The Gym Equipment No One is Talking About (and Leads to Endless PRs)

The simplest way to distill down every training method known to man is this: every method is some way to manipulate progressive overload. That’s it. Methods are systems that add weight to the bar, reps to your set, distance to your run, or some other improvement of performance. 

In fact, the reason the barbell is the world’s greatest strength building tool isn’t its shape or the exercises you can do with it. The barbell beats out kettlebells, dumbbells, and sandbags because of its ability to support incremental loading. 

This leads us to the punch line. 

The unsexy gym equipment that no one is talking about that leads to endless new personal records are change plates. At DEUCE, we even have quarter-pound plates and half-pound plates so that students can add just half or one pound to the bar at a time. 

I’ve got a student who is breaking new ground in her lifts after two years of incremental progressive overload with the use of the tiniest plates in the gym. 

If you’re stalling out or failing in your strength progress, don’t forget the smallest of change plates!