Choosing the right weight plates for your home gym or fitness center can be crucial to getting the most out of your or your gym members’ training. The right choice of weight plates ensures they stay looking good and functional for many years to come. Therefore, it's important to select weight plates that suit your own and your members' training needs, and that are safe and durable. Below, Gymleco goes through the different types of weight plates, their uses, and what to consider when purchasing new weights.
Which Weight Plates Should I Buy?
Black weight plates with handles on a Gymleco-equipped gym.
Durable Weight Plates Are Worth the Investment
Weight plates are an incredibly important part of any gym, yet many people prioritize other equipment over weight plates when purchasing gear for their fitness center. Like all gym equipment, it's necessary to buy high-quality weight plates to ensure they last through heavy use over a long period without losing their appearance after just a few uses.
When you purchase high-quality weight plates, they also have resale value, so you can sell them later.
In other words, you're investing in weight plates so that you and your gym members can get the most out of your training, and so that you make an eco-friendly and sustainable choice. At Gymleco, for example, we offer weight plates made from polyurethane, which is the most durable material on the market. Perfect if you want weights that will look good year after year.
Gymleco’s weight plates with handles on an international barbell.
Important Measurements to Consider When Choosing Weight Plates
Two key measurements to consider when buying weight plates are the hole diameter and the overall diameter of the plate. Why is this important? The most common hole diameter for a weight plate is 50 mm, which fits well with all international barbells. However, there are also weight plates with hole diameters of 30 mm or 45 mm, which are used with narrower bars and school bars in functional training or group exercises. There are also school bars with 30 mm diameters. Therefore, it's important to make sure that you select weight plates that match the barbells you or your gym members use.
It’s also important to consider the total diameter when choosing weight plates. Depending on which weight plates you select, either the lighter weights will have the same diameter as the heavier ones, or they will decrease in diameter with lighter weights. In functional training, plates with the same diameter are often used because certain exercises are easier to perform this way. For example, when doing deadlifts, the bar is always at the same height from the ground. This means you don’t need to bend further down when using lighter weights.
Choose your weights based on the type of training you or your gym members typically do, or get several types of weight plates to add variety to the workout.
Weight Plates with Handles
Weight plates are available with or without handles. What you choose depends on how your gym and training look. If you have free weight machines at your gym, it may be a good idea to opt for weight plates with handles since they are easier to take off and put on the machines.
Weight plates with handles are also useful for compact gyms, as they allow you to perform exercises like triceps and shoulder exercises. This means you get multiple uses out of your weight plates.
If, on the other hand, you focus a lot on functional training and lifting above your head, it might be a better choice to opt for weight plates without handles, such as bumper weights. These are specifically designed for functional training with high shock absorption and are very soundproof.
If you are training for a powerlifting or weightlifting competition, it’s also important to choose weight plates based on that, but more on that later in the article.
Black or Colored Weight Plates
Weight plates come in all black, black with colored text, or in various colors. What you choose depends on the look you want for your gym. Do you want a sleek gym entirely in black, or do you want something that pops with color?
Colored weight plates also serve a purpose. The color is meant to make it easier to see which weight you’ve loaded onto the gym machine or barbell. According to international standards, 10 kg is green, 15 kg is yellow, 20 kg is blue, and 25 kg is red. If you or your gym members tend to load a lot of weight plates, it might be helpful to choose colored plates.
Weights for Functional Training or Strength Training
It’s important to choose weights based on what you train. If you mostly focus on functional training, like snatches or cleans, bumper weights are a great choice, as explained earlier in the article.
If you mostly do strength training, such as bench presses or hip thrusts, it might be practical to use weight plates with handles, as there will be a lot of loading and unloading of weights. Colored plates can also be useful, as you may frequently use multiple plates, especially for deadlifts.
Training for a Competition
When training for a competition, it’s important to choose weight plates that have minimal tolerance. This means the weight on the plate should match exactly what is listed. Our colored rubber weight plates, model number 824C, are specially made and go through strict quality control to ensure the least possible variation in weight and material between plates. This means they meet specifications that allow them to be used in competitions. They’re perfect for those who want to take their training to the next level and use professional weight plates that athletes use.
Looking for More Inspiration?
We hope this blog article has helped you in choosing weight plates. Contact us at Gymleco if you'd like to see how others have planned their gyms and why they've chosen their specific weight plates.
Right now, we have amazing prices on our weight plates as part of our big weight plate campaign, running through April 2023. Be sure to snag quality weights for your home gym or stock up on more weight plates for your gym.
