It was 1978 in Southern California, and I was going into the gym business for the first time. I was not really opening a new facility, as much as I was taking over an existing one that had basically shut down days earlier, having not been successful selling the facility. My job was to open it back up with limited assets, which can present a lot of problems and liabilities, and make some money in the process.
The club was pretty basic, with more emphasis in free-weight movements than machines, because the previous owner had coached at the local high school. We cleaned up everything as best we could and got it running. Our first order of business, relative to purchasing any equipment, was addressing the need to add Olympic weights to the club. At that point, even with the limited membership available, members had to move weights from one station to another, never having enough at any one station to suffice for that exercise movement. If the club was busy and multiple stations were being utilized at the same time, we would have been in trouble. Here comes my first point of education regarding Olympic weights and my formal start observing an evolution of a basic, very simple product. If we only knew then, how things would change. Although this certainly was not the birth of an evolution, for most of us, it is in line with an evolution that we can follow and actually interface that is consistent with our background in exercise.
Readily available in the late 70’s, as far as Olympic plates, were two versions of a standard cast plate. One, which is what I needed to duplicate and add too, was referred to as the Slim-Line Olympic Plate. This was a nice looking plate; it had a very thin lip on one side only for grabbing, lifting and carrying the plate. Being influenced by budget, I chose to add an amount of this plate to my existing inventory, instead of upgrading to the other available plate, which was called a Wide Flange Olympic Plate. I learned my lesson quickly and after fielding way too many complaints and narrowly avoiding an accident/injury, I changed out all my plates to the Wide Flange. In less than a year, I was expanding and moving to a larger location. With the move and additional space, came the opportunity to add a considerable amount of new equipment, primarily in the free weight department. The company I purchased from at that time was selling a new plate that was being produced in Northern California by American Brass & Iron, which was a Double Flanged Plate. This plate virtually had a lip on both sides and, was at that time, probably the easiest plate to pick up. It was reasonably priced, aesthetically pleasing and like I said, very comfortable for the user.
The evolution continued, a few years later, long after I had sold my club and was working in management for a large club chain, the first widely marketed version of a plate with a grip became available. It had two slot type openings per plate, and immediately became very popular. Competition, being what it is in this industry, shortly thereafter different size and shape openings were available, some with slots and some with actual holes. With these different grip options available also came the availability of different composition coverings. Regular cast, rubber and, then, urethane were available, in a plate with a slot or a hole, with anywhere from two to seven openings on a 45 pound weight.
In the past two years, the “plate wars,” as we might call them, have continued with a variety of manufacturers and distributors laying claim to the best, while trying to establish precedent to the availability of these products.
Some 30 years later we see grip type plates, with a urethane coating as the state-of-the-art product in today’s fitness facility. No longer do health club owners or buyers look at a plate and buy the cheapest. They do finally realize that you get what you pay for and safety takes some precedents in the decision. Buying right means you only have to buy it once and you can save your facility a lot of money in the long run. So, until they come up with a plate that will lift itself, spend some time researching this investment. You’ll be glad you did.
Dan Block is the President of Intek Strength. He can be contacted at 866.996.3825, or visit www.intekstrength.com.
