Guide To Buying Weight Plates

You should get Olympic weight plates if:

• You plan to do heavy workouts, for example, heavy deadlifts or squats
• You’re into competitive lifting or powerlifting.
• You have a gym that caters to heavy lifting.

There are several reasons why Olympic weight plates are better than standard disks or studio disks:

1. They are more versatile than standard plates and you can do more exercises with them.
2. Due to a wider center hole, Olympic plates are more stable.
3. The Olympic bars that use Olympic weights can handle more weight than other bars.

Yes, you can use concrete to build weight plates at home. However, you should only do this if you know the technique and have the right tools and protective equipment. Professionally created weight plates will be more durable, safer, and generally more accurate than DIY weight plates. Furthermore, once concrete starts chipping after repeated use, it will begin to reduce in weight.

You can clean your weight plates by using water and a mild detergent. Clean your weight plates every one or two weeks. If there’s rubber residue on the plates, you would need to put isopropyl alcohol and then rub it off.

If there’s rust on your steel weight plates, you can scrub/brush it off using a nylon/brass brush or sandpaper. Another way to clean off the rust is to soak the weight plate in a solution of 50% water and 50% vinegar for a day or two.

It depends on your requirements, your budget, and the type of exercises you intend to do. If you already have some plates and home and wish to get a different weight, go for a pair. If you are on a budget and can make do with fewer plates, you can get a pair. If you intend to do several exercises with different weight requirements, get a set. For example, the weight requirements of a deadlift are different from those of barbell curls. One advantage of buying a set is that you’ll get a better deal and you’ll save money.

Not if you use them right. Avoid dropping them on the floor. For avoiding damage to the floor, you can go for rubber/urethane plates instead of steel ones as they do not damage the floor if dropped.

To protect your floor, you can also invest in a rubber/foam floor mat.

Urethane is better than rubber because of its hardness and resistance to degradation. Urethane weight plates come in different colors and customizations, and they can take much more abuse than rubber plates. This is why commercial gyms prefer them over rubber plates. Another advantage is that they don’t smell as bad as rubber weight plates do when they’re new.

The only downside is their cost- urethane weight plates are pricier than rubber and stainless-steel plates, but if you purchase them from a recognized brand, you’ll get a good value for your money.

If you own a commercial gym, yes. If you have a home gym with a power rack or Smith machine you can use those machines to stack your weight plates if you don’t have many plates.

In the absence of any such machine, you should get a plate rack. It is safer, keeps your plates organized, and makes racking and unracking easy.