"Standard" barbells/weights

[woahhh]

New to the forum and bodybuilding as well. Starting up my own home gym so I dont have to drive to the gym 6 times a week.. Looked on CL and found a 445 lb weight set for a good price. Thing is, I know very little about weight brands. The plates are olympic plates and made by "Standard" he says.. Never heard of that company. Looking for anyones opinions on this brand. I also heard some weight brands have weights that weigh less than advertized? (a 35 that actually weighs 33..) And yes I did search this and nothing came up.


Also I'm sure you guys get this a lot but what is a good reliable brand that has strong barbells and olympic plates that wont chip? i heard York is good and that is what my gym has.

Appreciate any responses.

[Keetman]

Its a really long answer if you want to know everything there is to know. I'll do what I can without making the post so long its cumbersome to read.

1) "Standard" Olympic plates are an ironic maker of oly plates. They have the 2" holes, but are labeled "standard" which confuses the new purchaser. Actual standard plates have 1" holes and are what home gyms (and I think even a lot of commercial stuff from earlier times) started with back in the day. They (the 1" hole plates) have largely went out of fashion. Weight is weight, but most people have moved to olympic plates.

2) Many of the plates that you'll get at retail establishments are the ones that might have consistent weight problems like you speak of. You might get a set that weighs what they say....or yours might not match. They are cast iron, so there might be differences in the process when the plates are created. Because they are sold cheap to the masses the manufacturers are going to spend less on making sure each plate weighs what it says it does. To some this matters, to others it doesn't. My plates are Yorks, but they aren't their most expensive line, so I imagine they might not match. I've never weighed any plates I've ever owned, so I guess I'm in the group that doesn't care.

I did meet one guy that was a competitive lifter. He had the weight of every single plate he owned written on it in perm. marker so he would know exactly what he was lifting. This was important to him because he needed to know where he was at.....in a meet he'd be lifting with calibrated (exact measured) plates and it would be important for his training to be spot on.

3) Good names??? Several, but the most sure way to get plates that say exactly what they weigh is to spend a ton or get calibrated plates (even more than spending a ton). Some good names included the Yorks you talked about, Ivanko, Troy, Eleiko, or Bodysolid. But now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure you, if you want to spend the money, that CAP makes a higher end plate that will compare to some of the higher end companies.

One caveat....even with these higher end names, I'm pretty sure they're plates are still all cast. They more expensive plates are more apt to be closer to exact, but they could still very well not weigh precisely what it says on the plate. The only way to know exactly what the plate weighs is to buy calibrated. These plates are cast, but they have a small threaded pocket in the plate front. Brass inserts are screwed into these pockets to add weight to the plate and bring it to the exact measured weight that is stated. These are used in matches/meets...but unless you're OCD, rich, or find them used.......you'll probably not want or need to drop the ridiculous amount of cash you'd need to in order to own these.




Ok, that was still long....but I did what I could. Hope it helps.

[woahhh]

Definitely lots of good info. I do like to know what I'm lifting, but its not that important.
So you don't know anything about the "Standard" brand though? Does anyone?

[Keetman]

They're fine. I don't know their history or where they are/were normally sold. I have run across a lot of them in my purchases/flipping over the last few years so I'm sure they're pretty common. I think they're a little nicer than the common "CAP" brand plates, but not sure.

I'd have no issues personally with putting them in my home gym as long as you don't pay a bunch for them.

[woahhh]

Good looking out man. Appreciate it