Iron Grip Weight Plates

Iron Grip weight plates.  Either you love them or you hate them.

No - you cannot drop them

No - they are not good for deadlifts or Olympic lifting

No - they are not cheap

No - you cannot fit a lot of plates on the bar

No - they do not have that old school aesthetic or charm

Yes - they are the easiest to handle plates I have ever used

Yes - they are commercial quality

Yes - they are Made in the USA

Jen has 10,000 pounds of these plates from 24 Hour Fitness locations that she is distributing for $1.25/pound.  I have rarely seen these plates in secondary markets and typically they are over $2/pound.

Needless to say, I was immediately interested.  They were in moderately used condition with only normal cosmetic wear.

She was putting together sets of:

(2) 45

(2) 35

(2) 25

(4) 10

(4) 5

(2) 2.5

--

275# for $340; $1.25/pound and then rounding down to an even number

I met her at the storage unit and she only had (2) 5's, but had an extra (2) 2.5's.  Rather than take the 2.5's, I opted to just get a $10 break on the price and receive 265# of plates.  That is more than enough weight for me and I could have probably dispensed with the 35's, but like to have them for completeness.  If I wanted additional plates, she is moving stuff from her Belmar storage unit to her Arvada storage unit and could meet me at either one to transact plates at $1.25/pound.

As a lifter and a connoisseur of physical culture, Iron Grip plates are easy to handle and are truly innovative.  The progression has been from fixed weight or shot filled globes, to deep dish plates, to bumper plates and that last innovation has been grip plates.

I originally was not a big fan of grip plates.  They reminded me of the duplo legos that are manufactured for toddlers so that nobody hurts themselves.  But after using them on and off at commercial gyms and most recently at Scott AFB, I was hooked and wanted to have a set at home for lifting and for posterity.

The only class of weights I do not own are calibrated powerlifting plates.  These are egregious to handle and the only saving graces are accuracy and the ability to load 1000# on the bar.  Neither of these are particularly important to me, but if I find calibrated powerlifting discs cheap, I will buy them.

Time to list my Rep Fitness rubber coated change plates and 45# Champion Iron plate pair.