Olympic Plates vs Rubber Bumper Plates

bumper olympic plates

Olympic Plates vs Rubber Bumper Plates

So, you want to do weightlifting. We appreciate you for this. And, if you’re planning for your own garage gym, you will need to add some weights.

Like other things, there are so many varieties of weight plates from which we need to choose. So, if you are not an experienced weight lifter, it can be hard to make a choice.

So, below I have explained both plates in detail which will help you choose the best as per your requirement.

Which Weight Plates Should We Buy?

Any training equipment that you will invest in for your home gym depends on the type of exercises you perform.

So let’s understand each type of weight plate in detail with the advantages of training with them.

CAST IRON OLYMPIC TRI-GRIP WEIGHT PLATES

  • Size Range : 1.25kg to 25kg
  • Material: Cast iron – A solid weight that is durable and long-lasting.
  • Tri-Grip Design: Ease loading and unloading of weights and also to hold securely.
  • Suitable for heavy lifting and endurance training.
  • Olympic size weights with 2″ diameter can fit in all Olympic bars.
  • Has precise cast for greater accuracy.
  • These weights can be used without a bar for boot camp-style training and core exercises.
  • Smaller in size and more slim weights, so acquire less space.
  • Silver/Grey finish.

Advantages Of Olympic Plates

  1. Strength Training – There is no magic for getting stronger. Even the top weightlifters use high weights of lesser sets for gaining muscle. However, incremental increases are going to be the key here. With weights as low as 1.25kg, this will ultimately carry you through to the next level as you train.

  1. Precision Training – The tri-grip weights are smaller in size and slim, so can be used on Olympic dumbbell bars and barbells. Using dumbbells in your training helps you target specific areas. This is perfect for sorting out problems of imbalance and the weak links in the chain.

  1. Compound Exercises – Tri-grip weights are perfect for squats and bench presses, so can be used for muscle gaining exercises and isolation exercises.

  1. Train Heavy – Having a more slim design means you can fit more weights on the bar depending upon the maximum load your bar can bear. This will help you do heavy exercises.

  1. Space Saving – Having a home gym doesn’t mean you require lots of space. But if you have very little space in your room, then having weights that are slimmer can really help. The tri-grip weights are much slimmer than the bumper plates, so can be kept in small spaces easily.

  1. Easy to Grip – Many times loading and unloading of plates are to be done for different exercises. So the tri-grip design of these plates gives you an easy hold.

BLACK OLYMPIC RUBBER BUMPER PLATES

  • Size Range : 5kg to 25kg.
  • Material: Solid Rubber Construction for absorbing impact and protecting weight bar and flooring.
  • Centre ring of Stainless steel to protect your equipment from damage over time.
  • All weights have the same diameter regardless of their weight which creates greater symmetry and is quite similar to competition weights.
  • Suitable for heavy lifting and endurance training.
  • Olympic size weights with 2″ diameter can fit in all Olympic bars.
  • Generally, it is black finished but also available in different colour coding for easy identification and quick and easy weight change.

Advantages of Rubber Bumper Plates-

Following are the benefits of using rubber bumper plates:

  1. Olympic Lifting and Powerlifting – Rubber bumper plates have been designed for competition-type liftings such as deadlifts, snatches, clean and press, where most likely you drop the weights after completing the movement. The rubber composition of these plates helps them absorb the impact of the drop which protects your bar and flooring from getting cracked.

  1. Deadlifts –  Bumper plates are best for bulking so you can load up your bar and do heavy training. Although the 25kg plates are quite thick (8.4cm), these bars can withstand loads up to 220kg (480lb), without limiting bar space.

  1. Easy Identification – Weight changes are done several times for different exercises, which tends to be tedious. And searching around for the right weights slows down your training. So the coloured bumper plates follow a colour coding which makes it easier to identify the weight size you need without having to read all the plates first.

  1. Barbell-free Training – Bumper plates are good for boot camp-style training. As they help you train your grip. They have the right diameter to keep your arms parallel, so use them for exercises such as farmer’s walks, Russian twists, rotational moves, and core work.