Best Ways to Install and Remove Plates From a Deadlift Barbell

The deadlift is a great exercise for your back, glutes, and legs, and it’s a key exercise if you’re hoping to get anywhere in powerlifting, strongman, or the king of all sports by helping a friend move furniture. But when you hit the gym to start doing them, you’ll realize that deadlifts can be tricky to set up: The bar is on the ground, not on a rack, and you’ll be lifting pretty heavy weights right away.

By the way, I have a whole article about loading, unloading and lifting weights in the gym . If you don’t know how to carry plates with you or how to load them onto a squat or bench rack, read on – I’ll help you.

Anyway, let’s talk about the deadlift. In theory, the load is simple: just slide each weight onto a barbell. But there’s friction between the plate and the floor when you try to put it on (or take it off), so it’s easier said than done. Here’s how to turn plates on and off like a pro.

Take the plate and pull

The first thing you need to know is the basics of placing one plate on or off the bar. If you are loading the first plate, you can stand it on end and insert the rod into the plate. (Then attach the collar or clip to keep it from coming loose while you do the rest.)

However, after the first plate, you will need to load the plates by pulling them. The trick is to avoid holding the top of the plate, which you probably instinctively do. Instead, do it like this:

• Bring the plate to the end of the rod and align the rod with the hole in the center of the plate.

• Saddle the barbell facing the plate.

• Grab the plate with both hands, right at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions, and pull it towards you.

I was first taught this trick by a brother at the gym who had seen me struggle, and I’ll tell you how he gave his advice because he did it politely and respectfully. (When he first approached, I thought he was just going to pick it up and set the plates for me, which is no good unless the person asked you to.)

At first he stuck around to see if I could figure it out on my own. Then when I didn’t, he asked if I wanted to tip for loading the plates. I said yes and then he showed me how to do it and after that I was able to do the other side myself.

This 3 and 9 o’clock exercise is a way to put the plates on the bar and also a way to remove them. Simple enough, right? But there is another problem: when there are several plates on the crossbar, it is difficult to remove only one of them. This is where we need either a deadlift jack or a tiny plate. I’ll start with a small plate because I always have it on hand.

Use the tiny plate trick

This trick is easiest to understand when you’re unloading a barbell: Place a small plate (like a 5-pound plate) on the floor and roll the barbell onto it. Try to make sure that only the innermost plate sits on the tiny plate. Now the remaining plates float about half an inch above the floor and you can easily move them. You can use the same trick for loading: once you get the first large plate on, roll it up onto a small plate and load the rest.

Once you’ve got everything loaded, roll the weights back to the floor, toss the tiny plate aside and do another pull-up as above, giving the plates a good tug to make sure they’re all flush against each other and against the bar.

Use a jack or wedge for deadlifts.

In theory, the tiny plate trick is all you need, but the “correct” way to load a barbell for a deadlift is to use a deadlift jack. Powerlifting gyms almost always have at least one of these; they are less common in other types of gyms.

A deadlift jack is a long metal tool that has a part that holds the barbell, a part that rests on the floor, and a handle that you can use to lift the barbell off the floor once those other two parts are in place. When you see it in action, it becomes very obvious how it works. With the help of a jack, even a tiny person can support a heavy deadlift bar and change plates. Some jacks only work on one side of the crossbar at a time; the best ones can actually lift the entire rod so that a team of loaders—say, in a competition—can load both sides at the same time.

Here’s a basic one-sided deadlift jack if you’re looking to purchase one for your home gym. Here’s a two-sided view . And if you need something you can throw in your gym bag, try the wedge deadlift , which works on the same principle as the tiny plate trick but is a little more specialized for the task. (For the sake of completeness, I’ll also add that there are products out there that serve as a combination water bottle and deadlift jack . I can’t vouch for whether or how well they work, but I have to say I’m intrigued .)

For RDL: Find a place to place a bar.

If you prefer to perform the Romanian Deadlift (RDL), you should start at the top of the movement. Every now and then you find the holy grail of RDL prep: a ledge, perhaps attached to a power cage, where you can set the bar at about knee height and easily load and unload plates.

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