Choosing Olympic Weight Plates for Your Home Gym
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Olympic weight plates are simply the plates that you put on a weight bar in which to give you a certain amount of pounds that you use in weightlifting. They are usually made of heavy duty materials such as steel or cast iron and can be found at almost any sporting good store, discount store or online at a fitness site. They are extremely important to any home gym user who is looking for strength training and weightlifting pieces to enhance their overall muscle function and power.
Weight plates are wonderful because since they come in a variety of sizes, you are not held back by a set amount of weight. You can continue to add on the Olympic weight plates as you get stronger so essentially, the sky is the limit in how much power you can build up. They give you a full range of exercise as well when you put them on the Olympic weight bar and can offer you almost a full workout just with the weight plates itself. When it comes to free weight training, you certainly cannot get a full workout without them.
Starting Your Olympic Weight Plate Search
Choosing Olympic weight plates may seem difficult at first, especially if you are new home gym user. You first want to make a checklist of what exactly you want out of weight training and then figure out what your long term goals are. Are you just building up strength to tone up your muscles or are you considering serious weightlifting? Are you planning on doing this long term or is it something that you want to try out? Since many weight plates come in Olympic weight plate sets you are better off figuring out many pounds you may need so you can buy the entire set at once. If you are unsure, you can buy them separately and add to your weight set later on.
Olympic Weight Plates in Detail
The Olympic weight plate is used by most home users who are training for competitive weightlifting competitions. They fit the standard seven foot Olympic weight bar which all weightlifters use. The plates themselves have a 2-inch hold in the center of the plate to fit onto the ends of the weight bar. They range from 1lb to a whopping 100lb for the more advanced user. Unlike the standard weight plates, the Olympic weight plates need to be specifically added to a 7-foot Olympic weight bar and cannot be mixed and matched with a standard weight bar, which will not hold their weight if you add too many plates.
Grip and Protective Coating
One of the most important aspects of Olympic weight plates are their grip and protective coating. The standard weight plates come with plastic coating which protects the edges but they are much less durable and most true weightlifters find their weight to be inaccurate which can cause a serious problem if you are planning on weightlifting professionally. Also, the plastic can loosen over time which makes them dangerous for home gym use. The cast iron Olympic weight plate sets are the best to choose from. This is because they also have the ability to be gripped more firmly because they have hollow sides that work as handles. This helps you from accidentally dropping the weight plate. All of the weight plates you choose should be sandblasted to make sure they not only look good but it gives the protective coating a long lasting life. This will make it chip resistant and allow you to use the same Olympic weight plates for years.
Types of Olympic weight plates
When choosing Olympic weight plates for your home gym, you actually need to buy more than one kind. First you have the iron plate which is the basic Olympic weight plate and where you get the bulk of your weight from. But you also should invest in a quality pair of Olympic bumper plates. Those are the plates that you put on the end which give the iron or stainless steel plates more security in staying put while you are lifting. They range in weight from 5 to 50 pounds and are grooved around the rim so they bump up to the iron plates more securely. Lastly, for those who like the look of rubber encased weight plates, you can get a set of these which give you a thicker hub for easier grip and a sleeker look. For those that do not like the iron appearance, these make an excellent choice in Olympic weight plates.
Olympic weight plates are ingredients of Olympic weight sets. They are plates that give weight to the bell bar and are hanged on to it. In an Olympic weight set, you will have one Olympic bar, 2 plates of 45lb plates, 35lb, 25lb, 10lb, four plates of 5lb plates and two plates of 2.5lb along with that of spring collar. Olympic weight plates have grey hammer tone, acrylic finish. They are available both in pounds as well as in kilos. They are also very durable. Olympic weight plates come with a bigger hole in the centre to accommodate the rotating sleeve of the barbell. In order to facilitate easy handling, the Olympic weight plates have a thicker ring around the RAM.
