During my teenage years, I was quite into weightlifting. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I decided to buy some equipment and build my own little home gym.
Yes, this is a rather unusual article for my blog! But since I'm about to sell all this equipment, I thought it would be nice to document what I owned and preserve a little memory of that period.
There are two common barbell and weight plate hole diameters: 28 mm and 50 mm.
The latter is the standard used in most commercial gyms, as well as in powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting. These plates are designed to fit Olympic-style barbells, which typically weigh 20 kg and measure 2.20 meters in length.
This type of equipment is generally designed to handle very heavy loads, making it particularly suitable for serious strength training.
However, for smaller home gyms and personal use, 28 mm barbells and weight plates are also available.
They are usually a lot cheaper, although the barbells generally have lower maximum load capacities.
Unlike standard 20 kg Olympic barbells, 28 mm bars come in a wide variety of lengths and weights. For example, you might find a 1.40-meter bar weighing around 7–10 kg, or a 1.80-meter bar weighing around 10–15 kg.
They also usually are A LOT cheaper (2 times or more).
In other words, there's no single standard, and the specifications can vary considerably from one manufacturer to another.
The 10 kg, 28 mm Weight Plates
This was a good fit for my previous 28mm barbell.
A pair of adjustable dumbbells with their weight plates - 28mm
There are 12 plates of 0.5kg and 4 plates of 1kg.
The kettlebell
The curl EZ bar - 50mm
The olympic bar
The olympic squat bar
The grey 25kg plates - 50mm
The black 25kg plates - 50mm
The black 15kg plates - 50mm
The calibrated 10kg plates - 50mm
Unlike other 50 mm weight plates, these are significantly more expensive because they are calibrated to a tolerance of just 10 grams.
This means that a 10 kg plate can weigh anywhere between 9.99 kg and 10.01 kg.
The brand is "Pallini".
The calibrated 5kg plates - 50mm
They are also calibrated.
The 2.5kg plates - 50mm
The calibrates 1.25kg plates - 50mm
The brand is "Rogue".
