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The Valor Fitness BD-9 squat stands are lightweight and easy to move, yet provide all the safety and stability you need to squat and workout from home.
But how does the BD-9 compare to the strength of full-sized power racks? If you have the space, should you save your money and invest in something like the Valor Athletics BD-7?
This review takes a closer look at how Valor upgraded the BD-8 design, exercise options, and a summary of the feedback from other customer reviews.
Design features
While setting up your own home gym certainly has its benefits, it can be difficult to find the right selection of fitness and strength training equipment to fit in a limited space.
There’s also the budget vs. quality factor, where you want to make sure the equipment you buy is high quality, but at the same time might not have thousands to spend getting the most expensive weights and treadmill.
This is why the Valor Fitness BD-9 squat stands have been developed specifically with space saving in mind, without compromising on safety.
The base features two horizontal stabilizers, one slightly longer than the other.
This shorter side has the benefit of creating more space for your feet when walking away from the rack with the bar when doing squats, as well as letting you position a bench closer if bench pressing.
Moving up the frame Valor Fitness have also added a weight plate storage peg.
Weight plate storage and adjustment settings
Due to its position and angle, any weight plates you do load onto the peg will be particularly effective at providing extra stability and preventing the stands from moving when returning a bar to the rack.
One of the most important features of these squat stands is the safety rails. These can be quickly adjusted to a level that catches the bar should you be unable to complete a repetition.
This is crucial if you want to be able to lift heavy weight from home without having a spotter around to assist with the bar if it gets too heavy.
The pre-drilled holes for setting the different height positions have also been designed to be much closer together than on many squat racks.
Their closer position means you can get a full range of motion on any exercise, with the bar caught at the point of failure for your particular strength level and body type.
In terms of body types, another area that’s important to get right is the height of the uprights. Fortunately, the Valor Fitness BD-9 stands have been made taller than the earlier BD-8 design, making it easier for anyone over 6ft tall to squat in safety.
As well as the safety rails and top racking point, these particular stands also include one additional ‘V’ style support, which is suitable for both standard and Olympic sized barbells.
Valor Fitness BD-9 Squat Rack – Features Summary
- 42.75-Inch Upright Posts
- 5-Inch chrome back plate to catch bar as lifter manoeuvres back to stand
- Adjustable base for larger footprint adding more stability
- Recommended max weight is 500lbs
Exercise options
Well designed to cope with a variety of upper and lower body exercises, the versatility of the Valor Fitness BD-9 squat stands means you can position them different widths apart to cope with different styles of barbell.
The lower safety catch settings are perfect for if you want to keep the bar off the ground in preparation for curls or rows, while the higher settings are better suited to squats and overhead presses.
With a recommended weight limit of 500 lb, these lightweight and stable stands can support weights that match many of the full sized squat racks, but for a fraction of the cost.
When combined with a full sized Olympic barbell, the following exercises can be performed to grow and strengthen your upper and lower body muscles:
- Overhead press
- Front squat
- Back squat
- Barbell shrug
- Upright rows
- Push press
- Behind the neck press
- Bench press
- Stiff legged deadlifts
- Lunges
Customer reviews
As with buying any new piece of fitness equipment, it’s important to do as much research as possible to ensure what you’re buying is worth the money.
With Amazon and other online marketplaces providing dozens of highly rated reviews and questions answered by people who are already using these squat stands, this can be an excellent place to start.
To help build up a clearer overall picture from the comments in the reviews, we’ve put together a quick list of the pros and cons. These are based on the most frequently mentioned positives and negatives in the current range of customer reviews.
Pros:
- Quick and simple to assemble
- High quality, durable materials
- Small footprint makes them easy to store when not in use
- Lightweight makes them easy to move
- Support rails add an important element of safety to home workouts
- Easy to adjust safety catches
- Easy to use with a bench or on their own
Cons:
- Adding extra weight to the pegs on the base is more of a necessity than an option, particularly if you lift heavier weights (40 lb to 75 lb per side is recommended)
Review Overview
Overall Review Rating
4.5 / 5
With a number of useful improvements over other single tower squat stands in their range, the Valor Fitness BD-9 Power Squat Stand provides a high level of strength while remaining competitively priced.
The safety bar catches, expandable base, and adjustable bar supports allow you to set the stands up to suit your specific body type and style of lifting. Designed to support a variety of exercises, you can simply adjust the bar supports and catches to your desired level, then lift the weight in safety.
With the extra height added to the units over the BD-8 stands, the max height will reach 6' 5", meaning users to over 7' tall will be able to use these units.
Considering all the features and highly rated reviews, it's difficult to find fault with the BD-9 stands. If you don't have the space or budget for a full sized squat rack or cage, these could be the ideal choice.
Weight capacity: 500 lbs
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We go to great lengths to ensure that our reviews are completely comprehensive, usually covering everything from the design features to the warranty coverage and exercise options. This is all to help guide you towards the home gym equipment that’s best suited to your goals and budget, whilst also being the highest quality option in your chosen price range.
