This Hack to Load Heavy Plates Will Save Your Back

Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash

It’s quite common to be able to squat more than you can lift with your arms, which means loading and unloading the bar for your squats might be a harder workout than your actual set! Thankfully there is a great hack, popularized on TikTok, that can help you load or unload plates from the bar with ease. No more struggling and killing your back just to set up your squat rack, thankfully! Here’s how you do it.

Step 1:

With the bar on the floor, place a small 2.5 pound plate on the ground where you want to load the plates. This should be placed right next to the bar.

Step 2:

Roll the bar (with one plate already loaded) onto the small plate. This will easily lift the bar up a couple inches.

@gw_fit Quick and easy gym hack for when you struggle to take the plates of the bar 👌 #gymhack ♬ Nice To Meet Ya – Wes Nelson

Step 3:

Load additional plates onto the bar with ease! By lifting the bar, you no longer have to struggle to move the heavy weight against the friction of the floor. 

Step 4:

Complete your workout. It should feel much better without having to exert so much energy just to set up! 

Step 5:

Once your workout is complete, perform steps 1 and 2 again. This time, use the hack to unload the plates.