Muscle Power weight plates

Why choose Muscle Power weight plates?

Muscle Power is the brand you are least likely to outgrow in this category. Thirty-nine items, and as the only brand here it really does carry every material: cast iron, rubber coated, PU, high black bumper, Hi-Temp bumper and the bumper plate pro. That list is not there to impress, it is a practical advantage. You put down a complete setup with one brand and you can still extend it years later without the new plates feeling different, sounding different or having a different thickness from the old ones.

With plates that matters more than people expect. Thickness decides how many kilos fit on your bar before you run into the collars, and material decides how hard the plate hits the floor and how much noise that makes. Buying a mix of brands means in practice that a bar loads unevenly left and right and that you are shuffling plates around before every set. With one brand across the whole ladder that never comes up, and that is exactly where breadth earns its keep.

One honest note belongs with that: this is the practical mid-range. Fractional plates and technique plates are part of the range, so fine progression and technique work are covered, but Muscle Power does not offer calibrated competition plates with a certified weight tolerance. If you are preparing for an official meet, calibrated plates are what you need. For everything below that, from a home garage to corporate fitness, this is more than enough. Also take a look at the other fitness equipment from Muscle Power.

The Muscle Power weight plate range

The range runs from half a kilo per plate up to a complete setup of 200 kg.

• Cast iron olympic plates, 50 mm: 1.25 to 25 kg with a very slim profile, so you get more weight on the bar before the collars get in the way. Also the cheapest route per kilo.
• Rubber coated olympic plates, 50 mm: 1.25 to 25 kg, with a rubber layer that protects both your floor and the plate itself. There is also a version with two handles from 5 to 25 kg.
• PU plates with four handles, 50 mm: 1.25 to 25 kg, more scratch resistant and more neatly finished than rubber, and with four grips you always get a proper hold.
• Bumper plates, 50 mm: high black from 5 to 25 kg with high shock absorption, Hi-Temp from 5 to 20 kg for extreme durability and the bumper plate pro from 5 to 25 kg built to tight dimensional tolerances.
• Fractional, technique and aerobics: fractional plates from 0.5 to 2 kg for small steps, technique plates of 2.5 and 5 kg at the size of a heavy plate, and loose aerobics plates from 1.25 to 5 kg in 30 mm.
• Eleven complete sets from 90 to 200 kg: in high black bumper, PU, cast iron, olympic rubber and bumper plate pro, three of which include a barbell bar and collars.

Which Muscle Power weight plates suit you?

The quickest way to decide is to look at what you do with the bar and where you put it down.

You are starting from scratch: take a complete set. The ladder runs from 90 to 200 kg, so pick a weight level first and the material second. The 120, 180 and 200 kg versions come with a barbell bar and collars, which means you can train straight out of one order.

You drop the bar from height: go for bumper plates. The high black from 5 to 25 kg absorbs the impact, the Hi-Temp from 5 to 20 kg is built for a long life of drop cycles, and the bumper plate pro is the pick if consistent dimensions between plates matter to you.

You train indoors on wood or tiles: choose rubber coated or PU. Both keep the floor intact and keep the noise down; PU is the tidier and more scratch resistant of the two and keeps its looks longer in a busy setup.

You want maximum weight on the bar: pick cast iron. The slim profile saves centimetres per side, and on heavy sets that is the difference between fitting and not fitting. Do bear in mind that cast iron is hard on your floor.

You move dozens of plates per session: take a version with handles. Two grips on the olympic rubber plate or four on the PU plate make carrying noticeably lighter work, certainly at 20 and 25 kg.

You have a standard 30 mm bar: then the aerobics plates from 1.25 to 5 kg are your option. Useful for pump style sessions, high repetitions and light work, but be aware that the range stops there.

What to look out for when buying Muscle Power weight plates

The bore size of your bar

By far the largest part of this range is 50 mm, the olympic size. Only the aerobics plates are 30 mm, the size of a standard barbell bar. The two are not interchangeable: a 50 mm plate will not slide onto a 30 mm bar, and the other way round it sits far too loose. Measure your bar before you order, because this is the mistake made most often in this category.

Material against your floor

Cast iron is the slimmest and cheapest per kilo, but it pounds concrete and damages wood. Rubber and PU absorb that and protect the plate as well. If you are putting cast iron or heavy bumpers in a house or on an upper floor, put something underneath from the mats to limit noise and vibration.

Handles or no handles

Muscle Power is the only brand in this category where you have a genuine choice here: no grips, two grips or four grips. Four grips mean the plate always hangs in a usable position when you take it off the rack. If you lift rarely and everything stays loaded on the bar, a plate without grips is fine and usually slimmer as well.

Loose plates or a complete set

Loose plates make sense when you are topping up in a targeted way or filling a gap in your ladder, a second pair of 10 kg for instance. A complete set is better value per kilo and gives you a workable build straight away. Check carefully whether the set you have in mind includes a barbell bar and collars, because that differs per version; if you do not have a bar yet, have a look at the barbell bars.

Bumper plate or regular rubber plate

They look alike, but they are made for different jobs. A rubber coated plate has a cast iron core with a protective layer around it and is not meant to be dropped from chest or hip height. A bumper plate is rubber all the way through, considerably thicker and built precisely for dropping. If you never drop the bar, a bumper plate only costs you room on the sleeve.

Our advice: settle the bore size first, then the material based on your floor and whether you drop, and only then decide between loose plates and a set. If you are torn between rubber and PU, take PU when the plates get dragged across the floor a lot and everything has to keep looking tidy. And factor in storage with a set, because 160 kg of plates needs a spot on the wall or in a rack from the storage systems.

Who are Muscle Power weight plates suitable for?

• Home lifters building up a setup: start with a set of 90 or 100 kg and extend later with loose plates from the same range, without ending up with a mismatched collection.
• CrossFitters and olympic lifters: three kinds of bumper plate side by side means you can choose on shock absorption, durability or dimensional precision instead of taking whatever happens to be available.
• Strength athletes loading heavy: the slim cast iron 25 kg plates let you get more on the bar before the collars no longer fit.
• Group class instructors and light trainers: the 30 mm aerobics plates from 1.25 to 5 kg cover high repetitions and pump style work, something most brands in this category skip entirely.
• Small studios, corporate gyms and practice rooms: one brand across the board keeps purchasing, appearance and restocking simple, and the same goes for the rest of your strength equipment.

This range is less suitable if you are preparing for an official competition: for that you need calibrated plates with a certified tolerance, and those are not part of it. It also falls short if you have a 30 mm bar and want to go heavy, because in that size the range stops at 5 kg per plate.

Need help choosing?

Would you like to buy Muscle Power weight plates but are you not quite sure which size, material or weight range suits you? We are happy to help. You can reach our fitness specialists by phone on +31 85 773 00 57, send an email or visit our fitness store in Volkel, the Netherlands.

Frequently asked questions about Muscle Power weight plates

Do these plates fit every barbell bar?

No, and that is the first question to settle. The vast majority of this range has a 50 mm bore and therefore fits olympic bars. The aerobics plates have a 30 mm bore and fit standard barbell bars. There is no middle ground: a 50 mm plate will not go onto any 30 mm bar, and a 30 mm plate rattles around on an olympic sleeve.

What is the difference between a rubber plate and a bumper plate?

A rubber coated plate is a cast iron plate with a rubber layer around it, meant to protect floor and plate during normal use. A bumper plate is rubber through and through and made to be dropped from height, as in olympic lifting. That is why a bumper plate is considerably thicker at the same weight. If you never drop the bar, the rubber coated plate is the more practical choice.

Does every complete set include a barbell bar?

No, that differs per version. Three of the eleven sets include a barbell bar and collars: the high black bumper sets of 120 and 200 kg and the PU set of 180 kg. The other sets consist of plates only. If you do not have a bar yet, look at the separate barbell bars and make sure you pick an olympic 50 mm sleeve.

What are fractional plates and technique plates for?

Fractional plates weigh 0.5 to 2 kg and let you progress in smaller steps than 1.25 kg a side allows. Handy when you are stuck on a plateau in the bench press or the overhead press. Technique plates of 2.5 and 5 kg are the size of a heavy plate while weighing very little, so the bar sits at the correct height while you drill your movement. Both are meant as an addition to an existing set, not as a starting point.

Are these plates suitable for competition?

For club meets and in-house competitions you will do fine, certainly with the bumper plate pro, which is built for dimensional precision. For official competition under federation rules you need calibrated plates with a certified and very small weight tolerance, and Muscle Power does not carry those. If you train at home or in a regular gym and simply want the kilos to be accurate, this range is more than enough.