I just received my new Powertec Power Rack and Utility Bench (thanks to megafitness.com). I'm going to put them together Sunday but am wondering exactly where I should place them in the room I have in mind. When I measured the room to get the space ready, I planned to put the Power Rack flush into one corner with maybe a foot of space between the wall and the rack on the two sides that are along walls. (The other two sides are well away from any walls or furniture.)

Is that going to be enough, or do I need to allow more room around those sides? Is there a minimum amount of space I should allow around the whole rack, or along specific sides?

I don't think that a foot will be enough space. You're going to need enough room to move around with plates and you also need to account for the length of the bar on the rack.

Have fun putting it together. You'll never regret getting a power rack.

Is that going to be enough, or do I need to allow more room around those sides? Is there a minimum amount of space I should allow around the whole rack, or along specific sides?[/QUOTE]

I recently put my rack and bench in a spare bedroom, it’s really small (8X12). I didn’t have many options but you might avoid some not so obvious mistakes.
Having the back 1 foot from the wall is pretty tight but more importantly, leave room to pull the bench out from inside the rack to do other exercises with dumbbells. If I had put the rack in the room so that it was facing length wise (12’) I wasn’t going to have enough room to safely put the plates on the bar (8' vs 7 ' bar). As a result, I can’t pull the bench out – a real pain in the ass… :mad: You should leave enough room to pull the bench out far enough to do those ever important chin-ups without anything in the way.

Hope this helps.

Thanks guys... I got in late yesterday and haven't built the stuff yet but I'm now planning the room a bit differently. Unfortunately the target is a spare bedroom in the basement that's maybe 11' x 12' and there is already a treadmill and recumbent bike in it.

My sense is that the "back" of the rack is what can afford to be close to a wall, while I need a couple of feet on the sides and a lot of space outside the "front" in order to slide the bench out. Is this about right? I looked at John's photos and saw he has lots of room around the whole thing, but that's not really an option for me at the moment.

Sounds like you got the idea Mr. Profit. Being that the room is square, either way you go, you'll get the same result. I have a stair stepper in my room and just pull it away from the wall when it's time to use it.

One other item, where is the door? You don't want toe stub hazards like plates or dumbells in front of the door where your G/F may walk in on your workout to watch you get buff! :bb: :db: