Weight Plates

If you want to venture into heavy lifting, weight plates are crucial to add to your home gym. With various types, sizes, and prices, you’ll need to know how to navigate the process of finding the weight plates that best suit your fitness needs.

While iron weight plates are considered the ‘traditional’ choice, rubber weight plates are becoming increasingly popular. While both options ultimately serve the same purpose, there are finer details to contemplate when making your decision.

What are weight plates?

Weight plates are flat, heavy objects typically made of cast iron or rubber, and are a staple in most free weight programs. They should fit on any standard weight bar, to add resistance, and can be used in a number of ways to target just about any muscle group.

What Are Weight Plates Made Of?

Standard weight plates are available from 0.5kg to 20kg weights and are most often made of cast iron or steel with a soft rubber coating (known as ‘bumper plates’).

Bumper plates are generally used to protect the weight plates, as well as the floor of your workout space, which can sustain heavy damage from a dropped iron plate.

Standard plates have two-inch central holes to fit the barbells, while some larger plates might have several other holes spread around the plate to make it easier to handle.

How Much Do Weight Plates Cost?

A standard weight plate can cost you upwards of £3 per kg.

Iron plates tend to be cheaper than rubber plates. While a 20lb rubber plate and a 20lb iron plate might serve the same purpose, a rubber plate is more durable and sports a heftier price tag.

Why Are Weight Plates So Expensive?

Many are taken aback when they realize how expensive weight plates can be, but the price is justified by a few reasons.

Firstly, due to the weight and size of the average weight plate, a great deal of high-density material is used to make them. Using large amounts of raw material like iron or rubber adds up.

Secondly, because weights are incredibly heavy, the transportation of the raw materials, as well as the finished product, is going to be more expensive.

Finally, ensuring quality in manufacturing, and maintaining quality control, requires more money.

You might opt for a set of a variety of weighted plates, as different workouts might require different weights. This will add up, but if sold together as one set, it will likely cost less than buying those weight options individually.

What type of weight plates are best?

The type of weight plates that best suit you will differ, depending on where you work out, what you can afford, and what is most comfortable for you. You might even opt to collect a combination of iron and rubber plates.

But if you do want to choose one or the other, rubber plates edge out iron plates.
With higher durability, you can throw them around or drop them without concern about damage to the plates, or the floor.

It might cost you slightly more than iron plates but will certainly last you longer.

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