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Comment by andreareina | Hacker News Reader

OP, a plate refers to 90lbs on the bar, i.e. one plate on each side not 45.

I had to go back and reread to find the mistake, because when I saw his mention of 225 I automatically thought "2 plates".

My goal when I was lifting seriously was to get to 1/2/3/4 plates on my overhead press, bench, squat, and dead respectively. The middle 2 numbers are easier than the outer two - it's surprising how much harder OHP is to increase than bench. And the 4 plate DL is attainable for sure, I was up to about 365 at my best, and had hit the 315 target for squats - but it takes a long time to build up to 405 incrementally.

I've just recently got back on the wagon and it's been interesting to see how much strength I lost - where I was usually squatting in the 225-240 range at my peak, i started back up w? squatting 135 and it was surprisingly difficult. Crazy how much our bodies can change with a little stimulus.

The strength will come back much quicker than it took to attain the first time. I never worked out a day in my life until I was almost 30, and with the exception of the deadlift, all my numbers are quite a bit lower than anyone my same age who worked out even sparingly in their 20s. The people my age who were high school athletes make me look like an old man, and the people my age who were college athletes make me look like an even older woman. I always liken it to blowing up a balloon, you feel a certain amount of resistance the first time, but if you let the air out (lose strength) and blow it up again it's much easier.

Yeah, for sure! I've already experienced that once or twice after other start/stops. I made what felt like relatively quick progress when I first started lifting a few years ago, and I definitely think having been moderately athletic through my youth was a factor. (Never was particularly great at any sport, but at least they kept me in shape!)

Interesting dissension when checking Google: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how%20much%20is%20a%20... :

In the US they use 45 lb bars and plates. So one plate (per side) is 135 lbs, two plates is 225 lbs, three plates is 315 lbs, four plates is 405 lbs, five is 495 lbs, six is 585, seven is 675 and so forth

also:

One plate is usually 20kg or 45lbs depending on where you live.

But:

A one-plate lift, then, is 135 pounds. Two plates is 225 pounds. Three plates is 315. Four plates is 405. Five plates is 495.

I changed the text after looking through a bunch of results.

There is no dissension. "One plate" when referencing a lift is 135 pounds, or 90 pounds on each side for a standard bar (you always assume a standard bar). One plate when referring to the plate just refers to the plate itself, which is 45 pounds.

So "hand me a plate" means give me a 45 pound plate. "Lift one plate" means 135 pounds.

So each unit of "plate" is roughly 100 lb, give or take (weight of the bar).

For another perspective, if you put 22.5lbs on each side of the bar, you wouldn't call that a "1 plate" lift even though both sides add up to 45 lbs. There are no plates involved in the lift, thus it's not a "1 plate" lift.

If you search "1 plate overhead press" or "1 plate ohp", you'll see many references to how that's a 135lb lift.

You're technically right that a plate is 90 lbs on the bar, but generally for one plate you're referring specifically to 135 lbs because you'd include the eight of the bar.

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