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Purchasing weight plates for home gym.

Goosey said:
If "expensive" means beyond his means then none.

if some dude regardless of age is looking at building his own gym in his own garage or back porch and has no experience in lifting in a gym then he's looking at a very short hobby IMO.
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With Olympic bars you have $100 bars then the 3-600 range. What benefit do you have by getting something more than the $100 one wether you can afford it or not.
 
I'll always coin the phrase 'buy the best you can afford'. I know there are diamonds in the rough sometimes, but as a rule of thumb purchasing quality usually costs.
Not that I have a great deal of experience buying gym equipment, the above is the advice I'll offer.
 
Bazza20 said:
With Olympic bars you have $100 bars then the 3-600 range. What benefit do you have by getting something more than the $100 one wether you can afford it or not.
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what are the fundamental differences between the $100 and the $300?
serious question.

i have a cheap bar too, it's a dog.

ive played around with pendlays, how much are they? Too me their nothing special
im just saying the abc feels very nice on my back.
 
Puggy said:
I'll always coin the phrase 'buy the best you can afford'. I know there are diamonds in the rough sometimes, but as a rule of thumb purchasing quality usually costs.
Not that I have a great deal of experience buying gym equipment, the above is the advice I'll offer.
Click to expand...

I agree with that on many things not all though.
 
Goosey said:
what are the fundamental differences between the $100 and the $300?
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Assuming new... the cheaper one is usually 32mm in diameter instead of 28mm, and has either very soft knurling and chrome (that does chip off over the years) or cheese grater knurling. It's also a less whippy steel, so a bit rough to use for the quick lifts, and more likely to permanently bend with long use.
 
I think the main point is will someone training at home for non competition training benefit from as $500 bar to justify the expense??

If funds are unlimited I would buy a $1000 bar and be happy with it, but since I can think of many things I would rather spend $1000 on I am happy to be using my home made squat bar that cost me $30 in material and and hour of my spare time to make, been using it for around 15-20 years and it's still fine with my Gumtree bought weight plates, made bench bar at the same time also been going for the same 15-20 years.

Pretty sure my son and his mates will be using the same bars in another 10 years time.

I have dead lifted 195kg with a $45 bar I bought off eBay 8 years ago, my home made bars have been used to squat 170kg and bench 136kg. Not competition worthy weights but more than 98% of home trainers will ever lift.

Like I said if I had unlimited finds I would get the best gear money can buy, but at my current income level I am happy to use stuff that does the job safely for the least amount of $$ out of my pocket.
 
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Kyle Aaron said:
Assuming new... the cheaper one is usually 32mm in diameter instead of 28mm, and has either very soft knurling and chrome (that does chip off over the years) or cheese grater knurling. It's also a less whippy steel, so a bit rough to use for the quick lifts, and more likely to permanently bend with long use.
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One of my expensive bars is bent the cheap one is fine.

For an actual gym or training clients get the better stuff any day of the week. For a home gym it isn't going to matter. You'll get a bit of extra grip work out of the cheap bar. The guy at home isn't likely doing oly lifts. In any case I did power cleans with a standard bar and no spinning collar for years as well.
 
Haven't been following closely here, however I do have 4x20kg Olympic disks for sale if anyone's interested. Should there be someone interested, I'd be happy to take some photos for them. Thanks.
 
If you have bumper plates... it makes sense to get 2x 10,15,20,25 as you end up with the green/yellow/blue/red

If you are going a single shade plate (bumper or steel) than its easier to mathematically work with 2x 1.25, 2x 2.5, 2x 5, 2x 10, 2x 20.

If you need 15, 10+5, that covers the need for a '15' kg plate.

If you want a 25kg, you already got a 5 and a 20 in that setup, therefor, you already got 25kg.

Can just get 10x 20s for 200kg,

Makes it easier with round numbers to know how ur progressing.
 
Bazza20 said:
Why does colour of the plates make a difference?
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It doesn't.

There's also no small increments that list of bumpers. You think just because you have bumpers you'll be able to increase your lifts in 20kg increments? Lol
 
Increase in 20kg increments?

I was thinking 25!

Well...

The colour makes a difference to me.

If you start with a green either side...

You then add the 1.25kg (iron) and 2.5kg (iron) as incremental.

There is a black 5kg Bumper plate.

Anyway...

Once you progress past the green one, the next one on is yellow. Once u finish on yellow (with the 1.25 2.5 and 5s) then ur up to blue then up to red.

Once you got a red on + 1.25, then red + 2.5, or whatver.. the next one is leave the red on add a green, then leave red on add a yellow, then leave red on add a blue, now ur up to 2 reds either side. And repeat, red with green, red with yellow etc.

You dont even have to be able to count it. The colours just work out that way mathematically for you.

IF there all black, then it all gets confusing.

So easier to have 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 (10+5 you already got = 15), then 20, (20+5 you already got = 25).

Makes sense to me!
 
At my work gym all the bumpers are black. At my gym in Perth the red bumpers are 2.5kg, white are 5kg. Colour matters not....
If you can't tell what weight the plates are from the difference in size you've got issues
 
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