Dumb Question: Weight on One Side of Oly Bar to Tip

Cortelli
Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Just a curiousity. I never load up one side with more than one 45 lb plate before equalizing on the other side. And I never have a compadre with me to mess around with it. But damn if I am not curious just about every time I am adding weight to a bar.

The all-knowing Google led me to the all-knowing Reddit which purports to show that you need to get up to about 3 plates before tipping will occur (fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/18105/what-weight-difference-will-tip-an-olympic-bar-on-a-rack

Just wondering if anyone can confirm this through direct experience (unpleasant as it may have been).

Replies

  • jenglish712
    jenglish712 Posts: 497 Member
    Never had more than a plate and a quarter alone on one side. I dont want to test the limits on that experiment
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    edited February 2015
    It depends on how wide your rack is, of course.

    With my rogue rack (ML490 I think), I can put three plates on one side and nothing on the other. In this configuration, I can pick up the empty end with one finger (maybe 10lbs of pressure?) so there's not much leeway beyond 3 plates and I haven't pushed it any further as a result. If you have a narrower rack I wouldn't go much beyond 2 plates and some change.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,100 Member
    edited February 2015
    I unload plates daily off bars not put away and can emphatically say that 2 45lbs plates on one side is pretty "safe" to do with no real issues.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
    On the squat rack at my gym there is a lower rack that people use to do Romanian dead lifts. I've had the bar tip on that with less than three 45 lb plates, but I can't remember what the exact weight was on the one side. All I know is that I now try to unload each side evenly.
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    Pretty much what Dope said, but because I want to avoid derp at the gym I unload one 45 lb plate at time alternating sides.
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
    OK, thanks all. The racks I use all come to within an inch or two of the collars, so I am going to assume I can almost surely load two plates at a time rather than the one.

    Nonetheless . . . perhaps I'll wait until the gym is more or less empty before giving it a real go.
  • jhc7324
    jhc7324 Posts: 200 Member
    At my old gym, a guy in the squat rack next to me had the bar flip with just 70 lbs on one side and 0 on the other. It scared the ____ out of me since I was not paying attention and all of a sudden a bar was spinning through the air next to me. Since then I've always made sure to alternate sides when unloading the 45s. No clue if he had the bar evenly positioned in the rack or not, but I didn't want to risk it.
  • HeySwoleSister
    HeySwoleSister Posts: 1,938 Member
    The collars on my bar are kind of crappy and I have had the pleasure of one side sliding off and all the plates crashing to the floor.

    not what you were asking, but it did definitely suck.
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    It does have something to do with how wide the rack is. If the j-hooks are closes to the bar's collar then you'll have more stability. If the j-hooks are closer to the smooth part of the bar, use caution.

    I've found that over 315 it starts to matter more. I've found that with exactly 315 I can strip 2 off on one side (1 left on one side 3 on the other) and then I have to strip the other side. Although you have to be careful when you start to unrack because you can tip the weights on yourself. When in doubt unrack equally. Let's be honest, it doesn't take all that much more time and the last thing you want to do is to hurt somebody else or yourself.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    edited February 2015
    I can do the calculation for you. It's called "Moment". I'll need the weight of the bar, location of the support on the weighted side from the end, total length of the bar, the weights you're adding and their thicknesses. ... True story. It's the magic of Statics. Moment = Force x distance. I'll draw you a free body diagram and everything!

    And to get the distance from the support, assume the bar is moved waaaay over to the side you're loading. That'll give the most conservative answer.
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
    Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »
    [. . . snip . . .]

    Let's be honest, it doesn't take all that much more time and the last thing you want to do is to hurt somebody else or yourself.

    Yeah - more curiosity than anything else - can't not think about it every time I am bouncing from side to side.

    Maybe I'll load up for bench presses one side at a time since I am not putting two plates on each side in any event. And as noted, all the racks / benches I use have the the bar supports within an inch or so of the collar - just about as wide as you can get and still not be annoying as all hell in terms of catching a collar every now and then when re-racking.

  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
    VeryKatie wrote: »
    I can do the calculation for you. It's called "Moment". I'll need the weight of the bar, location of the support on the weighted side from the end, total length of the bar, the weights you're adding and their thicknesses. ... True story. It's the magic of Statics. Moment = Force x distance. I'll draw you a free body diagram and everything!

    And to get the distance from the support, assume the bar is moved waaaay over to the side you're loading. That'll give the most conservative answer.

    Thank you for the offer! That's exactly what that link in the first post showed. As another poster noted, just trying to avoid derp in the weight room and satisfy my curiosity. Less about being precise and more about "will I create a catastrophe here if I throw a 25 lb plate on this side before adding the 45 lb plate to the other side?"

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Using mjolnir, my gym's deadlift bar loader, you can tip it at 45# on one side, however, it's not phenomenally wide. It will fit comfortably within the power rings with an inch or so to spare on each side.
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    dbmata wrote: »
    Using mjolnir, my gym's deadlift bar loader, you can tip it at 45# on one side, however, it's not phenomenally wide. It will fit comfortably within the power rings with an inch or so to spare on each side.

    A piece of gym equipment named after Thor's weapon is awesome.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    dbmata wrote: »
    Using mjolnir, my gym's deadlift bar loader, you can tip it at 45# on one side, however, it's not phenomenally wide. It will fit comfortably within the power rings with an inch or so to spare on each side.

    I bought one of those and never use it for that reason. I just use a small plate or the small deadlift jack that only does one side at a time. Having to go back and forth to add or subtract 4 or 5 plates to each side gets really old, really fast.
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