Olympic Bar and Plates

[headhuntr]

Just a quick question for you guys. I have a set of bars and plates at home but am looking at starting the Rippetoes Starting Strength program in the fall. Now I'll be doing the routine at the gym at my university for the fall, but then come winter I won't be able to most likely. I'm looking at getting a Power Rack for the routine to be able to continue it from home.

To the point. I've read and been told that the plates used for some of the exercises on the Rippetoe routine should typically be Olympic-sized plates. This for the reason of how far off the ground the bar will be. First off, is this a true help for the routine? I was wondering what the measurements were for these plates and bars (length, width, diameter for plates and bar, etc).

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[triplechris]

Olympic plates are 17 3/4" in diameter. So the bar is about half that off the ground. Also I assume there's lots of Olympic lifting involved? Crossfit?

YOu're going to want a Pendlay Crossfit bar I'll wager. And bumpers would be good.

And a platform.

And a concrete base under the platform.

And a gym on the ground floor.

And...well now you're talking about setting up a full time gym at home!

Seriously, if you're doing any Olympic lifts, or assistance oly lifts, you need a good Olympic bar. So no standard weights.

[triplechris]

Oh, and as I tell everyone, be careful when you drop the weights. You don't want to rippetoe.