Is Turbo Tower gone forever?

LynnFinn

LynnFinn

Cathlete
I know people have been concerned about this over on the STS forum, so I thought I would post my question to Cathe or one of the amazing staff who monitor this forum.
The Altus Turbo Tower seems to have dropped off the face of the earth! The only place I've been able to find it is on the Sears website but it's waay overpriced (200+ bux). Walmart, Target, Amazon....each site basically says 'not available'. Not 'backordered'. Does this mean it's gone for good? After looking at multiple "station-type" towers on various websites, there's nothing as good as the turbo tower. What's the buzz? Can you let us know if and when it might become available again? I'm doing my first rotation of STS and would dearly love to have one of those towers. Thanks, Cathe...or whomever has the insider scoop on this dilemma!
 
yea, i would love to know also....if so that's a bummer....i should have gotten it when i had the opportunity.....and when they had it for $79 at walmart.....hopefully they're just trying to get more made and out to the public.....i hope:)
 
I would like to buy a second. Would love to know when you get them back in. Please don't tell me they are not available any longer.

Janie
 
Yes, I too would love to know if it will become available again.

I have considered the "PowerLine PSS60X Squat Rack" but am hesitant to make the plunge. One of the great benefits of the Turbo Tower is the pull-up bar (though one of the reviews of the PSS60X said you could do pull-ups on it - but from the pictures, I don't see how).

If we could get an answer soon from somebody about the Turbo Tower that would be great! I'd love to support Cathe and be able to buy it from you! ;)

Related quick question for all who don't have the Turbo Tower or a rack. How do you lift heavy for barbell bench presses? I figured I could always do squats with a weighted vest but not sure how to pull off doing barbell bench presses without a rack.

-Dawn
 
I'm thinking of getting the Valor Athletics BD-3 Squat Stands as an alternative. I do not have an Olympic style bar, so most squat racks will not hold my 5' bar properly. The Valor is actually a portable stand that I can adjust to the right width and it extends to almost 5' tall so I think it would work for the pullups. But I would rather by the one from Cathe. Hopefully it comes in stock.
 
Atom,

I am so glad you mentioned that about the length of you barbell. I don't think mine is Olympic size either!! I had better double check!

I remember seeing those stands - I am definitely going to reconsider those.

Dawn
 
Squat Stands

I love my Valor squat stands and highly recommend them. There are various models out there, so I won't get into specifics about the base configuration, but will just point out that when I first got mine I was disappointed because I couldn't get the step/risers to fit into the squat rack base so that I could do bench presses, etc., without the bar being too far back over my head. I quickly realized that just removing the rubber feet on the squat rack base gave just that little bit extra room to be able to slide the base right around the risers and put the barbell in perfect position over my chest. I understand that is a model more recent than mine that makes this unnecessary, but always like to share that tip in case it's helpful.

Another thing to consider is whether the hooks on the stands will be down low enough for you to comfortably rack and unrack the barbell for chest work. I have enough risers/slanted risers to equal 5 risers on each end of the step/bench and that works very well for me. If you're using a weight bench instead, it would be worth doing some measuring to make sure the setup is going to work for you.

As far as chinups and pullups, I can't do them without the modification of lying underneath a bar and pulling myself up in the faceup plank position like the modification that Cathe shows (I hope I'm describing that clearly. I use squat stands for this, as well.
 
Nancy and Toni (Toni, I hope that's your name - I looked on other posts to find it - :),

I took a look at the squat stands this morning and they look great! Toni, my bar is indeed a small one. I love how compact and portable the stands look.

Nancy, thanks for all the advice and especially the height tip. I do use a bench so that's a great idea about measuring to make sure the I can rack the bar properly.

BTW, the bench I use is awesome. Out of all of my workout equipment, its one of my best purchases. It is the "Cap Barbell Fitness FID Bench". It was under $50 (and still is)! I've had it for a year and it's holding up just fine and it's very comfortable.

Back to the squat stands. This might be a silly question but do you actually use your barbell bar as the pull-up bar on the stands?

Does anybody remember what meso/disk it is that we'll be doing heavy squats and heavy barbell bench presses? I guess technically I don't really need the stands until then, right? And maybe by then we'll learn more about the Turbo Tower.

-Dawn
 


Like Nancy, I also have the Valor squat stands. Here is a picture of my set up. They work great for both bench press and squats. I don't use mine for pull ups as I have a separate pull up bar.
 
Wow Judi, thanks for sharing this picture! This helps SO much! I think those will work perfectly - and they don't look that huge.

Love your setup too - it's fantastic - so motivating!

Did I see that there was a thread somewhere in which everybody posted pictures of their setup? Or was I dreaming that?

Thanks again!
 
Maybe they're not showing up since I was linking them to a private album. I'll try it another way.

4676t-2010-06-06-14-45-08.jpg

4677t-2010-06-06-14-45-30.jpg

4679t-2010-06-06-15-10-49.jpg
 
Bummer Nancy, I still can't see them.

There is blank space when I view the post here on the forum. In my email alert I do see that you posted three pictures but when I click on their links I get a blank page. Weird.

Thanks for trying though! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top