbell Power Rack

The options we’ve shown you so far are both aimed at experienced lifters. CAP’s barbell incorrectly named power rack (it’s actually a squat rack / stand) is aimed at a different crowd. This rack is a solid choice for beginners who are just getting started and need a sturdy piece of equipment to use at home. Such demands bring certain implications, though.

For one, it has to be affordable, which CAP’s power / squat rack + pull up bar combo definitely is. You’re looking at an entry-level piece of equipment that’s about as simple as it gets. CAP went with 11-gauge and 12-gauge steel for the uprights and base. Although 12-gauge steel isn’t exactly inspiring confidence in professional power racks, it’s more than sturdy enough for entry-level models like this one. Especially if we take that CAP’s power rack is rated for 500 lbs.

Unlike our previous picks, this rack comes with a single pull up bar at the top. However, as bare bones as it looks, CAP’s Power Rack does come with a pair of weight horns in the rear of the base. Speaking of the base, this model features a 46″ x 50″ footprint and is 85″ high.

If you’re an absolute beginner, this is a solid rack to start with. However, keep in mind that once you start crawling closer to that 500 lbs mark on your squat, you might find this CAP rack less and less adequate.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price on Amazon

Back to navigation

4. X-3 Squat Stand with Pull Up Bar

X-3 by Titan Fitness is a great all-around rack. It’s somewhere between the Rogue and REP models we’ve shown you and could serve as a good alternative in case you can’t find these two models. Titan Fitness pretty much nailed the build quality and design, offering a rock-solid platform for your heavy lifts.

The rack comes in two versions – short and tall. The short one features 72″ uprights while the tall one goes as high as 92″. Speaking of uprights, the ones that come with the X-3 rack are made of 3″ x 3″, 11-gauge steel. Such a rugged choice of tubing has allowed Titan Fitness to rate this rack for 1000 lbs of weight. Overall, the build quality, as well as fit and finish, are all top tier.

As far as features go, you’re not getting much, at least not without opting for a few optional accessories. The rack features a Westside hole pattern in the bench zone, UHMW lined J-hooks, and a standard 1.25″ pull up bar.

Notice how this model does not come with two pull-up bars but only one? That and the fact that it’s priced between REP and Rogue is the reason why X-3 sits so low on our list. Again, this is still a solid rack we absolutely recommend if you can’t get your hands on our top two picks.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price at Titan Fitness

Back to navigation

5. Fringe Sport Garage Series Squat Rack with Pull-Up Bar

Fringe Sports Garage series of racks have been quite popular from the moment they first appeared on the market. Part of the reason why can be found in the amount of value you’re getting for a rather reasonable price. Namely, Fringe Sports has found a good compromise between flagship features and an affordable price tag.

The rack comes with sturdy 2″ x 3″ uprights made of 12-gauge steel tubing. Granted, 12-gauge steel isn’t the optimal option for squat or power racks, but Fringe Sports has found a way to make it work with this model. Considering that the rack is rated for 450 lbs and aimed at beginners or casual users, 12-gauge steel works just fine.

Fringe Sports is one of the rare brands that offers a decent selection of advanced features in their entry to mid-range racks. As a result, the rack you’re looking at here features a Westside hole pattern in the bench zone, two built-in weight horns in the rear of the base, and durable J-cups with the industry standardized UHMW coating.

One place where that affordable side tends to stick out is the pull-up bar. Fringe Sport offers a single 1.25″ diameter pull up bar that has no knurling. That being said, Fringe Sport does offer free shipping on their products as well as a decent warranty. You can also upgrade this rack by purchasing either the safety spotter arms or the dip station, both of which are fairly affordable.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price at Fringe Sport

Back to navigation

3 Best Power Racks with Pull Up Bar

1. Rep Fitness PR-4000 Power Rack

Simply put, the PR-4000 is a feat of engineering. Developed with extreme customizability in mind, this rack is perfect for anyone with very specific lifting requirements and who wants to be able to switch in and out a range of features to create a garage gym centrepiece that’s as unique as they are. The amount of thought and planning that’s gone into this power rack is crazy, and has resulted in a product that can be styled to suit almost any home gym.

Have low ceilings? No problems. You can get 80″ uprights if the 93″ ones are going to be too tall. Need a rack with a compact footprint? That’s fine. The PR-4000 can be built with 24″ crossmembers. Got plenty of space and like to have plenty of room to work? Easy. Get the 30″ or 40″ crossmembers to create 36″ or 47″ of working space respectively. Pretty much any and every attachment Rep make can be swapped in and out. Three types of safeties, spotter arms, stabilizer feet, lat and low row attachment, landmine, band pegs, dip bar and weight horns. Oh, and you can get it made in about 10 different colors.

And the customizability extends to the pull-up station, which is why it’s easily the best power rack with pull-up bar on the market. If you just want something simple, then the no frills, standard 1.25″ bar is familiar and comfortable in the hands. If you want to train your grip to improve crush or pinch strength, or keep your deadlift progressing without having to use an alternate grip, then go with the 2″ fat bar. Alternatively, if you want to take your grip training to extreme levels, the globe grip pull-bar is the option for you. Finally, if you like to train through a range of grips from wide to close, neutral and angled then the multi-grip bars can also be added.

The lifting and calisthenics world is your oyster with the PR-4000, and when stacked up against comparable competitor racks, the price is very reasonable.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price at Rep Fitness

Back to navigation

2. Rogue RML-3 Power Rack

As the lifting industry moves toward a 3″ x 3″ standard for power rack tubing, Rogue will be phasing out their 2″ x 3″ infinity line. The RML-3 power rack is almost certainly the company’s move to get ahead of that and have a legitimate replacement for their R-3 rack, which is still their most popular (and a very good rack at that). All said and done, they’ve done a fantastic job with this Monster Lite power rack.

If you’re after unrivalled, American-made quality then the RML-3 is for you. With its 5/8″ hardware, included pin & pipe safeties and UHMW-lined J-cups, and competitive price tag it’s arguably the best value weight rack on the market. Moreover, if you’re pressed for space in your home or garage gym, the RML-3 is one of the most compact racks too. While it does stand roughly 90.4″ tall, which is too tall for rooms with low ceilings, you can have the uprights custom cut to be shorter with a quick email to Rogue’s outstanding customer service.

As with much of the Monster Lite line, the RML-3 comes with both a fat and skinny pull-up bar, which is what makes this a top-rated power rack with pull up bar. Do regular pulls with the skinny (1.25″) bar or train your grip with the fat (2″) bar.

While it’s an amazing piece of equipment, the RML-3 loses out to the Rep PR-4000 rack for a couple of reasons. First, customizing it makes it very very expensive. Adding strap safeties, spotter arms for working outside the rack, and a lat pulldown attachment (plate-loaded slinger kit) causes the price to almost double. Second, the rack really needs to be bolted down. Ideally, you’d bolt into the floor with concrete anchors or a platform with lags however this isn’t possible for everyone. Using this rack without securing it can be dangerous and may cause the legs to splay outwards. If you can’t drill into your floor, you can get a wall mount attachment, but this is an additional cost.

That said, its flaws are mitigated by its sheer quality and durability. It also has Rogue’s usual limited lifetime warranty, so you can rest assured that it will last longer than you if treated with respect.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price at Rogue Fitness

Back to navigation

3. Rep Fitness PR1100 Power Rack

For those wanting a no frills power rack that has a good range of pull-up options and won’t break the bank, the PR-1100 is the best you can get. This is one of Rep’s most popular power racks, and for good reason. It appeals to the budget crowd, coming in at less than $250. It has all the basics needed for good quality barbell training, and is flat-footed so it doesn’t need to be bolted.

Yes, it’s missing some of the features of higher-end racks, which is to be expected. It has pin safeties, which aren’t great for preserving the knurling on your bar if you fail a lift. The uprights have 3″ hole spacing, meaning you may not be able to find that sweet spot for your j-cups, especially when benching. The PR-1100 also has some awkward dimensions: It’s relatively deep and short. So, while it may fit in rooms with lower ceilings, you may find that its footprint is too big for compact home gyms. On the height, the top of the pull up bars reaches just 83″. So, if you’re a taller user, you may find you have to bend your legs when doing pulls and chins.

On that note however, this rack comes with a multi-grip pull-up arch that allows for standard pulls, fat grip pulls, angled wide-grip pulls, and neutral pulls. It’s a fantastic pull-up station that definitively sets this rack apart from other budget power racks.

If you’re not planning to lift super heavy, or dop kipping pull ups, then the PR-1100 is about the best low-cost power rack with pull-up bar you can get.

The Good

The Not So Good

Check Current Price at Rep Fitness

Back to navigation

Should You Get a Squat Rack with Pull Up Bar?

Squats are known as the “king of exercises”. They’re the best movement for developing size, strength, and power in your quadriceps and posterior chain. And if squats are the king then pull-ups are surely the queen. This demanding compound exercise hits most, if not all, of the major muscle groups in the upper body and stimulates even growth across your back, shoulders and arms. Getting a good power rack or squat rack with a pull-up bar is arguably the best way to enjoy the benefits of this awesome bodyweight exercise, all while being able to safely perform your barbell squats. You’ll truly be training with exercise royalty.

Plus, if you’re a CrossFitter and do everything from the CrossFit barbell exercises to the kipping pull-ups, you’ll want a rig that accommodates it all.

Back to navigation

Choosing the Right Squat or Power Rack with Pull Up Bar

Finding the right squat or power rack for your needs comes down to recognizing a few important factors. You should have a clear picture of:

• How much space you have available for the rack and accessories
• What type of exercises you plan on doing; and
• What features you feel are necessary to get the results you need

How Much Space Can You Spare?

Space can often be a hot commodity in a home gym, especially if you live in an apartment building. Fortunately for everyone, squat stands and power racks come in different sizes. Some have larger footprints while others are much more compact.

The key is to be realistic when determining how much space you can give up. Don’t rely strictly on the dimensions of the rack to tell you how much space you’ll need to give up. You also have to leave a few feet around the rack which you’ll use to move around and load or unload the rack.

What Exercises Are you Planning on Doing?

Although it’s called a “squat” rack, some of the models we’ve listed above allow you to do much more than just barbell squats. The types of exercises you plan on performing can dictate the type of rack you should get.

For instance, if you plan on bench pressing at home, you should get a rack that features a Westside hole pattern. Additionally, if you might also look into a rack that comes with safety bars included.

What Features Do You Need?

No matter what anyone says, features are an important factor when selecting the right rack. One glance at our list of 8 top-rated squat and power racks reveals that some products come stacked with features while others barely have any.

Sit down and figure out what you can and can’t go without. Depending on your must-have features, some of the racks won’t make your shortlist.

Back to navigation

Frequently Asked Questions About Power / Squat Rack & Pull Up Combos

Not only do we at The Home Fit Freak write on all things health and fitness, we’re avid exercisers ourselves. We use various pieces of exercise equipment daily, and we’re active in the various fitness communities. As such, we see a lot of questions coming up regularly, especially in regard to squat racks and power racks, including those with pull-up combinations. Here are our responses to the most commonly asked questions we’ve encountered.

Are squat racks with pull-up bars safe?

The short answer is yes. Squat racks and power racks with pull up bars are made specifically for safely squatting in (and doing pull ups on, obviously), so the equipment itself is rarely where the risk lies. More often than not it’s user error that leads to dangerous situations and injuries.

Some of the common issues are:

• Not bolting the rack to the floor or wall: This applies to racks like the RML-3 that are made to be bolted down. Flat-footed racks are generally more stable due to the width of their base. Leaving a rack unbolted is asking for trouble. If you bail on a lift, the rack can topple. Also, if you do pull-ups (especially the kipping variety) the rack may wobble and move and risk toppling or causing damage to your floor, walls, or other home gym equipment.
• Not using spotter arms: If you’re suing a squat stand, then you MUST use safety spotter arms if you’re lifting anywhere above about 60% of your one rep maximum. Most power racks come with pin and pipe safeties, so make sure you’re using them when working inside the rack. If working on the outside, get some spotter arms. Even when you have them, ensure you have closely checked they are at the right height for you. They should be just above the bottom of your lift range of movement (e.g., just before the bar hits your chest on a bench, and at the bottom of your squat).
• You’re using incorrect lifting technique: Poor technique when lifting is easily the biggest cause of injury in the weight room. Let’s explore how to squat and how to do pull-ups correctly.

How to squat correctly

This squat technique is for barbell back squats (because you’re looking at squat racks, after all). It comes from Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength (a book known in the strength training community as the Barbell Bible).

The Stance:

• Your feet should be shoulder width apart, with the toes pointing out at about 30 degrees.
• You should be flat-footed and balanced

Position of the Barbell

• Always unrack the bar while facing it
• Take an even grip on the bar using a width that’s comfortable for you given your shoulder width and flexibility.
• Your thumbs should go over the bar so that your wrist can sit straight; there should be no wrist flexion and your wrists should not take any of the weight of the bar.
• The bar should sit across the back, sitting just below the bone at the top of the shoulder blades. It should feel like it’s sitting on a shelf under the traps, and on top of the posterior deltoid muscles.
• Step away from the rack. This is always how you should rack and unrack the bar. You walk forward to rack, and take on step backwards to unrack.

The Movement

• Your gaze should be on a spot on the floor about 4 – 5 feet in front of you. Do not look directly forward, and certainly not towards the ceiling.
• With your stance solid, take a deep breath and lower yourself down ensuring you’re forcing your knees to stay out above your feet (don’t let them buckle inward).
• The bottom of the movement is when the tops, not the bottoms,
• Once you’ve hit the bottom, immediately drive your hips up. A good way to visualize this is to imagine a chain hooked up to your hips pulling you straight up.
• Let the breath out at the top, take another big one and repeat.

Watch this instructional video from Mark Rippetoe for a visual demonstration.

How to Do a Pull Up

Pull ups are less complex than squats, but still require good form to recruit muscles correctly. This instruction is taken from Steven Low’s Overcoming Gravity, which is known as the Bodyweight Bible.

• Your grip on the bar for a normal pull up should be about shoulder width. Varying the grip width will alter the mechanics and recruit different portions of the working muscles (lats, deltoids, biceps, etc.)
• Starting from a dead hang, tense your core muscles and entire shoulder girdle. This will help transmit the force needed to lift your body
• Drive your elbows towards and past your sides until your chin clears the bar.
• Aim to get your collar bones to the bar without craning your neck.
• Keep your elbows relatively narrow and moving close to your body. You don’t want them going wide (splaying outwards).
• In a controlled manner, lower yourself back to a dead hang and repeat the movement

Check out this video tutorial for a good demonstration of pull up form.

Do you need a squat rack to squat?

If you’re going to be doing barbell squats, then yes you need a squat rack or power rack to be able to do them safely. Without a rack, you would have to clean the bar into a position to be able to squat, which risks a heap of different injuries. You’ll also be limited in the amount of weight you can squat, because there’s only so much you’ll be able to clean, and it will be way less than your max squat weight.

Don’t be silly. Get a rack or head down to a gym if you’re going to do barbell squats. Bodyweight squats do not require a rack.

How do you keep your squat rack from moving?

The best option is to bolt it to the floor. Many squat racks and power racks are built to be bolted down or into the wall. However, some racks do not have this option or it’s not feasible (e.g., you live in an apartment or rental property). In this instance you have a couple of options:

1. Place something heavy on the base of the rack. This works best with squat racks because the base is almost always flat on the ground. Using 50 lb sandbags is ideal.
2. Get some weight horns, and have your weight plates stored on the rack. This adds considerable weight and stability to the rack.

Who makes the best squat racks?

In our opinion, here are your best squat rack and power rack makers:

• Rogue Fitness
• EliteFTS
• Rep Fitness
• Titan Fitness
• Fringe Sport
• ForceUSA

Back to navigation

---

Well, there you have it: The Best Squat Racks with Pull Up Bar.

We’ve put together a list of models that we feel meet the needs of an average user. That being said, we did our best to create a diverse selection of racks ranging from affordable to top tier models.

No matter which rack you go with on either end of the spectrum, you’ll get a reliable and durable piece of home gym equipment. That much is for sure!