Squat Rack Attached Pulley Systems

Over the past month we’ve beeen talking about all of the different kinds of cable machines. This is our 4th out of 5 installments, and next week we will do a post comparing all of them and providing guidance on which one to choose. This week we will only talk about the squat rack attached pulleys systems (not if you should choose this over a lat pulldown machine, for example)

What is a squat rack attached pulley system? There are two main types:
1) plate loaded attachment (photos 4-6)
2) selectorized plate stack (photos 1-3)
Both of these styles can have two different configurations:
A. one pulley system in the middle of the rack
B. one pulley system on each side of the rack (two total pulley systems)

Let’s start off this review by saying we at JEV have absolutely no experience with the option 2) selecotrized plate stack. Instead of us giving you only half good advice, we will not cover that in this review and instead here’s a couple of links to reviews from an industry leaders.

https://www.garagegymreviews.com/rep-fitness-athena-review

http://www.home-gym-bodybuilding.com/ironmaster-cable-tower-attachment-review.html

In the section below, we have some considerations that are applicable regardless of if you go with option 1) or option 2). These are important points to consider. If you’ve read the links above, and the three points below, and you’ve decide you want to go with option 1, what would JEV recommend you do?

Whenever possible, I recommend going for a pulley system on each side as long as space and budget can allow it. This allows you more exercise options as well as less need to change the weight setup when switching between exercises. This is especially important since with option 1) you are manually taking plates on and off. I would lean towards one like picture #4, where each pulley is within the rack, as opposed to picture #5 where the pulleys are farther out from the rack. There is no real benefit to having them further out so it ends up being a bit of a waste of space (although it is is generally cheaper).

There are three main considerations (in my opinion) that are applicable to both option 1) and option 2). They are:

1) How do you want to change the resistance? These machines can be either plate loaded or selectorized (meaning there is a weight stack with a pin that you can use to select the amount of resistance). Simply put, selectorized is much more efficient and easier to work with, however, it is MUCH more expensive. My opinion: if this is a machine you plan to use a lot and you have a high budget, there is no reason to buy a plate loaded one. That being said, for ~90% of home gyms, the plate loaded is generally a good option as you can use your barbell plates for it, and you can go up in as small of increments as you’d like.

2) The weight ratio. Depending on the way the pulleys are configured, there is a different ratio. E.g., if it has a 2:1 ratio, that means that for each pound you load on the machine you will only feel 0.5 pounds of resistance. There is not really one better than the other, just something to keep in mind

3) How much resistance do you want to be able to have? To point #2 above, weight and resistance are not always the same on these. So, see what the max resistance of the machine is. Will that be enough for you and your strength goals? Something to keep in mind.