Bumper Plates

Gym and Olympic Bumper Plates

Prioritising safety? Us too. Every member of the Southside Fitness team knows how important it is to protect yourself and others from injury during a workout, whether you’re in a busy gym or working out at home.

One of our favourite ways to keep safety in mind is by incorporating Olympic bumper plates into your equipment stack. By helping to prevent bounce when you’re working from a steady height, you can protect yourself, others, and nearby equipment from damage if they come into contact with the weights during failure or AMRAP rounds.

Read on below to learn more about our top recommendations as to when you should incorporate bumper weights so you’re getting the most out of your gym workout each day and keeping safety in mind.

When to Use Bumper Plates

Whether you’re new to the gym or a seasoned pro, the benefits of using bumper plates are endless. Among our top recommended uses for incorporating gym bumper plates into your workout routine, we suggest:

1. Safety is Key: Safety should always be top of mind during every workout, but sometimes it’s even more critical than others—if you’re working out on an unprotected surface (like concrete floors), Olympic bumper plates are a must. Protecting the floor and people from damage during failure or a dropped weight, bumper plates prevent the weights from rolling or damaging any surface area when they hit the ground.
2. When You’re Working Out Above Hip Height: If you’re planning on bench rows, you may be fine using standard weight plates or barbells. Planning on drastically increasing your weight load and potentially dropping weights from above hip level? Make sure you’re using bumper plates to prevent bounces after they hit the floor.
3. CrossFit: Love a CrossFit workout? Us too. Some workouts are designed to use weights and drop them quickly before moving on to the next sprint or exercise. In this case (especially as many CrossFit workouts are done in groups), Olympic bumper plates will prevent floor damage, protect feet, and stop the weights from rolling when they’re dropped and left behind.

We get it—bumper weights might seem like an added luxury at first, but we always recommend that every good gym fitout concerned with safety consider these among their first buys. Read on below to review some of the commonly asked questions we get at Southside Fitness each day to make sure you feel well informed before making a decision.