Body-Solid vs. TDS Power Rack & LAT Attachment

[RileyMartin]

Hi all,

Does anyone own or has tried either of these power racks & LAT bar attachments? Any thoughts on which one is better?

http://www.newyorkbarbells.tv/92563.html
http://www.bodysolid.com/images/Item/489-2l.jpg

I tried a few benches and the TDS bench seemed better to me. It was lower to the ground and real easy to adjust both ends.

http://www.newyorkbarbells.tv/59501.html

Thanks for any help.

Riley

[Sleazy]

Personally I prefer TDS over Body Solid. When I had a home gym a couple years ago I ordered a TDS squat rack from New York Barbells before and was pretty happy with the quality, the power rack should be just as good.

I also bought that same exact bench but without the wheels, its a very good bench the only issue for me was that it was a little high off the ground and on some exercises I couldn't get a good push with my legs. I'm 5'11 so that might just be something to keep in mind when your checking out the dimensions.

[EricT]

Either one will prob do you fine. I have a bodysolid pulley unit and it has served me well for years. But I've never used one of their racks. If the pulley is an indication they should be good for home use. But since Sleazy has had actual experience with the TDS you should prob go with that.

I would avoid the built in lat tower in general. 200 lbs can end up being kind of light after a while. If you can pull it off you'd be better off with a separate unit that can take free weights, imo.

[Andrew.cook]

I would look at dimensions. I purchased my power rack because it fit in the space I had, though given a different set of circumstances I would have preferred one I could do standing presses in.

The BodySolid looks a lot like my rack, but with different J-cups and pins. 2.5" square tube?

[EricT]

Another reason not to have that lat tower or anything like that now that I think of it.

[Andrew.cook]

Well, I never considered it because I am quite able to do weighted pullups. However, even if were not, I would prefer using bands to assist a pullup rather than using lat pulldowns.

However, it would be nice to have a good pulley setup so that you can do the variety of movements that they accomodate. I think that I would opt for a seperate unit if you could afford it, and like someone above mentioned, something plate loadable.

[RileyMartin]

Thanks everyone for the input.

My ceiling height is too low to do standing military presses so I have to do them seated.

A separate LAT BAR unit would be nice but I just don't have the space. That's why I was attracted to a power rack/cage with a built in lat bar unit. The footprint of the whole lat bar pulldown is pretty much within the same footprint of the cage and uses the same bench that I would use for everything else. The LAT bar attachment on the Body-Solid unit has posts to add plates too, in addition to the weight stack so I'm not limited to just the weight stack. The TDS unit doesn't. You can get either UNIT with just a plate loaded LAT bar pulldown unit but having the weight stack would be really nice, especially for my girlfriend who doesn't want to have to take plates on/off.

One plus for the TDS unit is plate storage posts so I wouldn't need additional weight trees whereas the Body-Solid does not have that option.

I saw another nice unit at www.yorkbarbell.com but the weight stack also doesn't have posts to add plates. Also, they don't rate their unit as too how much it can hold however they do say you may max out the cage at around 700lbs. I believe the other units are rated at 1000lbs. I'm only doing up to 400lbs. right now but I figure a 'stronger' unit would be safer if I was doing a 1 rep. max while squatting and had to 'drop' the barbell. The York unit is the shortest however which is a big plus for my small basement.

I guess I'm leaning towards the Body-Solid unit right now due to the plate posts on the LAT bar weight stack. I just have to verify the height of the unit to make sure it will fit in my basement.

Well, I never considered it because I am quite able to do weighted pullups. However, even if were not, I would prefer using bands to assist a pullup rather than using lat pulldowns.

I've never heard of 'bands'. I don't think I could even do a single pullup. Could you provide any links to bands that are used for doing pullups?

Thanks again to everyone.

[Andrew.cook]

You can get bands here: http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/fitness-bands.php

Or here: http://www.flexcart.com/members/elit...lt.asp?cid=138

I don't know much about the IronWoody new bands, but the Jump Stretch bands that EFS sells are pretty much the industry standard. I have a set of the old IW bands and I love them, but I have heard grumbling about the new bands they sell.

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