The Bumper Plate

A weight plate spends most of its life lying flat on the floor, and anyone who has tried to pick one up knows the fingertip struggle that follows. These have a lip around the edge, so you get a grip even when they're flat. Bumper plates are the rubber discs that load onto a barbell. The rubber lets you drop the bar from overhead without damaging the floor, the bar or your nerves. These are virgin rubber with a steel hub, matt black with a laser-etched centre, and shaped to sit flush against the SlideLock. They come in pairs, from 5 to 25 kg.

Built to be dropped. Designed to be looked at.

• Use: Olympic lifts, deadlifts, squats, presses; safe to drop
• Type: Olympic bumper plate
• Sold as: Pair
• Weights: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 kg
• Width 25 kg: 62.8 mm
• Width 20 kg: 53.8 mm
• Width 15 kg: 40.3 mm
• Width 10 kg: 31.3 mm
• Width 5 kg: 17.7 mm
• Material: Virgin rubber
• Hub: Alloy steel, nickel chrome finish, laser-etched
• Edge: Lip for lifting the plate when flat on the floor
• Fits: 50 mm Olympic bars; shaped for the SlideLock
• Warranty: 3 years

For about a century the barbell didn't change, and neither did its weak point: the collar. It's the part that holds the plates in place, and in practice it pinches fingers, slips mid-set and goes missing. In 2018, a small team in Oslo built the collar into the bar. SlideLock is a titanium slider and a magnet. You load the plate, flick the slider and lift, and there's nothing to lose. Every piece in the range is built around it. The name comes from Odin's spear, the one that never missed.