Valor squat stands and other sold out items...

[Dela]

Ok, seriously, the buying power of Cathe followers is pretty amazing. So once STS started up, the Cathe vests and bands have been very hard to find, they keep selling out.

A few weeks ago, I "bought" the valor squat stands from overstock.com, but then received an apology email because they were actually out of stock. So I was looking around again tonight, and so far so many sites are out of stock, I was hoping to get them at a better price, so I'm going to hold out a while longer, I keep flip flopping on if I really need them, I have a heavy weighted vest anyway.

But I just think it's pretty cool the purchasing power that (I think) stems from these boards.

 

[Pearlstrand]

I have those!

Dela,
I bought those Valor squat stands from Overstock months ago. They've been sitting in a box until Wednesday night, when I put them together.

Frankly, I was intimidated by the assembly process, but they were a breeze to put together (and I'm not very talented with tools). They were well-packaged and had the wrenches you needed to tighten the bolts.

They work well for pull-ups -- I put a 9-lb body bar (but you could use a regular weight-lifting bar) across the stand (on the lowest setting) and do pull-ups from there. I would be unable to do more than one regular pull-up otherwise, but this arrangement makes it possible for me to do them modified.

 

[Dela]

Thanks Kathryn! I read your post on another thread, and it made me think to google these again. I hate putting stuff together, which was one of my concerns too, but I could probably talk my DH into doing this one.

Overstock still has them listed, but Out of Stock, they have the best price, so I'll leave this one up to them, if they restock, I'll buy, if not, then I'll just deal with the vest.

I have these equalizer bars I use for the pullups, not great, but doable, these have like 3 pieces to screw together, and even that I managed to get uneven!

 

[Pearlstrand]

Dela, I looked at all different pull-up systems (my doorway is too wide for most of them, and I don't want to screw anything into the walls or ceiling). The fact is, I can't do a decent pull-up anyway, so it would be a waste for me. Better for me to do a modification that I can actually perform for more than two seconds. Anyhow, I know that I will get a lot of use out of the squat stands because I can squat with heavy weight but just can't get the bar safely up over my head.

I thought a long time about it because I don't like clutter and unnecessary stuff, but this seemed to be something I would actually use. They seem well-made and I was able to put them together without DH's help, which is really a credit to their instructions and construction. Also, it was very well-packaged, with all of the screws and small parts carefully shrink-wrapped so the pieces didn't get lost in transit. That sort of quality and attention to detail made me feel that it was worth it.

Try to keep an eye out for special offers at Overstock (free shipping, discounts). I have done well using those -- for example, I ordered kettlebells with free shipping in December. If you know anything about kettlebells, you know they're very expensive to ship.

Good luck and I hope they restock soon!

 

[NancyAZ]

Dela,
I bought those Valor squat stands from Overstock months ago. They've been sitting in a box until Wednesday night, when I put them together.

Frankly, I was intimidated by the assembly process, but they were a breeze to put together (and I'm not very talented with tools). They were well-packaged and had the wrenches you needed to tighten the bolts.

They work well for pull-ups -- I put a 9-lb body bar (but you could use a regular weight-lifting bar) across the stand (on the lowest setting) and do pull-ups from there. I would be unable to do more than one regular pull-up otherwise, but this arrangement makes it possible for me to do them modified.

I admire your tenacity. Those were the worst wrenches in the world and I was so happy to have "real" ones to be able use.

You may have missed it in another thread where you posted about using the stands for pullups. A few of us were wondering whether these are really stable enough for that and whether you put additional weight on the bar. I see from your post that you don't. Are you stabilizing the bases any further or doing anything else special with them? I want to experiment with this tomorrow, as the resistance tubing I bought just isn't resistant enough and it was the extra heavy.

 

[workoutaholic]

I also ordered those valor squat stands from homegymcentral.com and then got an email saying they were out of stock. I'm finally seeing notes on different websites saying they will be available in April. I am doing Chalean Extreme and would love to have them now, but I'll really need them when I do STS. Hopefully I'll be able to grab some up when the become available!

 

[Pearlstrand]

Nancy...

I admire your tenacity. Those were the worst wrenches in the world and I was so happy to have "real" ones to be able use.

You may have missed it in another thread where you posted about using the stands for pullups. A few of us were wondering whether these are really stable enough for that and whether you put additional weight on the bar. I see from your post that you don't. Are you stabilizing the bases any further or doing anything else special with them? I want to experiment with this tomorrow, as the resistance tubing I bought just isn't resistant enough and it was the extra heavy.

Nancy, those were awful wrenches! If I'd known where DH keeps the real ones, I wouldn't have bothered with them! A total nightmare, but I got it done anyway.

To answer your stability question: I'm using a 9-lb body bar (the lightest I have) across the stand. I'm doing this for two reasons: 1) I need my barbell for the workout; and 2) the padding on the bodybar makes it easier on the hands.

I'm not doing anything else to stabilize the stands, but I wanted to mention that I'm not doing real pull-ups; I'm doing the kind where your body is extended straight (heels on the floor) and pulling up from there. Maybe this body position makes the stand more stable. I don't know how it would be to do the cross-legged pull up where you're lifting your entire body weight. I just can't perform that move.

Also, I have the stand on the lowest setting. I think that raising it would make it tippier by moving the center of gravity higher up.

If instability becomes and issue, I can throw a very heavy weight plate on the stand to stabilize it (we have a weight machine with some giant plates that get no use!).

Pull-ups are supposed to be a great exercise (and there are so many of them in the program), but you've got to find a variation that you can perform without it being too easy (as tubing pull-down was for me).

I hope this helps.

 

[NancyAZ]

Thanks, Kathryn. I'm going to play around with the bar and stands and see how it works for me. I would be doing them with my legs straight out, as well.

 

[NancyAZ]

Thanks, Kathryn. I'm going to play around with the bar and stands and see how it works for me. I would be doing them with my legs straight out, as well.

Just wanted to post an update on this. I gave it a test run today (not in an actual workout) and it worked just fine. It is plenty sturdy and stable enough for my purposes. Thanks again.