Tools/Plate Calculator
Enter the total barbell weight you want to lift and this calculator shows you exactly which plates to load on each side. It uses the largest plates first to minimise the number of plates loaded. Supports standard 20 kg (Olympic) and 45 lb bars.
Bar weight: 20 kg
Metric (kg)
Bar: 20 kg
Plates: 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25 kg
Imperial (lb)
Bar: 45 lb
Plates: 45, 35, 25, 10, 5, 2.5 lb
Loading a bar is simple arithmetic that is surprisingly easy to fumble mid-workout. The calculator subtracts the bar weight from your target, halves the remainder (plates load symmetrically), then fills each side greedily — largest plates first — from the standard plate set:
Greedy loading — always taking the biggest plate that fits — is not just how the math shakes out; it is also the right way to physically load a bar. Big plates go on first so they sit against the sleeve collar, keep the load stable, and put the bar at standard height for deadlifts.
Target: 142.5 kg squat on a 20 kg bar. Subtract the bar: 122.5 kg. Halve it: 61.25 kg per side. Greedy fill: 25 + 25 = 50, then 10 → 60, then 1.25 → 61.25. So each sleeve gets two 25s, a 10, and a 1.25. In pounds, a 315 lb squat is the classic "three plates": (315 − 45) ÷ 2 = 135 lb per side — three 45 lb plates exactly.
Percentage-based programs live and die on small increments. The difference between 80% and 85% of a 140 kg max is 7 kg — a 2.5 and a 1.25 per side. Eyeballing it or rounding to "close enough" quietly breaks the progression your program is built on, and mixed kg/lb plates make it worse: a 20 kg plate is 44.1 lb, so one careless substitution can shift the bar by nearly a kilogram.
The habit worth building: compute per-side loading before you walk to the bar, load big-to-small, and glance at both sleeves for symmetry before the first rep. It takes ten seconds and eliminates the most common gym math error there is — realizing at rep three that one side is 2.5 kg heavier than the other.
A standard Olympic barbell weighs 20 kg (45 lb, technically 44.1 lb). Women’s Olympic bars are 15 kg (33 lb), and many gyms also stock 10 kg technique bars and fixed-weight EZ bars. Always include the bar in your target weight.
By convention, lifters describe loading per side — "a plate a side" means one 20 kg (or 45 lb) plate on each end. The calculator subtracts the bar, halves the remainder, and shows what goes on each sleeve.
The calculator uses the greedy standard set (25/20/15/10/5/2.5/1.25 kg or 45/35/25/10/5/2.5 lb). If your gym lacks a size, substitute equivalents: two 10s replace a 20, a 15 plus a 10 replace a 25, and so on — the per-side total is all that matters.
Do not mix them on one bar unless you do the math — a 20 kg plate is 44.1 lb, not 45. Mixed loading is the most common reason a "PR" turns out to be a different weight than logged. Pick one unit per session and stick to it.
The smallest common pair adds 2.5 kg / 5 lb to the bar. For smaller jumps — useful on pressing lifts — gyms sometimes stock 0.5-1.25 kg micro-plates, or you can progress by adding a rep at the same weight instead of adding load.
Find the max behind the percentages you are loading.
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