Tag Archives: weights

Plates in or out-Does it matter?

Leroy Todd performing a one hand deadlift with the weights having been properly loaded facing the inside

Leroy Todd performing a one hand deadlift with the weights having been properly loaded facing the inside

By Eric Todd

When I was a lad and began experimenting with weight training, what I had at my disposal was the old plastic clad concrete weights.  Nothing fancy, but they did the job for the time being.  On those clad weights, one side of the “plate” as identical to the other, so it did not matter which way you slid the plate on, they would match.

When I entered the 8th grade, which at that time was housed at Cameron High School, we had just hired on a new head football coach/PE teacher.  He had been a competitive powerlifter, and was quite invested in the weight room, so we got to experience some of his expertise in the weight room.  We had some decent equipment at the High School including some cast iron Olympic weight sets.  The protocol this instructor taught us was that we were to always load the weights face side in, smooth side out.  That was to be done without exception.  If it was ever noticed that the plate was loaded the wrong way, the guilty lad would be corrected, and there would be an expectation to fix the mistake.

So, for the rest of my life under the barbell, I have loaded the bar face in, smooth side out.  I have noticed at some meets, that is the expectation.  For the Heavy Lifts, I would insist upon it, as well as matching plates, since balance of the bar is crucial.  I have also witnessed individuals who habitually load plates the other way, and meets where it did not seem to matter to anyone.  With my kids now joining me to lift, though, I have taught them to always load the bar face in, smooth side out.

My question to you is, does it matter?  Or is it something that certain lifters/promoters are just obsessive about.  For instance, I was once training in a gym in which they would search the gym up and down to be sure they had matching tens on each side of the bar.  I found it silly, but perhaps there was a method to that madness.  I got joshed once by a confederate of mine for searching for two and a half pound plates to go for a PR.  He told me if I could be going for 5 more, 10 more (or adding fives instead of 2 1/2s ) would not really make that much difference.  And perhaps he is right, since we were not using calibrated weights anyhow.  At any rate, I want to hear from you all.  Does it matter which way the weights face?  Not that you will change my mind, but I am interested.  Discussion in the forum.

Weigh your Weights

by Thom Van Vleck

Have you ever weighed your weights?  You might be surprised.  Unless you are buying high end competition grade weights you need to understand that your weights could be off by not just ounces but several pounds!

Back in the day when you bought weights you had the choice of “Milled” and “Unmilled” weights.  Unmilled weights were cast iron right from the mold.  Milled weights had been milled, or had some metal removed, until the weight was exact.  The Milled plates were generally much more expensive so for training the unmilled plates were often bought and used.  It was common to check those plates as you knew they were off when you bought them.

The Jackson Weightlifting Club had both.  York sets that were competition grade and a Jackson set as well.  On each you can see the rings and swirls in the metal where the milling had taken place.  We also had some old Iron Man weights that were listed at 50lbs but one set was 57.5lbs while another was 47.5lbs.  Since they were the same style and all 4 plates looked the same we painted them different colors because if you loaded the lighter plates on one side of the bar you could find yourself 20lbs heavier on one end and 10lbs off overall.

So these days you don’t see “milled” and “unmilled” plates but don’t assume what you have is exact.  I blame cheap overseas manufactures but many cheap barbell plates are off the mark.  While they aren’t as bad as the Iron Man plates I mentioned above I have found 45lb plates off 3lbs in either direction.  Smaller plates are off as well but not as much.

So you might want to take the time to check the weight of your weights.  Who knows, maybe you have a new personal best and you didn’t even know it!