Training plates & power cleans

[Stevo]

Coach Rip,

So far I have only SS:BBT from the Rippetoe trilogy & so if there is something more about training plates in the other two tomes, please feel free to insult my manhood. Anyhow, I'm working on form for the power clean, but am not to the point of slapping on the 45 lbs plates just yet. I searched for "training plates" online & have found one source "biggerfasterstronger". They have two products: 5 lbs black plates or some gay looking red stop sign looking things. Which would you recommend b/c I'm thinking once I figure the damn thing out (power clean) I'll sell them. Is there a better market for the 5 lbs plates or the red things?

Also, when asked, the "trainers" at the Y I work-out at had no clue what a training plate was or even what "incremental" plates are. Who, or what, trains these people???

Stevo

Here's the link to the stop sign things: http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/...&search=&page=

[Mark Rippetoe]

Christ. These are really a stupid idea.

Good technique plates that can be loaded and dropped can be purchased, but they are quite expensive at 140/pair.

Cheap, plates for temporary use can easily be made with a jigsaw and a sheet of 3/4" plywood. Not the kind of thing you'd want to drop, but you can't drop the BFS plates either. Advantages of the plywood are that they won't bend under the weight of the bar or added small iron plates and that you can get several sets out of a single plywood sheet.

Another option is to make stands/blocks for the bar to rest on that bring the middle of the bar to the correct height off the floor. You can do this using scrap lumber or just about anything else you might have lying around.

[TomF]

FWIW, if you glue together two thicknesses of 3/4" ply, each of those home-brew training plates will weigh about #5. My 9 year old has used plates like that for about a year now.