Plates For House Use

[quikky]

I'm planning on building a home gym in the near future. It will be inside the house in a small room, about 10x10ft. My plan is to put together a standard plywood and horse mat platform and most likely get an R3 rack.

Since the lifting will be done inside the house, I'm wondering what plates to go with. I like the idea of the Rogue competition plates. I am also considering getting good bumpers such as the Rogue Training 2.0 since they are fairly thin, relatively speaking, at 2 inches flat. My main concern is noise and floor damage. The house foundation is concrete slab.

Anyone lift inside the house? Curious about plate selection.

[michael]

I lift in a 9x10ft room.

I have milled Troy plates. You don't need bumpers.

An R3 would be a tight fit. I have S-1 squat stands and spotter arms.

I haven't caused any problems deadlifting.

I actually liked my cheap iron better because the plates were thinner.
I'm running out of storage space for deep dish plates.

[mgil]

@quikky what’s your budget?

Also, have you started combing your local Craigslist?

[cwd]

I also have a Rogue S1. I'd rather have the full-height stand or a full cage, for chins, but the S1 works fine.

Iron plates on a platform of: 3/4" OSB, 1/2" plywood, 1" rubber stall mats, has not damaged concrete floors for me over many years. But my deadlift max is only 355...

I recently got a couple pairs of Rogue HG bumpers for power cleans, I really appreciate how much quieter they are, and how much less sore I get power cleaning because I no longer have to catch the bar at the hang.

If you've got budget for some bumpers, they are worthwhile.

[quikky]

@quikky what’s your budget?

Also, have you started combing your local Craigslist?

Don't have a set budget, but I wouldn't necessarily buy the most expensive stuff unless it was really worthwhile.

Let's say under $3k for everything.

I have been looking at Craigslist but not much luck so far. Lots of crappy benches, squat stands, and mismatched cheap plates in my area.

[TimK]

@quikky what’s your budget?

Also, have you started combing your local Craigslist?

Don't have a set budget, but I wouldn't necessarily buy the most expensive stuff unless it was really worthwhile.

Let's say under $3k for everything.

I have been looking at Craigslist but not much luck so far. Lots of crappy benches, squat stands, and mismatched cheap plates in my area.

If you expand your search radius and are willing to drive a bit, you might have better luck. I picked up 645lbs of Ivanko plates for $1/lb, but I had to spend a day driving to Chicago to pick them up (3.5 hours one way).

[mgil]

@quikky, I would recommend a rack with built in plate storage.

The Rogue stainless steel OPB would be just about the perfect bar now for a home gym.

A good rack, bench, and that bar would be under $2k. Then you’ve got money to spend on plates and stuff.

I do think that buying the Rogue competition bumpers or training bumpers is a great solution for home gyms if the budget allows.

[broseph]

I’ve lifted with iron plates on a concrete slab for years. 1 layer OSB, 1 layer stall mat. Max deadlift 545.

Fancy plates, however, are a luxury few would refuse given the resources.

[Sumo]

If you use bumpers, don't buy anything budget and super thick because you'll end up running out of space on the bar for deadlifts when you get strong enough, if you aren't already.

Competition plates, assuming you mean powerlifting plates, are super expensive and not really worth the luxury premium unless you plan to compete or have the money to splurge, or both.

Cast iron is the best of both worlds, thin enough that you can load heaps and still have room on the bar, but not so thick that it affects bar whip when you deadlift or squat with them. If you have a rack you lift in, dumping the bar and damaging the plates or floor is not really an issue due to safeties. However, the main thing is that they clang really loudly, which could be an issue if you lift inside the house, in a room without good soundproofing.

[michael]

The Rogue stainless steel OPB would be just about the perfect bar now for a home gym.

It could have been, but they chromed the sleeves.

[thejosef]

Hard to go wrong with Rogue competition (or training) bumpers. Super accurate (~15g), small enough profile on the bar for 99% of lifters, they look sweet, deadlifting with bumpers is niiiice, and you can always do some Oly stuff if you so desire. They'll be easier on floors too. 3/4" Horse Stall mats is PLENTY protection, unless you plan to get serious about Oly lifts, then you need to think about building a legit platform. I lifted in a 10x10 space indoors for a couple years. It worked out, but it sucked that I couldn't make much noise with a baby two rooms over. Bumpers, a quality bar, and horse stall mats do help a good bit with that though.

[PapaSmurf]

I’d much rather have the Ipf calibrated plates than bumpers. I don’t drop weights from overhead, so bumpers are useless to me.

[quikky]

For those with bumpers, any issues with bar whip? I'm either gonna get an OPB or B&R bar.

[quikky]

@quikky, I would recommend a rack with built in plate storage.

The Rogue stainless steel OPB would be just about the perfect bar now for a home gym.

A good rack, bench, and that bar would be under $2k. Then you’ve got money to spend on plates and stuff.

I do think that buying the Rogue competition bumpers or training bumpers is a great solution for home gyms if the budget allows.

I'm still thinking of the best plate storage solution. I'll probably get the side plate posts for the R3 rack.