STEEL, Not Bumpers --> OLY Plates vs. Deep Dish OLY Plates

[Daniel Frankel]

So, I am looking to get an OLY weight set. Nothing crazy, just your typical beginner set. The store I am looking at is offering both normal and deep dish plates for the same price. However, they both use the same picture in their online store. They don't have any models in-store, so I was unable to get a picture of the difference between the two.

My questions:

1. Could someone explain/show me with a picture, the difference between normal and deep-dish plates?

2. Is one better than the other?

[Michael Loucas]

Deep dish is just easier to grip when loading and unloading plates as far as I know. Also a little thicker.

[Gene Pires]

the pizzas are much better on the deep dish plates than the regular plates.

[John Blake]

Deep dish is better.

They have a taller lip so generally they are easier to pickup with your fingers and load onto the bar.

Think of a bumper plate, its very flat, almost no lip at all.

Some metal plates have a lip around the edge where you grab, this is what makes them deep-dish (ie not flat)

Deep dish are a bit thicker - due to the taller lip. This probably wont matter unless you deadlift (for example) 900lbs where you have to cram every last 45plate on the bar.

(But special longer bars are available for this reason.)

Deep dish can also be called "wide-flange"

Pic safe of a Hamton plate deep dish. It has taller/deeper rim part:
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6231/gwf300.jpg

Pic safe of a regular plate (not as tall of a lip, edge/lip is shorter and flatter):
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/5...eightsets4.jpg

Pic safe of a bumper with no lip (or a very shallow lip / not deep):
http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/6...rsetplates.jpg

[Robert Fabsik]

If this is a purchase for a home gym and you have limited room and have just one weight tree to place weights on, I'd lean on the regular plates so you can get more plates on the bar and more plates on a weight tree.

I'd really encourage bumpers if you can get them, but I understand the price limitations.

[Daniel Frankel]

Originally Posted by Robert Fabsik

If this is a purchase for a home gym and you have limited room and have just one weight tree to place weights on, I'd lean on the regular plates so you can get more plates on the bar and more plates on a weight tree.

I'd really encourage bumpers if you can get them, but I understand the price limitations.

Actually, I have no intention of getting a tree. I was just going to leave them on the ground in my garage. Or on the tiny pegs that come out of my rack for plates. I wish bumpers, but maybe once I can get a job and save some money. I am a teenager after all. I weigh about 130-35 right now. My DL is 235#. Is it really likely enough that I will run out of room on the bar for my lifts? I would be incredibly surprised.

[Preston Sprimont]

Originally Posted by Daniel Frankel

I wish bumpers, but maybe once I can get a job and save some money. .

How much weight in steel are you planning on purchasing? And for what price? Because unless you're getting them used or for a great deal (in which case I'm interested too!), the price difference between bumpers and steel plates is actually not as huge as one might expect.
Bumpers are a bit harder to come by though, and I've never seen them for sale in-store, so shipping is often an issue.
Anyway, I'd suggest at least looking into some bumpers. In my opinion, if you can get, say, 260 lbs of steel for the same price as 210 lbs of bumpers (just throwing numbers out there), the bumpers would be the better choice. They open up your lifting options a lot, and you can always get some smaller cheap-o used steel plates--5s, 10s, 25s--and throw those on when the 210 + bar isn't enough (again, random numbers).

Good luck!

[Daniel Frankel]

I'm looking for upwards of 255 lbs.

I need them because I do not have access to my schools weight room over the summer, which is when I am planning on doing SS. Right now, Im just looking through Kijiji and Craigslist for good deals. If by the end of school, I still have not managed to find a good deal, then I am going to be buying a set from Crossfit Toronto, which is why I was wondering about deep dish and normal plates.

The set includes the following, and is priced at $225 + tax:
2x45
2x35
2x25
2x10
4x5
2x2.5
2xCollars
2xBarbell (its a cheap OLY barbell, but Im not OLY lifting with it, only powerlifting, so it won't be an issue)

[Preston Sprimont]

Originally Posted by Daniel Frankel

I'm looking for upwards of 255 lbs.

I need them because I do not have access to my schools weight room over the summer, which is when I am planning on doing SS. Right now, Im just looking through Kijiji and Craigslist for good deals. If by the end of school, I still have not managed to find a good deal, then I am going to be buying a set from Crossfit Toronto, which is why I was wondering about deep dish and normal plates.

The set includes the following, and is priced at $225 + tax:
2x45
2x35
2x25
2x10
4x5
2x2.5
2xCollars
2xBarbell (its a cheap OLY barbell, but Im not OLY lifting with it, only powerlifting, so it won't be an issue)

Ah, okay. If you're doing SS you can probably manage with steel. However, it is going to get a bit difficult to ease the weight down to the floor when the power cleans start getting heavy. It's most certainly do-able. The cheap olympic bar might make things a bit less than ideal for power cleans too, but it probably won't make too much of a difference at this point.

That looks like a pretty good deal for a starter set! And am I correct in reading that the set comes with TWO bars? Who is the stuff made by?

One more thing you might want to consider... I don't know if the set you are looking at is change-able or if it's set in stone, but you might want to talk to the vendor and see if they could switch out the steel 45s for 45 lb bumpers (if they carry them) for $40 extra or something... Some vendors are pretty willing to mix and match. As you can tell, I'm a fan of having bumpers at ones disposal. But they really do add a lot of potential to you equipment. If you have bumpers that are 45s you can probably get 205 lbs of drop-able weight on the bar (bumper 45s plus 35 lbs of steel should be safe to drop from the rack position). Just a thought!

Either way, good luck with your purchase and lifting!

[Daniel Frankel]

Originally Posted by Preston Sprimont

Ah, okay. If you're doing SS you can probably manage with steel. However, it is going to get a bit difficult to ease the weight down to the floor when the power cleans start getting heavy. It's most certainly do-able. The cheap olympic bar might make things a bit less than ideal for power cleans too, but it probably won't make too much of a difference at this point.

That looks like a pretty good deal for a starter set! And am I correct in reading that the set comes with TWO bars? Who is the stuff made by?

One more thing you might want to consider... I don't know if the set you are looking at is change-able or if it's set in stone, but you might want to talk to the vendor and see if they could switch out the steel 45s for 45 lb bumpers (if they carry them) for $40 extra or something... Some vendors are pretty willing to mix and match. As you can tell, I'm a fan of having bumpers at ones disposal. But they really do add a lot of potential to you equipment. If you have bumpers that are 45s you can probably get 205 lbs of drop-able weight on the bar (bumper 45s plus 35 lbs of steel should be safe to drop from the rack position). Just a thought!

Either way, good luck with your purchase and lifting!

Oh, wow, thats my mistake. 1 barbell, NOT 2.

And I can ask, but I would doubt it. Considering that they just order to set from York barbell, and it comes to them as people buy it. So they are most likely (read: 110% sure) to not make a deal like that. But that is an interesting idea.

Just curious, what vendors do you know of that are willing to mix and match?