45s in my gym (commercial) are old and some makes (fatter, not as large radius) weigh 41ish and some larger, thinner ones weigh ~47. pretty lame.
how common is this
Sometimes plates can give the appearance of weighing more or even give the feeling that they weigh more because they are thicker and therefore make the weight on the bar extend further out. I believe that this makes it harder to do any compound exercise. Some plates, if they are iron, can deteriorate over time and become lighter (along with some overused barbells).
I don’t ever think I’ve encountered plates that legitimately weigh 5-7 pounds more than the other ones that are supposedly the same weight, but I’m sure it’s possible nowadays lol.
Not so much weight’s, but Ive seen alot of diffrent bar weights.
At a seminar, Dave Tate told us that he commonly sees plates that weigh +/- 3 pounds from what is stamped on the plate. He said this is why magnetic weights (PlateMates) are better in a home gym setting, as you’re sure that you’re always using the exact same plates.
I have weights at my house that are from the seventies and they are very inaccurate. The 50lb plates(which you hardly ever see a 50lb plate) is like 47-48lbs. The 25lbs and 20lbs are both like 3-4lbs lighter and the 10 and 5lb plates seem to be pretty accurate. Makes a huge difference when you add em all up.
I haven’t weighed plates, but I am sure the ones (Ivanko) at my gym cannot be far off.
When (it’s rare, but I’ve done it) I misload for a squat end-for-end by even 2.5 lb, it’s instantly obvious – more than obvious – on unracking the weight.
Sooner or later, the plates would by chance wind up as all light on one side and all heavy on the other.
But there has never been a noticed difference in balance, so I think it’s fair to say the specific Ivanko’s in question can’t be even half a pound off each. I’m sure they’re not dead on as that would be more costly, but they have to be basically right.
No doubt there are cruddy brands also. What Brian14 describes is just horrendous.
Ivankos- even the regular cast pound plates- are right on. I have weighed them on a regular two-beam doctor’s scale and they were dead on. Off brands and sometimes even good old York 45s seem to vary a pound or two.
I weigh all the plates I use when I am determining what my second attempt will be. I worked out that what looked like 440lb on the bar was actually closer to 430lb before my last comp.
Some of the York plates at my gym are spot-on, others are considerably under. Most of them have chips missing. Interestingly, the newest plates at my gym, which are Chinese, are quite accurate.
I refuse to weigh my plates because I don’t want to know. If I found out some were 2-3lbs lighter than the others, I would have to make sure everything was even on each side for every set, and if I found out I was lifting 5-10lbs less than expected, it would mess with my head leading up to a meet. I’d just rather not know.
I have misloaded a Squat attempt with a 2.5lb on one side and a 10lb on the other and didn’t notice until I went to change the weight for my next set. I think with Squats it’s so easy not to be 100% on center when you unrack it, that a couple of lbs would be tough to notice.
We have a couple bastard 45 lb plates at our gym that we all swear must be at least 50 lbs.
my buddies and i have noticed on squatting and pressing that one side was always heavier than the other. we thought it was the bar since we kept tilting in that direction. turns out its the stacked plates!
Easily different brands and different aged plates will be different. I have a set at home which includes multiple sets of 45’s, and needed 2 additional 45’s. Bought some basic iron ones, new, made in china. The next week I loaded up the bar and just felt horrible. The week before I was pushing an easy 5 reps with the weight, however that week I could barely get 4.
It never occurred to me to weigh them until that moment. My old ones were about 2 pounds light. The new ones were about 1 or 2 pounds heavy. That’s as much as 8 pounds extra from one week to the next! I felt better that I lifted 8 pounds more, but all my numbers up to that point were a little off. Live and learn.
when i worked at a gym a couple years back, a buddy and I actually took the time to weigh some of the plates (it was 11 pm on a saturday and there was a wicked rainstorm… the place was empty and we were bored). after about 5 plates, we were shocked at how shitty our plates really were. on the 45’s, 5 lbs ± was about as good as it got in most cases.
amazing that!! allways learning…! a few years ago i were training in a commercial gym and there was some eleiko’s 35’s and 45’s aged plates (older model color on the rims) and some green and yellow 10kg ones. i did some workouts whith some of them… now i ask myself if they were under or upper and how under or upper? can anyone tell me that?
Unless you have competition calibrated plates I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a couple of pounds off. I remember reading on the eleiko site, i think, that they used to have to weigh out record attempts because the plates were so inaccurate. I’m with Modi, I’d rather not know. You should have the mindset that +/1 a couple pounds isn’t gonna make the difference anyways.
thanks! but could some sweden eleiko plates be competition plates…and be weigghing off (lees accurate)??
and pvoosen you said you read on the eleiko site, that they used to have to weigh out record attempts because the plates were so inaccurate, you were talking about some eleiko (olympic or not) plates weigghing off/up?
any way, if i were squatting with two 45’ and two 35’, the poundage could be under 1-2lb, even that eleiko plates were competition ones…
i read somewere that in general old plates tend weigghing under and new ones tend weigghing under?is that true?
at the powerlifting gym in the area, the old slim 45’s seem heavier. at the school gym the plates seem lighter. hard to say as the school scale weighs heavy, not sure how much.
Ive noticed differences in some of the older bars in my gym compared to the newer ones.
I prefer the older ones simply because they have a little more bend to them for years of abuse.
Some of the newer ones feel lighter, this seems very suspect, its computerized milling/casting for the bars and plates, it should be pretty dead on unless they are using different stock, in terms of the metal pellets they are casting with.
yeah! besides i don´t know exactly what’s the difference between training olympic plates and olympic plates …and competition ones…??