Enter a target weight and your bar, and this calculator shows you exactly which plates to load on each side of the barbell. It draws the loaded bar so you can check your math at a glance, and it tells you when a weight can’t be made exactly with standard plates.
It works in kg and lb with the standard plate sets for each. Handy when you’re working in unfamiliar units, loading for a percentage that lands on an odd number, or just tired between sets and don’t trust your arithmetic (we’ve all been there).
Enter a target weight and your bar to see exactly which plates go on each side of the barbell. Standard sets are shown below. The interactive version loads the bar visually and flags any weight you can’t make exactly.
| Total | Per side | Plates per side |
|---|---|---|
| 60 kg | 20 kg | 20 |
| 100 kg | 40 kg | 25 + 15 |
| 140 kg | 60 kg | 25 + 25 + 10 |
| 180 kg | 80 kg | 25 + 25 + 25 + 5 |
| 220 kg | 100 kg | 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 |
| Total | Per side | Plates per side |
|---|---|---|
| 135 lb | 45 lb | 45 |
| 225 lb | 90 lb | 45 + 45 |
| 315 lb | 135 lb | 45 + 45 + 45 |
| 405 lb | 180 lb | 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 |
Table of Contents
How the Calculator Loads the Bar
It subtracts the bar from your target, splits the rest across both sides, and loads the biggest plates first. That’s the same way you’d load a bar in the gym, and it uses the fewest plates per side.
Standard kg plates run 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2.5, and 1.25. Standard lb plates run 45, 35, 25, 10, 5, and 2.5. If your target lands between what the plates can make, the calculator flags it and gives you the closest weight you can actually load.
Prefer a printable reference? The kg and lb loading chart covers common loads at a glance.
Kg Plate Colors
Competition kg plates follow a standard color scheme, which is why the calculator draws them the way it does. Red is 25 kg, blue is 20, yellow is 15, green is 10, and white is 5. Once you know the colors you can read a loaded bar across the gym without counting.
A Note on Competition Collars
Competition collars weigh 2.5 kg each, and meet loading counts them in the total. This calculator assumes plain training collars that don’t add meaningful weight. If you’re rehearsing meet loading, subtract 5 kg from your target before you plug it in.
Related Calculators
If you’re loading to a percentage, get the number from the 1RM calculator first. Planning attempts for a meet? The attempt calculator includes plate loading for every attempt.
