Before seeing this product, I thought that freeweight squats were the one exercise that one needs to go to the gym for. But these squat stands, due to their being two units, are a very compact alternative to a full squat cage. The product is a lot more stable than it looks - the center of gravity is low due to heavier materials being used in the bottom than in the top, and due to foreshortening in the product image, if you actually look at the stands from the top, you'll see that it has a large, stable footprint. I found these to be very stable even if placed on plush carpet. You can also adjust the middle pins so that they'll spot you. They look small for the job in the picture, but in a controlled failure, I can easily just allow those pins to take the weight. Sometimes I'll even do that deliberately in order to prepare for another exercise, for example, deadlifts, shrugs, upright rows, or even biceps curls. I place the bar there to add or change weights. I think it's even possible to put an empty bar on the top and do chinups, although this would be a bit awkward, and is obviously not what it's made for. But that's just one of the many possible uses that shows the flexibility of this product. It also has a bit of redundancy you can't easy see in the picture that makes it feel even safer. There's a steel pin that backs up the main pin. The main pin can be turned to screw into place. At the top, there's a pin you can hook over the bar to hold it in place (although I can't think of anything that could accidentally bump a 45 lb olympic bar off the stand).
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