Steelbody Squat Rack Utility Trainer with Weight Storage Posts STB-98010

I bought this because I’m nearing 50, and want to be able to do calisthenics into my later years to stay healthy. I’ve not been able to do a pullup since I was a teen, and dips since I was in my twenties. Office work and bad eating for twenty years transformed my body. I started six months ago by simply walking, jogging, and lifting light weights—then to pushups and squats. Having lost about twenty pounds and a bit of strength back, I kept thinking of how I can set myself up to avoid injury and continue to strengthen without having a gym membership or massive footprint in my house. I could not have made a better choice in a power tower. It’s built well, taller than most alternatives on the market, and very well designed for what I need it to do. Pull-ups: I still can’t do them. But I bought straps and single handed grips to dangle from the top support, and I use these to perform Australian rows. I also set the dip bars at the bottom so I can step on them to perform negatives—as slowly as possible descending from the top of the pull-up to the ground. These are brutally hard. I do dead hangs, first passively then onto active dead hangs and scapular retractions, hanging from the pull-up bar. I’m getting pretty close to that pull up now. In short this has been a game changer in my workout routine, and I can’t praise it enough. The welds are well done, the padding is quality and the instructions were sufficient. I will likely buy more from this series in the future. One thing I’d do differently on assembly instructions is to assemble the foam roller pads at the bottom of the center vertical bar (for backrest) prior to installing the vertical bar. Trying to get those very tight cylindrical foam pads onto the bar after assembly required a workout in and of itself—and a few choice words.

Overall, this is one of the more impressive values that I have ever purchased on Amazon. - Very sturdy and stable. Little shaking and no creaking as I do pull-ups, even at 220 lbs. - Pull-up handles are at the right height and the right width apart. - Both the pull-up and dip-handles are the right diameter and the grip feels commercial grade. - The "V" between the handles makes closed-grip chin-ups possible; this is a surprisingly uncommon feature in my research. - Materials are robust. I see very little evidence of skimping to save cost. - Construction is carefully thought-out; everything makes sense. - Pads seem solid quality. - Parts are easy to identify, including the small ones which are numbered in the packaging. One nit: the assembly instructions are heavy on images and iconography with not much text. As a result, they are hard to follow in two particular spots, leading to mistakes that I made. With that said, I caught and fixed them quite quickly; assembly took about 2 hours.

I did a lot of research on these towers. They range from $160-$1000+ I didn't want to spend $1000, but I also didn't want one that is flimsy. I used my friend's Weider build and it was very flimsy and cost around $200. This one does not move at all, is very sturdy and only $300. I weigh 220 and it does flex when I do dips or pullups. The only issue I have would be the backrest for the leg lifts, it is a bit too upright. It is manageable but could have been designed a bit differently. This unit is tall, the pullup bar is almost out of reach for me, (6 feet tall) but I realized that the bar-dip poles are used in the lower holes to create steps. This allows for full reach pullups. This thing weighs over a hundred pounds, so free shipping and heavy-duty for $300, great deal and quality.

I don't normally leave reviews but I'm so impressed with this thing. It's powder coated steel, super solid, easy to assemble, nice looking, doesn't wobble and is high enough and sturdy enough for a guy like me who is 6' 4", 215lb. I bought it for my son, who was using a door mounted pullup bar and ruining all our door frames. I'd been searching around for something like this and I'm so glad I bought this one. I put it together by myself. It took me an hour or two, but was kind of fun. The directions were clear and the only tool I used besides the included allen wrenches was a socket wrench. The pull-up bar is just in reach for me so I don't need to bend my knees much on pull-ups. If you're not so tall, you might need a step stool to grab the bar because I don't think you can lower it. The pull-up bar has 3 grips, so you can do different types of pullups. Then there's leg lift contraption, which is great! My wife uses it for leg lifts. And the dip bars are there for people who can do dips. I can't tell you now sturdy this is. You kind of expect something like this to wobble a bit, especially when you're as big as me, but it doesn't move. It's rock solid. And if it did move, like maybe if you're 300 lbs, you can bolt it into the floor through the holes at the base. I'm so impressed. Kudos to he manufacturer! My only word of warning is the box that it ships in is giant and heavy and UPS just left it on our driveway. We moved it inside before unboxing it and that was a mistake. I'd recommend taking it out of the box first and moving it piece by piece to your basement or wherever you plan to assemble it. Otherwise, if you try to move the whole box inside you might break your back. I'm telling you, this thing is solid and heavy.

Purchased in Dec 2020. Speaking to some of the issues / concerns raised by previous reviewers. I'll also compare it to my Apex (Canadian Tire branded) power tower which is the same as the Marcy power tower with flip up arms and also compare this to my Northern Lights dip/push up station. 1) Mine came with the thin bar for band work that sits below the pull up bar 2) Tighten only when it says to. Note the problem of alignment posted by VK Oct 2020 re the side plates not aligning. If you look at their picture you see the main post bolts tightened down. I made the same mistake. Don't tighten until the side plates are mounted and bolts put through all the holes on both sides and nuts hand tightened. Then tighten everything and viola, no alignment issues and a noticeable rigidity improvement. 3) Shipping. Ordered the 1st and received the 9th, a day before scheduled. 4) Packaging. No concerns. I'll assume packaging has improved because everything was hermetically sealed tight. The small parts, nuts and bolts, were not only vacuum sealed but also wrapped in another strong plastic package. Nothing was getting out. The box was smartly packaged, lots of packing and everything wrapped and sealed. No scratches, rips, rends or tears. Mint. 5) Assembly. Easy. Read the instructions first, note when to tighten and more importantly when not to tighten. It will be surprising how far you go in the build before cranking down but it makes a difference as noted previously. 5) Stability: like a tank. It does not move, shimmy or shake - IF you follow the instructions. I’m over 250 lbs and no issues. 6) Dimensions: Slim profile despite its looks but the bars for dips and push ups are a bit wider than my current dip station which also has a push up bar. So I will keep both, vary my workouts and the way the muscles are hit. But it is noteworthy that this is wider than my Northern Lights dip station. 7) The captains chair, Love it. You fit in tight and your arms don't slide off, as I do in the Apex (Marcy) power tower (with flip up arms) that I also own. On the Apex I found I had to dig in my arms and concentrate as much on holding my arms in and staying up there as on the exercise. With the Steelbody you are locked into position and no concerns about arms. 8) Dip/push up bars. Love them. The bars are thicker than the Northern lights so you get to build grip strength. Thick fat grips or a thick pull up bar. The bars are wider apart so you hit muscles in a different way there as well. 9) Pull up bar. Nice. Good grip, not too thick, normal thickness. I like the cover, grippy. Bolt in correctly or you will feel a bit of give. Tried it without an assistance band. No concerns. I like this more than the Apex because the Apex always felt like you were too close to the main post. TBF that is because my form on pull ups is terrible. YMMV 10) Sit up. I don't use this attachment but I noticed it could be high enough and the tower stable and heavy enough to do negative Nordic curls. YMMV. 11) Other. I added a functional trainer cable set up dead centre in tower using the main cross beam below the pull up bar. Not the thin bar for band work, the thicker rectangular support crossbar. High enough and long enough to put to the side when I want to use the captain's chair and never in the way of push ups, pull ups, dips, Nordics etc. I had this previously attached to the Apex but this is far more solid and doesn’t hit the tower. I've tried a max of 90 pounds no issues. No wonder, given this rack is good for over 300. In conclusion, a great solid addition to my home gym. I’m huge into body weight exercises and this will last me forever. This was one of the halo pieces I looked at in January but found the price locally too high (over $700 before taxes and shipping) and was considering a power rack instead. This is a much better product for my needs, esp. at the price I got it for here (under $500 all in). It fits well into my spare bedroom home gym without taking up too much space. Measured bar distance for dips and push ups. See below for reference: Steelbody 25 inches Marcy / Apex power tower 24 inches Northen Lights dip station with push up station 20 inches

Well made and sturdy. I bought this one mainly because of the bicep curl section in the pull-up bar (which many towers don't have) and the easy adjustable push up bar changes. The back rest pad for doing leg raises supports your lower back well, better than the one at my gym. This isn't some flimsy light weight tower, unassembled in the box it is well over 90 pounds, and the box is nearly the height of the tower in length. So be prepared when it gets delivered.

Took quite a while to receive, but the wait was worth it. Easy to assemble, very sturdy and stable. Not even shaking a bit even if you wait more than 200lbs. Very good product for the price.

I probably would’ve given this a 5 star rating BUT ... it appears the holes of the frame and the plate (to add sturdiness to the joint), did not line up properly. 4 bolts couldn’t be installed to lock the plate down. Shame. Everything was going well up until that point. I think it’ll fine without them but, I get irritated when I find parts don’t mesh well together.

Very stable for the price point. I've bought others this year for half the price and this definitely work the the extra $250 to get something that will last. Sold thick steel frames. Almost seams like professional gym equipment caliber.