Backyard Squat Rack Build (How-To Guide Available)

Being an engineer is cool, being an in shape engineer is cooler.

Ever since I was young, I have enjoyed building things but also keeping myself fit and in shape by working out daily. So I thought, why not combine the two?

During covid, the gyms closed and that's where the idea really came from to build my own gym equipment. I felt in that period dependent.

The pandemic is over now. It's unlikely that the gyms will close again for weeks. Despite that, I'm happy to be independent now I made my own squat rack.

Some people might say, can you put a good workout in without gym equipment. That is very true, but fellow weight lifters know that doing push-ups and air squats gets boring quite quickly.

I keep referring to it as a squat rack. However, many more exercises can be done on this DIY project:

• Pull-ups
• Chin-ups
• Muscle-ups
• Hanging leg raises
• Toes to bar
• Shoulder press with the barbell
• Front squats with the barbell
• Bicep curls with the barbell
• Bend over rows with the barbell
• Deadlifts with the barbell
• Lunges with the barbell
• Barbell shrugs
• Overhead tricep extensions with the barbell

And I can go on. Lifters, quite a good list already right?

The squat rack I designed in Autodesk Fusion 360. This is an easy-to-use 3D design program that is available for free.

Measurements I choose myself. The key parameters I had to stick to were the width of the barbell. And the height of the ceiling of our house in case I ever wanted to put the squat rack inside.

The steel materials I used were actually mainly recycled from a steel front door cover that was in front of a retail shop. The smaller steel parts were offcuts from other construction projects.

Where I can, I like to give materials a second life!

The squat rack I manufactured in a very basic workshop of an irrigation equipment supplier I do contract work for. A welder, a grinder, a drill press and some small measuring tools were enough to create the steel project. 

At home, I sanded the surfaces and spray-painted the parts black.

Assembling all the components is the super rewarding part. If all the holes line up, the bolts and nuts are tightened and the structure becomes one whole, it gives a great feeling of accomplishment.

The barbell and the weights I bought from K-Mart were very inexpensive. Because I thought: "20kg is 20kg right?"

I also was able to give a new life to recycled materials, which made this project even more meaningful.

To sum up, I'm very pleased with how the squat rack turned out. The most fun part was merging my interests in fitness and engineering.

This rack turned out to be cheap to make but effective in its use (plus it was fun to make)!

Want to build your own squat rack? I've created an easy to follow step-by-step PDF guide with detailed manufacturing drawings. Check it out below!