How much does that bar really weigh?

[the iron addict]

I had been training with low reps 5's, 3's, and an occasional double in preparation for a planned single max in the three powerlifts. Every eight months or so I do the three lifts in a meet style format, warm-up for the squat, then three attempts at a single. I then do the same for the bench and the deadlift, my girlfriend calls the lifts and I use a video recorder to check my form, depth of squat, lockout of deadlift, and overall performance. Its fun and the preparation training I do is a refreshing change from the higher reps I usually do the rest of the year.
Since I am attempting meet style conditions as much as possible I decided that calibrated plates were a must. I wanted to know exactly what I was lifting not close to what I lifted. I looked at calibrated plates from various manufactures. It didn't take long to realize that they were way out of my price range, true calibrated plates are very expensive.
Fortunately my place of Employment happened to have a scale in the shipping department that is calibrated by the department of weights and measures twice a year. I started to bring my plates to work daily to see what they weighed. I was very shocked to find out how much variation there was from plate to plate! I found 45's that weighed 43,
doesn't sound like much? Well, it does if the plate you match it with weighs 47! That's a four pound difference from only two plates, add two more 45's and you could be off balance eight pounds on one side!
Generally, in most cases, the plates tended to be heavier rather than lighter. That was a pleasant surprise as I found out I was squatting 9 pounds more and deadlifting 11 pounds more than I thought I was!
I found out that it doesn't matter a whole bunch how much you pay for your plates, as some of my expensive top name manufactured plates varied as much as the much less expensive no name brands. I have over 1000 lbs of Olympic plates in my garage gym and I weighed them all, it was time well spent. Here are a few reasons why.
Lifting an unbalanced bar can easily cause an injury, often if the bar feels unbalanced we naturally shift our grip or position on the bar to compensate, however if you set up for a heavy lift without checking balance and one side is significantly heavier, injury can result. This is specially true on heavy lower rep sets, but is also a factor at the end of a high rep set when fatigue sets in and form breaks down slightly.
Another big reason to know what your plates weigh, is if you are lifting Hardgainer style, you only add a small amount of iron to the bar for your weight increases. If you put the wrong plates on the bar, your planned 1 or 2-1/2 pound increase can be anywhere from many pounds light, to many pounds heavy. Of course there is more room for error when you get into the big lifts and have many plates on the bar.
Prior to weighing my plates I was usually, unknowingly lifting a different amount of weight each week even if I thought I had on the same amount on the bar.
Now that I know how much they weigh I keep certain plate combinations together so the load is always balanced. Any plate combinations that don't balance are dealt with by adding small plates to the light side. The load is balanced, I know exactly what I am lifting, and my poundage increments are precise, this makes lifting both safer and more satisfying.
With a little creativity it should be no problem finding an accurate scale to weigh your plates, try the post office or a company that ships product regularly, they should have a calibrated scale that is accurate to the tenth of a pound. If nothing else can be found, a common bathroom scale will do. It will at least give you an idea of how close, or balanced your plates are relative to one another. My inexpensive bathroom scale was amazingly close to the correct weight (within one pound) and will definitely indicate if one plate is a pound or more heavier than the next.
This is one area where home gym trainees have a decided advantage over commercial gym dwellers. The best advice I can give to those that train in a commercial gym is to always be cautious and check balance before lifting heavy, and if possible try to use the same plate combinations workout to workout, so your weight increases are consistent, although I realize in most gyms this is difficult at best and impossible at worst. And remember if the iron feels specially heavy one day, maybe it is!

IA

[creb]

More profound effects of the post in the 80-90% and upwards. Any less and the trainee has extra resources: enthusiasm, MP3 player, shouting and all the extra feelings you can afford with controllable weight.

[the iron addict]

Wtf?

[Bubbak]

Wtf?

Awsome man. Would have never though about that. Wicked find though.

[creb]

I mean its less of a concern having an uneven bar using a lighter weight. The traineee needs less than 100% focus on subtleties such as those you suggest.

Since the extra focus is not required it can be pumped into other things in your periphery. Things such as burning in the leg, for example, is merely a distraction that prevents a set from continuing, but these things become more and more perceptible the harder the set.

[kyokushin1]

Wow strong article

[the iron addict]

I mean its less of a concern having an uneven bar using a lighter weight. The traineee needs less than 100% focus on subtleties such as those you suggest.

Since the extra focus is not required it can be pumped into other things in your periphery. Things such as burning in the leg, for example, is merely a distraction that prevents a set from continuing, but these things become more and more perceptible the harder the set.

Well if a guy has a TRUE 1 RM max of 405 and just loaded 413 on the bar he is likely ****ed and will walk away from the session bummed. Getting a 5 lb PR doesn't mean much either if the bar was just 5 lbs light.

IA