Side by Side Comparison of: Valor Fitness vs Body Solid vs CAP Barbell

Just got this yesterday. Put it together....ez, even after a few. Just don't try to read the directions....they give you double vision without the alcohol. So I'm 5ft 1, and I can do squats with it...so that answers the short people questions. I don't really like the rack hold tho...seems to be a little short, and I have to be careful to get it in there, if I'm lifting heavy and using some effort.....might still need someone there ...just to be safe. Right now, have it loaded to 100 pounds.....seems ok, but I'm not sure I would go over that. and yes you must stack some heavy weight in the bottom to keep it stable like a couple 45 lb disks

This squat rack is great. You can adjust it in many different ways to fit your needs and lifting purposes. Very easy to put together and got here in a timely matter. The price alone is a no brainier of you're looking for a decent home squat rack

I keep these stored in the closet in my apartment and bring them out when I want to work out. This is an excellent purchase if you're looking to weight lift at home without any space to keep machinery out. I use this with a flat bench from Marcy and a 300lbs weight set from a local sporting goods store.I'd highly recommend not buying any alternatives to this unless it has all of the same features. Having the squat rack at the top, the bench rack, and the safety guards are all extremely important to be able to use this for both benching and squatting. It's extremely sturdy with weight on the bottom, and I use it on pretty typical carpet. The only complaint is that paint chips off easily, but they even include black and gray paint in little nail polish bottles, so that's not a big deal, though it would be nice if the weight holding pegs were more durably painted/

I love it. It is perfect for me. I am 5' 6" tall. I will test it and update the review after 30 days. I recommend it if you have small space. I have a smith machine, I couldn't use it in the two car garage. Update Aug. 30, 2017I love it. I'm 5'6" tall and I cannot reach the top bar catcher when doing the flat bench press so I ordered a extra pair of slider sleeves. Now I can do decline, flat and incline bench presses without using the top bar catchers. I use the bar catchers for squat and overhead press. I don't need adjust the bar catchers, just leave it alone. Four slider sleeves and safety catchers are adjustable. I switched around the footings and the posts so the weight plates on the peg are the opposite side of the safety arm catchers. Big footing are in the back and small footing in the front. Overall, I am very happy with it.If you're very short person then I suggest you order a pair of slider sleeves from Valor Fitness and you will have to call the customer service. Thanks Amazon and Valor Fitness.

Quite possibly the best thing I've bought on Amazon. The price is great. Valor fitness has all kinds of literature about what to do if your product arrives damaged or missing pieces( thankfully mine did not).Easy assembly. Lightweight and highly portable. Setting up/breaking down and stowing in my carport takes less than five minutes, and I still feel comfortable putting over 200lbs on it at shoulder height for squats.I did some strict pull-ups and it felt solid, even with only 80lbs on each base(I'm 205lbs).This product was good enough to get me to write my first review.

The stands do everything that I need them to do. The squat portion of the stands hold 500lbs and the bench portion of the stands hold 350lbs, The stands in general are quite sturdy as long as the weights are on the bottom pegs. They are easy to use and easy to assemble, and they do not take up much room after use. For the price you cannot beat them.

This is an excellent bar! very sturdy with good knurling - it doesn't slide at all when I grip it. very solid bar.

Great bar, the knurls are perfectly spaced for deadlifts. The grain it a little sharp but I like it, (so does the ole lady) gives you that nice man hands feel. Weight is almost exact, 45.2 I believe it was when I weighed it. I don't do cleans and snatches so I don't drop it far, can't comment on that. There's nothing I don't like about this bar.

The bar arrived very quickly – within a few days of ordering - faster then estimated delivery. The most important part for me was that there was no grooved pattern on the sleeves. The sleeves (the area where you load the plates) are smooth, so getting plates on and off is easy and the plates don’t get scratched. Although there was no visible machine oil on the bar I could smell it. I wiped the bar with paper towels just in case. I use it with barbell lock (quick snatch) collars and it works great for the price.

Great bar. It's worked really well for me so far.

this is your standard olympic bar - it comes in a weird tube packaging as one solid piece, so be prepared for that. But otherwise - it's a great bar and I've used it on a daily since receiving it.update - i still use this on the daily. and it's a fantastic purchase. would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to build their own gym or get a little workout in at home.

This bar arrived with a light coating of oil on it. After wiping it down with rubbing alcohol to remove the oil, I used it for 3 weeks now with no problems. I have had no issues with chrome separation or flaking from the bar. Mine weighed in at 45.2 pounds. The knurling on the bar is very uniform and is not too aggressive. The bar ends spin freely. The bar seems to have a minute amount of taper, very slightly larger at the outside and thinner toward the inside. Spring collars do slide slightly if tugged at. The weights will not slide all of the way off if held at an angle. This isn't an issue for me as I bought the Bulldog olympic weight collars to secure the weights. This bar is very good and is a great deal.

The Valor Fitness BD-9 Power Squat Stands were an affordable, portable choice when I decided to put together a budget powerlifting setup in my garage, and space was at a premium.The Good: These stands are stable when loaded and hold enough weight for a newbie to strength training. They take up significantly less room than a power cage, and they are portable. If you anticipate moving in the future, or aren't quite sure how much space you have to work with, these are an excellent starting point. The price is excellent for what you get.The Bad: The plastic collars over the adjustable uprights broke immediately -- during initial assembly. They're still on and functional, so this is not a big deal, but it was the first indicator that I was dealing with budget equipment. The black paint over the plate holders is not appropriate for the job and scrapes off the very first time you use them. The arms in the lowest position are barely adequate, and will not give you the peace of mind that you might want if you're bench pressing alone.The Bottom Line: The Valor Fitness BD-9 Power Squat Stands are an excellent budget option. If you are a new lifter, if you are on a budget, or if space is limited these are a fantastic way to beat the crowds and work out at home.

During assembly, you have to slide the perpendicular metal bar into the horizontal metal bar for the stands. It was not sliding in and upon closer inspection, discovered that one of the bars had a slight bent on it's opening so the other bar could not slide into it. I had to use an adjustable wrench, close it tight around the one side that was bent and was able to open it wider so the other bar could slide into it. No big deal, I didn't feel like this affected the rigidity of the structure. For just that reason I gave it a rating of 4 instead of 5 because QC should have caught this before shipping. But like I said, no bid deal, I fixed it and put it together and it works great.

For the love of all that is good, please do not over-tighten the safety pins, because you'll end up with a pin that is missing the knob and there is no way to screw it back on without taking bolt cutters to the plastic around the metal cylinder that holds the pin, and then using gripping pliers to remove the entire safety pin out of the stand, and screwing the knob back on - which is what i had to do. Be careful or you'll be pulling your hair out for a bit. One star off for a bad safety pin design.That being said, it works well for bench and squat, haven't had more than 185lbs on it so far but it was very sturdy. No problems putting the bar back on after squats or benching, the stands do not shift much at all, you just have to be careful as this isn't a full rack that you can easily put the bar back on.

this really is a great stand. I can do squats on one side and move the bar to the other side for chest press.The bar on the bottom to hold weights doesn't do much, especially if you have different sized plates

My gym used to have two benches. One for bench presses and the other for dumbbells, etc. I enjoyed my bench press but it was simply a waste of space for anything other than one exercise. This was the perfect solution. I sold the weight bench and now I can leave these against the wall out of the way and have just one bench in the gym. My bench easily slides out of the way from this unit leaving much more space for squats and a great many other exercises (Pull ups).Note: Please be sure your adjustable bench can hold your intended lifting weight along with your body weight. A flimsy one could fold up on you while bench pressing since it may not have been designed for such use.Very sturdy, 500lbs for squats and bench press wedge catches hold up to 350lbs. I have some older weight plates I keep stowed on the lower storage area. to ensure the stands remain stable at all times and so far they do just that. The weight and feel of these stands are fairly heavy grade for the home gym segment and after using it for a few weeks I am confident in safety catches when pushing weight to failure. I do wish there was some sort of nylon on the bench press wedge catches. This is present on the safety catches and on some of their other products. My bar is textured for grip and tends to gnaw on the metal catches when racked. So aside from a little bit of black paint scraping off during bench presses these stands are perfect.All parts arrived and assembly was intuitive taking approx 30 minutes. I highly recommend this set for keeping yourself in great shape without taking up a large amount of space. Since it holds more than enough weight than I ever plan to bench or squat and considering the space savings it offers I think this will be more than I ever need.

I spent about a week trying to figure out which bench press/squat rack combo unit I'd get for my apartment, and eventually went for the BD-9 here. They were pretty easy to construct, and feel pretty solid. I currently rent a house so these reside in my basement, but I feel better knowing that wherever I move next I will have one of the most solid & adaptable setups on the market... something I wouldn't be able to say if I had purchased one of the one-piece press units.On the flip side, that adaptability from having two independent stands is probably the BD-9's biggest liability as well. I find myself taking a few minutes setting up the relationship between my adjustable bench and the two stands to get the alignment of everything just right... and the floor in my basement has a slight grade to it, so I have a little bit of trial & error time moving from a shoulder press setup, to bench press, to squats, etc. I'll probably have to work out a colored-tape system on the floor to mark the spots for each exercise, though I also plan on flipping the whole setup 180 deg so that the slight grade on the floor doesn't cause me to develop uneven strength on one side, so that would mean double the tape... hmmm.... maybe i need a better system.Anyways, if you are concerned about the stability of these stands, don't. They're built well, and once I put some weight on those storage pegs below, I never worry about anything moving too far on a harsh re-rack at the end of a set. I even tried a few times re-racking way more violently than I would ever do for real just to see how they responded, and they barely budged (that was with a 45lb plate on each side, but anything above a 25lb plate will give you the stability you'll need for 99% of what you're doing). I even feel comfortable enough raising the telescoping squat rack sections at the top almost all the way vertical and doing pull-ups on the empty bar... with 45's at the base the only thing that moves a bit is the barbell in the squat catches at the top, so I just stuck a towel in each side to keep the bar from turning while I pull myself up.I would give them the full 5 stars if Valor would have designed in a removable bar or two to connect the two stands, making them function more like a traditional one-piece press unit... that would pretty much solve my trial & error alignment time and add a stability bonus as well. Then these racks would be the best of both worlds.

Love this bar. Feel like a viking warlord carrying a 7' bronze war tool. Arghhh!!!! Came in the cold covered in machine oil that was gooey due to temperature. A little bit of a pain to clean it thoroughly. Still oily after cleaning and several workouts. Other than that, it's awesome. Holds weight great and let's it roll smoothly. Totally stress free. Haven't put more than 110lbs on it so far.

Packaging wasn't great.. It had scratches out of he box. To large and heavy to deal with the hassle of returning so I unpackaged. Be careful where you open this package and what clothes your wearing because the bar was VERY oily out of the box. You'll need paper towels or a rag to wipe it down. Nonetheless, I'm sure it will serve its purpose. I'll update once I've started using it.

This is a solid bar overall and very good for the price. Its built to take a beating. I also put it on the scale and it weighed 45lbs. The only real downside and why I didn't give it 5 stars was the diameter is too thick. That's the only thing I don't like about it. Im used to Benching with a smaller diameter bar so it's been difficult getting used to it. This is almost as thick as a squat bar.

Has worked perfectly for all exercises I've used it for (cross fit workouts, typical lifting, etc).The only thing I didn't like about the bar is that it came drenched in some awful smelling oil. The entire bar. I'm sure it's all part of the manufacturing process and bearing lubrication, but it would be nice if it was at least wiped down a bit before being shipped. Not a big deal at all, just a heads up for anyone buying. Be sure to wear gloves and clothes you don't mind getting dirty while removing from packaging.

If you're realistic about the price you're paying for this bar, its a good bar for the money. Received in black with a light coat of machine oil... which while some people dislike, it's necessary to prevent rust. Unfortunately, that's also the reason for -1 star, despite being brand new and coated in oil, there were a couple small rust spots. Given I know I won't be meticulous about regularly maintaining it with oil myself, I know I'll develop small rust marks here and there. Not ideal, but overall satisfied for the price tag given higher quality bars are 2-3x the price.

First off let me say this is a quality bar for the price. It's built like a Mack truck and for home use is more than adequate for any Power-lifting (bench pressing, back-squatting, and Deadlifts). I can't give it five stars because there are however several problems with the way this bar is portrayed on Amazon. Issue one it is not like any of the pictured bars. The sleeves are not pinned but held in place with an Allen bolt not uncommon but not good for "Oly" lifting either as the bolts tend to come loose with repeated drops using bumper plates. Sometimes Loctite or a Lock washer can alleviate this. The bar itself is almost 32mm in diameter which is huge for an Olympic bar. Regulation bars are 28mm and if you're used to them the difference is beyond noticeable. The knurling which is described as medium is more like cheese grater sharp and will have to be filed or machined down to prevent hand ripping. Also though the bar spins with ease the large diameter and sharp knurling pretty much prohibit Olympic Lifts. All in all a good bar for the money and great build quality. It arrived in only 4 days with a light coat of machine oil. Be warned though this bar is probably not your best choice for CrossFit or Olympic lifts if you're an experienced athlete.

Bought these about one month ago. The overall quality is fine (assembly was super easy); drawbacks are as follows:Very very unstable without weight support at the bases. I read one review which stated that a 25 lb plate placed on the weight peg would be enough and that is simply not accurate--at least when using medium to heavy weight (e.g., squatting and benching with 200+ lbs). I figured by placing a 35 lb dumb bell cross ways over the base and then laying an 80 lb dumb bell over that, it really stabilized the situation. Another big drawback is the length of the 'safety' catches. They don't come out nearly far enough to do any good; maybe okay for benching if you stay in real close to the uprights, but certainly no help for squats. So all in all, these are just okay.

Not as stable as I was hoping for.

This squat stand is fine for the price, but as some other reviews said, it's VERY wobbly. Like 5 or 10 degrees side to side wobbly. Even with 150lb on the weight pegs. We tried really pushing on it and it won't tip over when the bar is in place so I guess it's safe, but the wobble still makes me nervous. Plus it looks pretty bad when the uprights aren't parallel.

Great quality, I bought so I could squat in my home gym. Problem I have is the spotter arms are way short to squat. Still need a spotter if I am Goin to go heavy. Also a little wobble. Still not afraid to use.This is not bad for bench press. Spotters are perfect for flat bench and incline bench. I'm 6'.

It gets the job done for the price you pay. This is not for heavy bench work. The safety catches barely come past the chin. Some of the jagged edges tore up the knurling on my barbell. It is a little better after gluing leather straps onto the v-cups but you might want to invest in a Rogue rack or squat stand if you are looking for stands that support heavy bench work and protect your bars.

3 stars out of the box. There were a few poor design choices which I was able to fix with a little bit of modification. I was able to bring the product up to a 4.The Pros:Lightweight and easy to store and movePlace to put the bar for squatsPlace to put the bar for benchSafeties provide a little bit of security when benching alone, mostly they are a nice place to put the bar for rowsAffordableI've only tried this with 225lbs so far, but after a few modifications it feels reasonably safeThe Cons:Poor design of the H frame on the bottom of the stand. The H is shipped as three pieces and is assembled by putting square metal tubes inside of each other and bolting them together. The problem is that the fit is not snug enough, so the H is wobbly unless you tighten the bolts so much that the outer square tube is VERY crimped. I gave the inner tube a few wraps of duct tape to make it fit snugger inyo the outer tube. Because of the modular design of the H I had to work pretty hard to make all 4 feet sit flat on the ground once everything was bolted together. Eventually I was able to get it to be solid thoughPoor design of the top j cup used for squats. Essentially the forward facing part of the J is only a few inches shorter than the back part of the J. The problem is that re-racking after a squat set requires a bit of aim and precise control of the bar, otherwise you could miss the rack completely! The back of the J should be much higher, so that you can walk forward, feel the clink of the bar against both stands, and put it down safely. I added a foot of metal to each of the J cups so that I could rack my squats more easily.Squat Height is not easily adjustable. This doesn't matter much to me since my girlfriend and I are close enough to the same height, but be warned, adjusting the uprights requires the removal of two hand screws and a bolt thingy on each stand.One of the plastic pieces came broken.In summary you get what you pay for, but with a little bit of modification this product is at least 4 stars and gets the job done. Nice portable solution.

The bar? Great. The box it came in, with layers upon layer of tape on the bar itself, was a nightmare to unpackage. Had tape glue all over my bar, spent a half hour scrubbing it off.

It works well for what is supposed to do, however, a couple things to consider.1. Shipping this thing must be difficult, it arrived in a tube twice the diameter as the bar and tape was used to cap the ends. Both ends were torn out and there were scratches and gouges all over the weight sleeves. The paint was rubbed off of both ends. Its gonna get scratched and scuffed from use, but I wanted to do the scratching and scuffing.2. The bar is covered in cosmoline (grease) Wipe it down real well before you use it

The barbell is just to good to be true for that price. All the comments and reviews are precise and correct and what to do when it arrives. The grease is a bit thick but doesn't last long. It does scratch easily but hey if you wanna perfect barbell that'll never get nicks, dings and paint coming off then join a yoga class kid! The end screws that hold of the weights do come loose easily but a bit of LockTite and a 9mm tork will get the job done. The Knurl is very THICK! Your hands will take a beating but will get tougher over time after using the barbell a few times. Other than that the 3 stars was all it's worth for the quality and pricing of the barbell. Hope this helps.

I love Olympic lifting - this is the first barbell I've owned. It does the job well, but the chrome is flaking off. Luckily, our home gym is in the garage so we don't care much about the mess it's making on the floor. If you are going to put this in the house, or if your pet might decide to eat the flakes, because pets make silly decisions sometimes, you might want to spend a little more money on something that doesn't peel.

It's okay to be honest, but the screws on the side come off if they're not properly screwed in constantly so if I get done doing a set or a rep I can't throw it down on the floor without the screws coming off or having the sides that hold the weight slip off while working out. I don't really like it because instead of worrying and being focused on the workout, I'm usually worried and focused on the bar and see if the weights gonna fall.

The bar is decent enough for my lifting sessions. It can manage 300lb+ with ease on bench, and I'm sure it can manage up to 400 (haven't gotten there yet ;)). It isn't perfect because after a lot of heavy use for months it is starting to have some minor issues, but nothing I can't work around and fix. Overall nice bar for the price and look forward to use more in the future.

parts were missing out of the box. the pegs for plate storage were missing from the box. also, 2 of the 4 "T" base barts did not fit. i had to get a vise grip to bend the opening enough so that i could slide them in.one of the bases functions perfectly, the other rocks slightly.used it for bench only so far and it works fine. i would like to get those storage pegs so that i can add some weight to the base.Gonna try and call customer service to get those parts tomorrow.

I received these, and wish I had never purchased them. First, the product came with one missing part. A bushing that keeps the rack steady above the base. Second the rack fell when I was lowering the rack. It broke the one bushing I had. Since it was plastic, it cracked immediately.. There was no additional weight either. Third I emailed the company, they require the part number and photos to show the break, to even look into replacing them. I am still looking for the part number in the manual since I lost the manual and just found it.Moving on to the other bad issues. My brother is 6 foot 1, I am 5 foot 10 du to the height difference He either has trouble bypassing the rack since the back stand is so short, or I have to step up to place it back on the rack. We lift together and are only using about 200 lbs currently for the squat and bench, so this is not major but this is the 1st month of the 5x5 program and we should hit 300 lbs in 2 months or so, this will then be a big problem.I have had the bench rack fall with just the bar on it, I have also had the safety racks fall with only the Bar on them. The safety pins for both of these are very poor quality. They have a spring and screw in, but the spring gets stuck in which the pin won't pull out to move the rack or to keep it in place. The stands them self are off, and a little lop sided. With out at least 45 lbs on both they wobble. With out around 80 lbs, it is likely that they will fall over if you walk forward too hard when re-racking the weight.It is safer and better to spend an additional 150 dollars and get a short squat rack instead of unsafe stands like these..

I'll update the review after installing it, but it's very frustrating that it came without any installation/setup instructions and there's not a single link to anything available on the manufacturer's site.Update:Amazon sent a replacement just so I can get the manual so I uploaded the images in case anyone else runs into this issue in the future.

Floor supports are loose when assembled and rock about a lot.

Some say it's good for beginners. But I had a bad experience when squatting. My strength gave out on me and I had to dangerously drop the weight behind me. After that experience I decided to upgrade to a power rack.The safety bars don't work for squatting. Too short. They only work for benching, but they are very short to be effective and adjusting them is a pain. The knob also broke and came out of the housing.If you are somewhat serious about getting strong, you have to push yourself; which means failure at some point or another. Squatting without safeties is dangerous. Benching with short and hard to adjust safeties is better than nothing, I suppose. But eventually, all roads lead to a power cage. Save up and buy a cage. Your life is worth it.

Missing parts, had to contact mfr and wait a week to get pissing parts. However, once all parts are together, great addition to our home gym.

The bar itself is fine. My issue is I ordered a black bar and received a chrome bar. It is too much of a pain to try and box this back up and ship it back so I'll just live with it.

Only giving it 2 stars because it arrived quickly but product is used and shows obvious signs of it

After we received the chrome bar, on one side of the bar, the chrome started chipping away. We paid more money for this bar, in order to receive a better quality product. However, the bar is serving it's purpose for my son, but disappointed and annoyed with the constant flaking of the chrome material.

You get what you pay for. Got mine for christmas and it is already rusting. It's been inside the entire time as well.

If you live by the beach, beware, it'll get rusty very easily.

The bar serves its purpose although within 1 month the chrome started peeling from the weights going on and off

I would give it 5start if the assembly tools are all correct. I have received it and while I put it all together notice that one of the screwed was not completely work as you can see in the picture. China made. The customer service very slow and hard to get in touch with. We have been waiting for the past 3 weeks and still said it will ship the part!

Received the squat rack and the short adjusting sleeve was poorly welded and will not fit on to the rack itself. Unable to use this. Poor Quality rack, big disappointment.3/24 Spoke to the customer service today and they are mailing me a new part, will update review once received on how the stands work

These are dangerously unstable. No matter how you assemble them or how tight you make the bolts they want to rock back and forth. They have the strength to hold plenty of weight but when you load or reload the bar it sways back and forth.

We love everything about this, until the rod for the weight storage broke within the 1st month, no big deal. Contacted seller, seller said contact manufacturer, hassle to get there information, the case has been open for 3 weeks with no solution yet, because it takes awhile for them to get back to me. other then that its solid.

These stands are extremely unstable and very easily bend/dent/break. Nearly all of the adjustment knobs broke off within a few uses. The holes do not line up correctly between the two stands either, resulting in uneven bar height.

Other then receiving wrong color, seema ok

Chrome playing started to pill over a few uses

Rusts way too easy and have to use alan wrench to tighten the ends all the time.

Unfortunately, my bar arrived completely bent--I'm not even sure how that's possible. I'm in the process of returning this item, but it's surely going to be a pain repackaging and sending back an oblong 45lb object.

The bar looks great until you put the weights on it. one side of my bar appears to have not been cleaned properly before they chrome plated it, so when i slid on the weight THE VERY FIRST TIME the chrome scraped off. Then when I removed the weight i slid my finger accross the bar and it cut my finger. Even before I used it there was noticeable difference between the two sides of the bar. Trying to decide if I want to return it or just scrape off all the chrome for a steel bar. I dont know how this could have possibly gotten by inspection at the factory it was very obvious.

One side the screw broke off on the second day Of use i dont recomend it at all .. Doesnt meet gym requirements