Are you tired of noisy weight plates? Are you worried about accidentally dropping your steel plates and the long-term damage that can be done to your garage floor? Or maybe you are one of those early morning lifters that want bumper plates for the metcon of the day?
Let us introduce you to bumper plates.
Are bumper plates suitable for your home gym? Yes, yes, and yes.
Whatever the case may be, bumper plates are almost always the right answer for your home gym.
So if you are new to the home gym space and still deciding what direction to go for your plates, let us first look at why bumper plates are the best option for 95% of people.
Let's jump in.
What's the Deal with Bumper Plates?
So bumper plates are weight plates primarily made of rubber as opposed to the traditional steel or metal plates you have probably seen before. There is nothing wrong with steel plates; however, bumper plates feature a few additional pros that steel plates do not.
#1) The ability to be dropped
This is probably the biggest pro of bumper plates. Bumper plates are designed to be dropped.
Now, while bumper plates are designed to be dropped, be sure to check that your floor is durable and ready to receive the falling bumper plates. Rubber flooring is the way to go here, but that's not the focus of this article.
Bumper plates were made popular by the weightlifting community. In Olympic lifting, barbells are dropped from overhead in the snatch and the clean and jerk. Steel plates just don't cut it here. They will become damaged as well as damage the floor if dropped from that distance.
However, bumper plates can easily handle it - choose durability.
While rubber is dense, you may be wondering how it is made to weigh as much as a steel plate. Most bumper plates have steel plate inserts covered by rubber on the outside. This allows the bumper plates to stay at a reasonable size and still weigh enough to be used in training.
#2) They are quieter
This one is pretty helpful for home gyms.
Chances are you are going to be using your home gym in the early morning or later at night. Maybe not, maybe you have one of those awesome jobs that allows you to work out in the middle of the day, but for most people that is the case. Depending on your living situation noise level can be a huge factor or not matter at all.
If you live in a townhome community maybe you have neighbors next door to be considerate of. Maybe you have a sleeping family upstairs or in the room nearby. In these cases, the bumper plates, while not silent, are going to be quieter than steel plates.
Now on the off chance noise doesn't matter and you really enjoy the jingle of steel plates this point doesn't apply to you. A heavy squat or bench weight plate jingle is quite the sound, so I can't blame you there.
#3) The pricing is similar
It would be one thing if the steel plates were considerably cheaper than rubber bumper plates, but they aren't.
Even if you don't plan on doing Olympic weightlifting or CrossFit or ever dropping a barbell, for the same price you can get extra functionality. With home gyms, you always want to give yourself the most options in the limited space you have and with limited equipment.
You wouldn't limit yourself by only putting a leg press and a preacher curl machine in your home gym, although that would be quite the combo. Don't limit yourself - choose bumper plates.
Ok, so simple right, just buy bumper plates. Not quite.
Let's look at the best bumper plates for your home or garage gym.
Hi-Temp Crumb Rubber Plates
These are some of my favorite bumper plates.
These bumper plates are made of recycled rubber - generally from old tires. The old rubber is bonded together at really high temperatures to create a new product. It is a really cool process that makes good use of an otherwise pretty useless old tire.
Don't get it twisted, though. These bumper plates are built to last. If that same rubber can handle 90 mph on the interstate it can handle your deadlifts - even if they are twice your body weight.
Now, every rubber plate is going to be durable - assuming it was made well under high-quality manufacturing standards. Rubber is a very durable material to begin with. However, the bonding process here makes sure these bumper plates last you a long long time. They also are typically black and look slightly worn, this is normal. The benefit here is that they will stay in essentially the same shape no matter how long you use them.
The only durability issue to be concerned about is dropping the 10 15-pound bumper plates. If either of these bumper plates are on either side of a barbell by themselves, they may crack. These smaller plates aren't thick enough to handle the impact over and over again.
Hi-temp bumper plates also tend to be the cheapest of the bumper plates, so that's always a win - especially in this economy.
Dead Bounce Bumper Plates
These are crafted of a much more smooth, new rubber.
These bumper plates are going to look more shiny and clean than the hi-temp plates. No right or wrong either way, just a personal preference.
The cool thing about these plates is they are designed to have little to no bounce when dropped. This is really nice for a garage gym especially, because one bad bounce and your barbell could ding your wall or other equipment. Now, most plates don't cause a huge bounce, but the high-temp and most other rubber plates will bounce about 4 inches off the ground when dropped from overhead - obviously depending on drop height and weight. With a little technique and awareness, this isn't a big deal, however, it is nice not having to worry about that bounce with dead bounce plates.
These bumper plates come with all the other benefits of rubber plates and really are incredible. The only downside is they are more expensive - roughly 25% more or so, so nothing that is going to break the bank, but something to be mindful of.
Competition Bumper Plates
Now, these are for a very small subset of readers.
And honestly, if you need these you probably already know what they are, but just in case, let's cover these bumper plates. You may see them when shopping and it's important to be informed.
Competition bumper plates are designed to be used in Olympic weightlifting meets. Olympic weightlifting as a sport involves athletes performing two lifts - the snatch and the clean and jerk. That's it, that's the whole sport. While it may seem simple, it's not easy. So, if you are interested in the sport of Olympic weightlifting or are currently competing, these may be for you. These bumper plates are calibrated perfectly and most labeled "competition" meet the standards of Olympic weightlifting's governing bodies, but be sure to check specifically on the plates you are considering purchasing.
I will say that if you are into CrossFit or just like to train the Olympic lifts recreationally, these are not something worth buying.
If you've ever been disc golfing, this is like the equivalent of the guy with 35 discs in his bag. Can you play the same game and get a similar score with 3 discs - probably? Is it nice to have 35 and provide some advantages - of course. Is it more expensive - absolutely.
Okay, in short, buy bumper plates - hi-temp if on a budget, dead bounce if not, and competition if you are seriously competing in Olympic weightlifting. Choose durability and choose bumper plates.
