Plate & Barbell Sets

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Olympic Weight Sets for Sale: Barbell and Plates That Match An Olympic weight set is a barbell sold together with the plates that load it. The bar carries 2 inch sleeves and the plates are bored to 2 inches to match, so the set arrives as one order rather than a bar plus however many pairs of plates you worked out you needed. Sets differ from one another mainly in the plate material and in how much total weight comes with them. Cast Iron, Rubber Grip, or a Bumper Plate Set With a Bar? This is the decision that shapes everything else, and the question underneath it is simple: are you going to drop the bar? Cast iron is the most weight for the money and the least forgiving. It is loud, it will mark a floor, and it will chip if it lands hard. For pressing, squatting and controlled pulls it is entirely sufficient. Grip plates are the same cast iron with cutout handles molded in, which matters more than it sounds like it should when you are loading a bar by yourself, and rubber grip and iso-grip plates add an encased shell over that, which quiets the room. Bumper plates are a different product. They are solid rubber on a steel hub, every plate is the same diameter no matter what it weighs, and they are built to be dropped from overhead. If you are doing cleans, snatches or anything that ends with the bar leaving your hands, a barbell and bumper plate set is what you want. If you are not, bumpers cost more per pound and take up more room on the sleeve for weight you could have bought in iron. If you already own a bar and only need the rubber, our bumper plates are sold separately by the pair and by the set. How Much Weight: 300 lb Sets, 400 lb Sets, and Who Needs More Sets are named for a total, and on most of what we carry that total counts the bar. A 300 lb set is usually 255 pounds of plate and a 45 pound bar. The bumper sets are the exception, because their totals are plate only, so a 320 lb bumper set puts more plate on the floor than a 300 lb iron set does. 300 lb i