15 Best Power Rack Accessories & Attachments

The best power rack accessories can turn your power rack into a complete home gym – adding value, safety, options, and getting good value for money.

For each accessory, I have provided links to Rogue Fitness (for those with Rogue racks) and to the Amazon category page.

1. Spotter Arms

spotter arms

Spotter arms are the most important and essential way to improve your training.

They offer you the chance to lift as heavy as possible without worrying about dropping the bar on the floor. This means safety for you and reducing the risk of damage to things like floors, plates, and bars.

The spotter arms will catch a barbell if you miss a lift, their number one role.

It means you don’t risk getting squished or having an embarrassing bailout – which can be a disaster for your equipment if you don’t have rubberized bumper plates.

Equally, spotter arms let you practice some excellent exercises like pin squats, pin presses, and rack pulls.

These can be performed in the rack or outside, depending on whether you’re getting internal spotter arms or the classic squat rack style external spotter arms.

Spotter arms are useful for everyone – and the only reason you wouldn’t want to buy them is because you already have a set.

There’s no way around it; you need to ensure you’re safe when lifting. Using spotter arms or internal safety pins helps you take care of your equipment and body, giving you the best chance to get the most out of your training in both safety and versatility.

The Good
  • May save you from injury
  • Prevents equipment damage if you fail a lift
  • Great way to open up more training options across a variety of exercises
  • Essential purchase for just about everyone
The Bad
  • They cost money – which is an important factor
  • External spotter arms are less efficient and economical than internal spotter arms or safety pins

2. J-Hooks

j-hooks

J-hooks are the cups that hold the barbell in a squat rack, power rack, and power cage.

They provide a comfortable and efficient way to change your barbell height for different exercises and the vital function of being able to hold the barbell on the rack.

Good J-hooks can hold the bar with minimum movement without causing unnecessary damage to your expensive weight training equipment.

The best design is a rounded cup, specifically preventing the barbell from rolling along the j-hook itself, which may damage the fine knurling on the bar.

This is even more important when we look at materials. For example, good J-hooks are rubberized to prevent metal-on-metal contact, which may occur when moving the bar.

Combined with the full cup design mentioned above, this can do a lot to keep your bar safe while letting you easily adjust your setup.

Finally, at the premium end, some J-hooks include barbell rollers. These further reduce the risk of metal contact and let you move the bar sideways comfortably without causing damage to knurling or rubber in the J-hook itself.

Again, this is typically an expensive choice – but offers excellent long-term economy as your bar and rack both stay healthy and happy during use.

J-hooks are an essential part of owning a power rack – but getting the right ones is balancing up budget and features. You can always adjust j-hooks over time since they can be removed and replaced. 

You need J-hooks, and ideally, the best quality and features you can afford at your budget!

The Good
  • Makes a power rack work
  • Improves the efficiency of training and exercise-setup
  • Premium products and features can improve the longevity of your equipment
The Bad
  • Many premium features do come in at higher price points

3. Safety Straps

safety straps

Safety straps are a common way to get better “strength in depth” with your safety choices.

They provide an alternative to safety pins and spotter arms for ‘catching’ weights that you missed – and are often favored by really heavy lifters.

As a result, you’ll see many safety straps in super-heavy powerlifting training sessions.

These are a great choice for reducing the risk of barbell damage and providing better total shock absorption.

Safety arms can and do fail. Their rigidity is great but often involves producing some unwanted forces elsewhere in the rack. This could be as simple as the bar bouncing off of them if you fail a squat from a relatively high position.

Safety straps, by contrast, absorb more shock and take out the momentum as they pull taut.

The improved shock absorption and softer materials drastically improve the safety of your barbells and rack if you do have to fail a weight.

You can get safety straps in both internal point-to-point formats (just like safety pins) or as a set of straps that drop down from the top of the power rack. These are both good options and can be used for “pin” squats or benches, just like their more-rigid alternative.

The safety straps are a great choice if you’re building a bespoke power rack and want to give your own expensive barbell the best care if you miss a lift. It’s also a great way to double up on safety – but we’d not take the spotter arms or safety pins off just because of the straps.

Straps are an extra cost, but they also provide peace of mind and better longevity for your equipment. They’re not a must-have (especially in smaller or beginner home gym setups), but they do add real value over the years.

The Good
  • Better barbell safety when missing a lift
  • Reduces shock and metal-on-metal contact that might damage barbells
  • Very safe and reduces bouncing, reducing total injury risk
  • Can be used for just about anything you’d use a safety pin or spotter arm for
  • Extra layers of safety are never bad
The Bad
  • May feel less stable for pin exercises
  • Does incur extra cost over most ‘stock’ spotter arms and safety pins

4. Monolift

monolift

The Monolift attachment is a lever-action set of J hooks that are popular in elite powerlifting circles as a way to squat without having to walk super-heavy weights out of the rack.

For some powerlifting circles, this is how they compete – making it an important addition.

A second person can operate the Monolift to remove the hooks so that the bar can be squatted from the rack in a tighter position. Think of it like the “hand-off” a spotter might give you during a bench press – letting you focus on the important task of lifting the weight.

Monolift attachments are popular since they don’t take anything away from the rack and add some niche, but highly useful, features.

Monolift attachments can also be used as standard J-hooks and – like safety straps – are a great choice if you’re building your own rack and don’t already have J-hooks as standard.

The Monolift is particularly useful in geared powerlifting, where multiply squat suits and briefs can make the walk-out process particularly daunting.

The weights are heavier, and the suit or briefs can be very uncomfortable to step in – making a Monolift somewhere between ‘convenient’ and ‘essential’ depending on who you ask.

The Monolift is a niche piece of equipment that can be added onto some racks – but won’t find favor with most users. The walk-out isn’t that difficult and, crucially, is something you should be training if you’re a normal lifter just trying to get stronger and fitter.

While the Monolift is considered essential in some circles, it’s a price bump that needs to be based on your own training goals and access to a second person to operate the lever!

The Good
  • A great addition for better function
  • Doesn’t require removing any other important items – can be locked in the “up” position
  • Expands training options for suited lifters in particular
  • Offers a strong alternative to J-hooks for many purposes (in bespoke racks)
The Bad
  • Does require a second person to operate
  • Doesn’t really improve training options for raw lifting
  • Expensive addition if you’re not looking to compete in equipped powerlifting

5. Half Rack Extension/Conversion Kit

rogue half rack

The half rack extension kit is a simple way to double up the outside of your rack as a half rack, often adding a whole extra set of J-hooks and safety pins on the outside of an existing power rack.

This makes it a great way to double up on the value of your existing equipment with only a few small additions – and a great saving.

This can be useful for changing the training options you have available and making your home gym suitable for two users at the same time. For example, if your significant other is training, you can both squat – one inside, one in the half rack – to reduce inconvenient congestion.

Half rack extensions are also great for exercises like lunges or overhead press, which can be difficult inside a power rack – depending on the specs.

The main benefit is, of course, more lifting stations at a huge price-chop, giving you the best options without the expense.

Adding a half-rack extension is one of the best-looking ways and most functionally-useful ways to add more spaces and stations to your home gym.

It doesn’t always make the best use of the money in single-person homes or gyms but expands on your training options in some good ways.

What really shines is the ability to save tons of money over buying a second power rack or squat rack – an essential saving for expanding your home gym!

The Good
  • An easy way to add more lifting stations to your home gym
  • Great for multiple users in a single home gym
  • Offers some interesting extra training options
  • Increases the footprint and stability of your power rack
The Bad
  • Does add extra expense
  • Increases the footprint and space-demand of your power rack
  • May not be economical for a single person if the power rack is big enough (internally)

If you are looking for a half rack from the get-go, then check out the most popular article on our site – Best Half Racks for Your Home Gym.


6. Lat Pulldown

rogue slinger lat pulldown

The lat pulldown attachment is an amazing choice for improving the quality and versatility of your power rack training options.

It lets you perform plate- or stack-loaded cable exercises – and often includes a low pulley attachment and an overhead one.

The lat pulldown attachment is a perfect choice for a power rack as it rounds out the training options you have available. With a power rack and plates and a cable pulley machine, you can hit just about every muscle in the body and open up a ton of popular and effective movements.

This is particularly useful for the rear delts, muscles of the upper back, and even building better core strength.

The lat pulldown attachment is also one of the most economical, with a wide range of quality and feature offerings. We’ve done a full review of power rack lat pulldown attachments before, but the important thing to remember is that this is one of the best ways to improve your training – and it’s a very worthwhile investment!

The Lat Pulldown power rack attachment is a huge winner for economy, value, and training effect. It offers you some of the best benefits at the best price. The stack-loaded options are a significant investment for one of the most commercial home gym experiences possible.

Look out for the Rogue monster rack lat pulldown attachment, in particular, if you want the complete commercial experience at home!

The Good
  • Massive expansion to the ways you can train
  • Perfect combination with the power rack for the best training results
  • One of the best economic choices for the price-to-results ratio
The Bad
  • May not be the best use of your money if you have specific training goals
  • Does cost money on top of the normal power rack choice
  • Best options are stack-loaded and quite expensive (even though we recommend them!)

Find the right power rack with a lat pulldown right from the start, with our Best Power Racks with Lat Pulldown Buying Guide.


7. Landmine

rogue monster landmine

The landmine attachment is a lever option that can be added to a power rack that accepts a barbell.

Check out our review of the Rogue Landmine 2.0.

It can be used in a significant variety of exercises with a completely different force angle. This also lets you open up a ton of core exercises like landmine rotations that are hard to replicate with any other equipment.

Like the lat pulldown attachment, the landmine is a fantastic way to get bang for your buck.

It’s a great way to improve your home gym without paying a significant amount of money. It’s one of the best options on the market for getting more value from less spend.

The landmine attachment has been a powerful choice for home gyms in particular due to the fantastic way to expand training options in a small space, with minimal cost, and using the barbell and plates you already have at home.

The landmine attachment might be the best power rack attachment on the market for most home gyms. It’s one of the least expensive and most powerful ways to get more training options from the equipment you already own.

It adds almost everything the power rack lacks and does it at a great price using a bar and plates – the stuff you need to buy anyway.

The Good
  • One of the best ways to save money and improve training options
  • Amazing variety of exercises to add
  • Uses existing weight training options from your home gym
  • Lever-angles are perfect for a wide range of exercises you just can’t get anywhere else
  • Revolutionizes some popular choices – like the landmine row, landmine press, or core exercises
The Bad
  • Does cost extra money compared to a power rack without a landmine attachment
  • No other cons – it’s a wonderful choice

8. Pull-Up Bar

best power rack attachment - pull up bar

The pull-up bar is standard on many power racks, but you can buy upgraded and better versions.

The more handles and angles you have available, the more pull-up training options. This makes the pull-up bar a great power rack attachment.

In particular, look for pull-up bars with 45-degree bars for some of the absolute best training options. You can also get neutral-grip bars that offer an excellent alternative for lower shoulder stress and better bicep training.

The pull-up bar is a common feature, but an upgraded version may be one of the best investments to round out your physique.

Like the lat pulldown attachment, it hits the areas that a normal power rack just can’t, offering a well-rounded physique development at a low price.

There’s a good chance your power rack comes with a pull-up bar. If not, it’s a fantastic option to get more from your training and develop a better all-around training.

It’s a perfect place to start and a great place to hang your gymnastic rings if you’re still working on getting your first pull-up!

The Good
  • Great way to expand training options
  • Offers some of the best upper back training around
  • Can be used for better core exercise like hanging knee tucks
  • Great economy play – and comes standard with some power racks
The Bad
  • Does come standard, so an upgrade may be an unwanted extra cost
  • Some pull-up bars don’t offer the best neutral and 45-degree handle

9. Band Pegs

band pegs

Band pegs let you use resistance bands to change up your training and get a different workout. This is perfect for sports but also for developing speed and power – the bands add extra resistance at the ‘easiest’ part of the lift to make the difficulty continuous.

Band pegs are the most convenient and efficient way of using this kind of training. People without band pegs typically use dumbbells. This is a far more difficult and “fiddly” way of setting up band resistance.

Band pegs are a small and inexpensive addition that can really help get the most from your bench, squat, and deadlift training. It’s a small investment and easy to add in aftermarket parts, making it a popular choice for building on top of an existing home gym power rack.

Band pegs are good – and very worthwhile if they fit the kind of training you want to do. Most people could make serious gains just by adding bands to their training once a week, and band pegs let you do that at a low cost using the kit you already have.

The Good
  • Easy and cheap way to add more training options
  • Can expand the possibilities of the most popular power rack exercises 
The Bad
  • Not much use if you don’t want to use bands (obviously)

10. Dip Bars / Matador

matador dip bars

Dip bars are another popular option to bolt onto a power rack, offering you the best chest and shoulder developing exercise.

Dips are a fantastic bodyweight exercise for full-range chest and shoulder training and can be loaded up with extra weight from a weighted vest or dip belt.

The dip bars are an easy addition that saves you a ton of space compared to using dedicated dip bars.

The matador or dip bar attachment to your power rack is very single-use, only allowing you to perform dips and some core exercise, but it does offer great training results in these two areas.

One thing to consider is that dip bars do compete with gymnastic rings, which are cheaper and can be used for dips if you’re willing to put in the extra time to develop the skill and stability required to perform ring dips.

Dip stations are a great addition to expand your workout capabilities with dips and core exercises. They’re not the most versatile choice, but they probably provide the best chest and shoulder exercise at a great price.

A dip bar can be clunky, but it’s often also an affordable and excellent piece of equipment that delivers a major bang for your buck.

The Good
  • Opens up dips – the best shoulder and chest exercise
  • Makes it easy to perform dips with a single attachment that takes up very little space
  • An effective choice for adding more core training options from the support position
The Bad
  • More expensive than gymnastic rings, which also offer these training options
  • Can take up significant space and is hard to store
  • Not as economical or revolutionary as some other attachments on this list

11. Plyo Step

The plyo step is a niche option that can be added to a rack to give yourself a raised platform for plyometric exercises and perform exercises like step-ups. It’s a great choice with more training range and options than the dip bar but does still occupy quite a specific niche.

The plyo step can be used for box jumps and depth jumps but usually has a hard and unforgiving edge that can hurt your shins. If you’re looking for a plyo step, find one that offers a rubberized or softened edge – or jury-rig one once you have it.

The plyo step is a good choice if you can get it at a good price, offering a simple but effective set of training options. However, it’s hard to say if it competes well with a plyo box, and depends on what you already have – and the price to make it fit your power rack.

The plyo step is a good choice for improving workout options but does have some limitations. It isn’t the best power rack attachment on the market, but it might be perfect for you if you’re looking for a simple and effective choice that comes with a good weight rating – and at a good price!

The Good
  • Can improve training options for jump training
  • Doubles up as a step for various exercises like step-ups
  • Can be used for deficit exercises like Bulgarian split squats
The Bad
  • May not be the best competitor against just buying a plyo box
  • Can have sharp and painful edges if you miss a jump
  • Many options lack the appropriate weight capacity for heavy barbell step-up

12. Ball Rebounder

15 Best Power Rack Accessories & Attachments 1

Ball rebounders are another niche pick that can be attached to a power rack to get the best out of a range of ballistic exercises. They can be used with med balls and other objects to improve the ease and effectiveness of these workouts.

You have a dedicated surface with a rebounder, so you don’t have to throw balls at drywall or other non-deliberate surfaces. You will also have the ball returned to you for faster cycling of reps and the added deceleration benefits to your core, hips, and other joints.

The ball rebounder is only useful if you’re planning on using high-speed core training – which you probably should – but comes in at a reasonable price. This is a popular training choice for sports but maybe a little narrow of use for some home gym users.

The Ball rebounder has a niche use and can save you plenty of money and effort when attached to a power rack. It’s not going to be useful for everyone, but – if it’s what you’re looking for, it’s a fantastic option to add versatility to your workouts and improve the return you get from a power rack itself.

The Good
  • Good way to improve longevity in other areas of the home gym
  • More effective and efficient way to train core exercise
  • Simple, cheap, and economical
The Bad
  • Very niche and not particularly popular

13. Barbell Holder

barbell holder

Barbell storage racks keep your barbells safe, in good order, and make sure that these 7’ poles of metal aren’t just scattered across your floor haphazardly.

The two most common barbell racks are horizontal gun racks and vertical racks.

Horizontal barbell racks are a great way of saving floor space by not putting your rack on the floor.

The two main types are – wall-mounted gun racks and keyhole gun racks.

Wall-mounting makes for a slightly more complicated mounting process – so break out your stud detectors. The trade-off is better, more convenient storage compared with slightly more setup challenges.

It’s also not portable since it’s literally bolted into your wall. It’s also not a great choice if you’re renting – those drywall or concrete mounting screws aren’t going to be easy to clear with a landlord.

However, horizontal gun-rack-style barbell storage systems are a great move for the committed home gym owner.

They’re cheap relative to their storage capacity, they’re light pieces of kit, and the examples we’ve looked at today show that they come with amazing features and a smart approach to barbell storage.

Keyhole gun racks fit into the uprights of a power rack. This makes them highly space efficient and convenient. The only downside is that they obviously require you to have a compatible power rack.

Vertical storage is often the easiest and lowest-fuss way of dealing with barbell storage. You can get a wide range of prices, storage capacities, and quality with vertical storage that just doesn’t come with gun racks.

The rack mount or hanger is a space saving option but once again you need a rack to attach it to.

For more infomration, check out our guide to the Best Barbell Storage Racks.


14. Weight Bench

weight bench

A foldable wieght bench’s main benefit is opening up a wide range of popular and effective exercises without taking up as much space.

Not an attachment per se, but still probably the best accessory to go with a power rack.

In addition, the storage is great for reducing space-demand in smaller home gyms such as basement and garage gyms.

At the same time, you’ll be able to bench press, overhead press, row, and step up on the bench. There are countless other options like hip thrusts.

You get the idea: benches let you do a lot of popular, effective exercises that are much more difficult without a bench – or impossible.

They fit both your training needs and the demands of owning a home gym!

For more information, check out our guide to the Best Foldable Weight Benches.


15. Cable Pulley System

15 Best Power Rack Accessories & Attachments 2

The cable pulley is a type of exercise machine that lets you perform exercises against a constant, pulley-assisted stack of weights.

It provides more consistent tension and challenge than free weights, which makes it popular for smaller muscles, complex joint movements, and rehab, or just building muscle.

The added permanent tension of a cable stack can be used to strengthen the muscles effectively and build more muscle mass (sometimes).

It’s a way of keeping constant tension on the muscles – which makes it popular with bodybuilders whose focus is always on muscle mass (not strength).

Find the best pulley system for your rack here.


How to Choose Compatible Power Rack Attachments

best power rack attachments

Tubing Size

The tubing size of an attachment will ensure that it fits properly with the machining of the rack itself. This also helps with the visual and design continuity – making your home gym look put together and deliberate.

The tubing size will also help prevent long-term damage and wear, especially preventing warping, which may occur when loading two interconnected heavier- and lighter-gauge metals.

The tubing size for power rack uprights is typically, 2″x2″, 2″x3″, or 3″x3″. Nowadays, Rogue racks are normally 3″x3″.

Peg diameter

Peg diameters should be fit to ensure that attachments like safety pins and J-hooks will fit. This is important for making their use possible and preventing poor-fixture accidents like slipping safety pins or spotter arms during impact and shock.

Peg diameters should be listed on all accessories and attachments. They should be double-checked when buying parts from different manufacturers.

The standard sizes are 1/2″, 5/8″, 3/4″ or 1″.

Hole Spacing

Hole spacing is an important factor for adjustability, and you want to make sure that any attachment with multiple pegs will fit into adjacent holes. The last thing you want to do is machine another hole in a power rack.

Check hole spacing and measure against the products your rack manufacturer makes and the rack itself. This should offer double-assurance that your purchases will actually work!

Brand

The easiest way to get the right power rack attachment is to use the same brand as the power rack.

Most companies will offer a better experience in fitting a power rack attachment and may include bulk-buy discounts or better prices when bundling a power rack with its appropriate attachments.

Look out for discounts and buy-together savings wherever possible. It’s cheaper and easier and will grant extra savings on shipping costs.

Find your power rack brand here:


Power Rack Accessories FAQ

15 Best Power Rack Accessories & Attachments 3

What rack dimensions are the most accessory compatible?

Most Power racks use 5/8-inch holes. These are common for accessories and attachments.

You can also find 1-inch holes with either 1-inch or 2-inch spacing. 
Westside spacing is a 1-inch hole with 2-inch spaces in the upper part of the rack and then 1-inch holes with 1-inch spacing lower down.

This accounts for the larger variability in height in squats as compared to a bench (when laying down) and the finer tolerances of bench height for comfort.

What are the must-have accessories for my power rack?

Our top three would be spotter arms, pull-up bar, and a landmine but ultimately accessories for a power rack should improve the utility for your training.

They should be a genuine benefit to how you train – opening up new exercises, making others more effective, or giving you an easier way to practice them. 

Power racks are a versatile piece of equipment to start with. The design is perfect for bolting on additional accessories. The sheer versatility is great by itself but also offers a wide range of extra options, from dip bars to landmines to a whole lat pulldown attachment – which we’ve already reviewed in depth.


Related Resources


Final Thoughts

Power rack accessories take a versatile piece of equipment and make it even more so. The safety options are an essential part of using a power rack and should be chosen with a real eye to what kind of weights and exercises you’ll be using.

Functionality attachments and accessories offer some of the best value on the market. They take your power rack and make it an even more effective and varied training tool.

Examples like the lat pulldown attachment and landmine attachment offer serious value in your training at prices that range from premium to affordable, suitable for any budget.

You can use these ideas to focus on your own power rack accessories and figure out what will bring you the best results for your needs.

We’ve also provided full reviews and buying guides for each option, giving you the chance to get the best home gym power rack attachments for your money!

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