Weight Plate Calculator
Enter your target weight to see exactly which plates to load on each side of the bar.
Fill in the form and hit calculate to see your results here.
Your plate loading
Assumes a standard plate set. If your gym's plates differ, the exact combination may vary slightly.
Why this trips people up
The bar itself already weighs 20kg (or 45lb), and plates get added to both sides — so per-side plate math is always half of the remaining weight, not the total.
The greedy algorithm
We fill each side using the largest plates first, then work down to smaller ones — the same way most lifters naturally load a bar in the gym.
When it won't land exactly
Not every weight is achievable with a standard plate set in fine 1.25kg or 2.5lb increments — if that happens, we show the closest achievable weight.
How it works
# Per side Per side = (target weight - bar weight) / 2 # Standard plates available (kg) 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25 # Standard plates available (lb) 45, 35, 25, 10, 5, 2.5 Largest plates are used first, working down to the smallest, on each side.
Common questions
We'll show the closest weight achievable with a standard plate set and note the difference, since not every number divides evenly into standard plate increments.
Yes — enter your total target weight including the bar, and select which bar you're using. We subtract the bar weight before working out plates per side.
Select '0 — no bar / custom' and enter your target as the plate-only weight if you're loading a machine or fixed attachment rather than a standard barbell.
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