If you're slowly but surely building your home gym, you're probably in need of bumper plates. These are an essential part of any modern (home) gym and choosing the right ones needs some research and insights. Even if you're a beginner exerciser, you should consider long-term investments. This is why you should check various bumper weight plate weights and models.
Here's what you need to know.
How Many Weight Plates Do You Need?
When making your home gym, you'll need a proper amount of weights including 2 plates of 20kg plates, 2 of 11kg plates, 2 of 4.5kg plates, 2 of 2 kg plates and 2 of 1kg plates. Let's say you're just beginning to do bench press with just the bar and want to continue adding weight so every workout becomes a bigger challenge that makes you stronger. During this workout (after you used the bar) you can lift a total weight of 20 to 22kg by simply adding 1kg to the bar. You can keep adding the plates as your strength progresses and you feel more confident in your lifting.
Types by Function
Training Bumper Plate
Every bumper weight plate has a different thickness and diameter. Bumper plates have a constant diameter, and the thickness only varies. These plates are made to the size and weight standards established by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). An Olympic-sized plate (450 mm in diameter, 50.4 mm for steel hub) is made of thick, dense rubber, designed to make it safe when lowering a loaded bar from the top position of the snatch or jerk movement without damaging the floor, the bar, or the bumper.
Bumper plates have the same weight range as traditional cast-iron weight plates. In the past, weightlifters used cast iron plates which proved to be unsafe and impractical. These plates were created for Olympic Game competitions and as the years passed, their use was expanded to commercial gyms for home use. Many bumper plates today have a steel hub in the centre that gives weight without adding thickness.
Training bumper plates are the most common bumpers and are usually finished in black. You can find other colour versions with cool graphics as well. They use a metal ring, making them thicker than a competition plate. This restricts the amount of weight that can be loaded onto the bar and makes the plate more likely to warp. For these reasons, training bumper plates are more affordable than other types. If you spot a marking "Olympic" on a bumper plate, it's compatible with Olympic bars.
Competition Bumper Plate
These plates conform to the IWF specifications for size, tolerance, and colour. They're made of a solid steel core embedded into a solid rubber plate, which helps to lower the plate thickness by about 40%. If you're an athlete, this is a much better option for you since it allows you to use a sturdy rubber plate to maximize the bar's load area.
The steel corners you can see in bumper plates are constructed in two parts and then bolted together to keep the rubber tight. The steel hub is heavy so you can mount it on a bar. These are also available in different colours and are usually quite expensive. Competition bumper plates have more dead bounce than training bumper plates although the bounce mainly depends on the durometer shore rating of the plate materials.
Technique Plates
Technique plates are one-piece solid plate and are the same size as a training bumper. These plates are made of solid plastics (polyethylene) and are usually available at 2.5 kg, 3.75 kg and 5 kg. Since they’re quite light, technique plates are best for beginners who want to incorporate lifting into their exercises without putting too much weight and pressure. Technique plates are great for improving technique and allow you to balance the bar without contending with heavy weight.
They’re also great for use during rehabilitation training and serve as a transition to standard bumper plates. Buying them solo can be quite pricy, so it's a better choice to get two pairs at most. Made of simple one-piece rubber without any steel hub around the centre hole, these plates are great for indoor use on rubber flooring.
Change Plates and Fractional Plate
Change Plate
A “change plate” is a small plate with a much smaller diameter than a standard plate. The common weights are 0.5 kg, 1 kg, 1.5 kg, 2 kg, 2.5 kg and 5 kg. When you're adding 5kg to your bar it can feel like it’s too much; this is when change plates come to play. You can gradually increase your weight without causing too much pressure.
Fractional Plate
Change plates can be combined with fractional plates, both of which are suitable for adding a small amount of weight. The difference between these two is in incremental degree. Compared to change plates, fractional plates drop from 1 Kg to 0.125 Kg. Fractional plates weigh a fraction of 1 kg which allows for a “micro load”. These plates are perfect for competition and you can add them to the bar without removing the collar.
Types of Materials
There are three common types of materials used for bumper plates - virgin rubber, crumb or recycled rubber and urethane. The virgin rubber is denser and has less bounce but will prevent your plates from bouncing too much when they hit the floor. The crumb or recycled rubber, as the name suggests is made from used tires or waste rubber sources. It's cheaper, softer and bounces higher. Urethane is a synthetic compound that combines the best features of plastic and rubber. It produces the required bounce and weight, and has excellent wear resistance, cutting resistance, and tear resistance. It also remains flexible enough to resist impact damage and deformation.
