Weird Bumper plates at a gym I visited.

[famendoza]

Today I visited a gym (for Torontonians, the Adelaide Club) that recently acquired bumper plates (in the past week or so). I managed to get a free gym membership and rushed to try them out (hadn't encountered bumper plates since I took a class with Hani Kanami in downtown Scarberia).

When I actually went to inspect them, I noticed that these bumper plates had holes in the plate castings, similar to the "grip" plastic covered plates that are standard with most gyms. I tried one (185lbs loaded barbell) and went to see how it'd react to being dropped after a clean and it made metallic clang sound, not at all what I'd expect a bumper plate to sound like when dropped.

Here's what they look like:
http://www.yorkbarbell.com/Commercia...0Grip%20Plates

They look pretty delicate to me. The 10lbs were extremely thin. Any stories about anybody breaking the plates on a loaded barbell after a drop? The selling point of the gym for me is bumper plates (the gym is a class higher than I normally visit), so if these plates aren't sound, I'll look elsewhere for my training needs. FWIW I saw a crack on the inner ring in a 25lb plate before I even placed it on the bar.

They have no platforms so I'm dropping them on rubberized(??) flooring. I imagine this will age the plates that much more quickly.

[Tiburon]

Are they solid rubber?

[famendoza]

Are they solid rubber?

When I put them on the collars they felt to be rubber, but metallic closer to the sleeve. The sleever part didn't seem to have a metallic ring like I've seen other bumper plates with. It sort of transitioned to hard metal. Maybe I gotta give them a second look cause my description is starting to sound silly. I just felt uncomfortable dropping them. And that's kinda what I want to be able to do with them, should the need arise (missed squat, missed clean, missed front squat). Deadlifting should be easier on the floor with them as well. They are not very thick, even the 45lb plate. Compared to the bumpers I've seen, they're downright anorexic.

[Tiburon]

Weird. Maybe there is a reason York puts "bumper plates" in quotes on the link you sent.

[Greg C]

These aren't bumpers. These: http://www.muscledriverusa.com/bumperplates1.html, all are. Hope this helps.

[famendoza]

Well, if they're not bonafide bumpers then I guess that cinches it. I just called them, and I was told I could not drop my snatches or clean and jerks (if I needed to). So I figure I'd be not training in an environment that allows me that luxury, which I thought was the whole point of bumpers - so the extra cost to me vs my current gym (which has no bumpers, but has an affordable membership rate to me) isn't worth it. Oh well, I thought I'd found the right place in downtown TO to train.

[Greg C]

There are several sources for inexpensive bumper sets available - rogue fitness and muscledriverusa come to mind - where you can get a decent set of a few hundred pounds of economy bumpers for a decent price (Hi-Temps and Pendlay econs are about the same price). Should be adequate for oly stuff unless you are super-strong or really want very accurate plates, in which case you would want to go with more traditional training plates if you were to buy your own.

[famendoza]

I was able to convince the staff (read: I just did it and they complied more or less) that dropping isn't an issue. I joined the gym, the bumpers work just fine (I dropped a 175er jerk a few days ago, and no fuss no muss), and am gonna enjoy my stay there. I guess I'll have to eat crow about my initial assessment of the equipment there - they do bounce ok after all.

BTW the drop was not from above head height, more like I held on until the bar was just at knee level, then let go.