Power rack

A power rack (also known as a power cage, squat cage or squat rack) is a piece of weight training equipment that functions as a mechanical spotter for free weight barbell exercises without the movement restrictions imposed by equipment such as the Smith machine.

Its general design is four upright posts with two adjustable horizontal bar catches (also called "supports," "rails" or "pins") on each side.

The power rack is also useful for performing limited-range exercises, often involving heavier weights than their full-range equivalents.

[1] These include rack pulls, a variation of the deadlift where the starting point of the bar is higher than a conventional deadlift, and rack lockouts, a bench press variation limited to just the upper portion of the lift (the "lockout").

Power Racks were invented by Bob Peoples and popularized in the 1960s, when Terry Todd and Dr. Craig Whitehead used them to test their "theory of maximum fatigue."