Rubber Bumper Plates

Rubber Bumper Plates – High Bounce, Low Bounce, Which is Better?

Do you want to buy high bounce rubber bumper plates or low bounce rubber bumper plates? Do you want to buy high quality bumper plates or whatever is out there to buy? These are the kind of questions I will go into great detail about in this article. Sometimes it can be confusing with so many options, without any real good information out there. I will get into some technical aspects, but even if you are a beginner looking to figure out which set of bumper plates are the best for you, you’ll be able to follow along and get a lot from this as well.

Low bounce verses high bounce rubber bumper plates , which is better? All of the Olympic athletes and those who compete in Olympic lifting competitions use low bounce weights. A lot of people, like people who do crossfit, go after Hi-Temps high bounce bumper plates, and I feel like this is a big mistake. Crossfitters are all about work over time, but if you bounce a bar loaded with plates you aren’t really covering that distance, the bounce is doing the work. If one person has a set of high bounce hi temp rubber bumper plates and another person has a set of low bounce rubber bumper plates, well the second person is doing more work. It just doesn’t make sense to allow this to happen.

Another reason people prefer low bounce rubber bumper plates, is that they don’t “run away from you”. When you drop a pair of hi temps, the bar can bounce pretty far and into your shins, if you’re not on flat ground, or into some furniture. If you drop a set of say, Pendlay Econ V2 bumper plates, they will have a much more dead bounce and your shins and furniture will be safe. This can be especially dangerous if you are lifting with a few people around you, and bars are bouncing everywhere, if you have high bounce rubber bumper plates that is.

Pendlay bumper plates, the econ v2 or competition plates, are both great options. The Pendlay Econ V2 bumper plates are the dead bounce weights you want, and they don’t cost a ton. Shipping is included too, if you’re worried about shipping several hundred pounds or kilos of bumper plates. They also offer competition plates for the more serious weight lifters out there who are looking for some really high quality plates. With free shipping, dead bounce, and very strict weight tolerances, we have a hard time understanding why you would go with any other rubber bumper plates.

Return to bumper plates homepage.