Plate Calculator and Warm-Up Sets

How do I read the plate result?

The plates listed are what goes on one side of the bar, heaviest first, so you load the same stack on the other side. The total adds the bar and both sides. If the line says you are short, your plates can't make that exact weight, and the total shows the closest weight below it.

Take 142.5 kg on a 20 kg bar. That leaves 61.25 kg for each side, which loads as two 25 kg plates, one 10 kg plate and one 1.25 kg plate. Untick the 1.25 kg plate and the result drops to 140 kg, 2.5 kg short of the target.

The math behind the bar

Each side = (target − bar) ÷ 2
Plates: the heaviest plate that fits, then the next one down
Warm-up weight = working weight × 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%
Warm-up reps = 12, 8, 5, 3
Rounding step = twice the smallest plate you ticked
Empty bar × 10 when the working weight is at most 1.5 × the bar

The plate rule is plain arithmetic, so it gives the same answer every time for the same plates. It always tries the biggest plate first, which uses few plates in most gyms, though an odd set of plates can leave a weight short that a different mix would reach.

The warm-up ramp is the default in Kinoku's Warmup Generator, not a rule from a study. A coach or a program with its own warm-up can come first, and you can treat this one as a starting point. A warm-up set never goes below the empty bar, and two steps that round to the same weight become one set.

Pound plates follow the app's defaults too: 45, 35, 25, 10, 5 and 2.5 lb are ticked, with a 45 lb bar. In kilograms the ticked plates run from 25 kg down to 1.25 kg, with a 20 kg bar.

Privacy

The math happens in your browser, and changing the weight, the bar or the plates makes no network requests. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere, so opening the page again brings back the example bar.

The plate math explainer walks through loading a bar by hand, and the one-rep max calculator turns a recent set into training weights you can load here.

Common questions

How do I work out the plates for each side of the bar?

Take the bar weight away from your target, then halve what is left. For 100 kg on a 20 kg bar, that leaves 40 kg for each side, which the calculator loads as one 25 kg plate and one 15 kg plate.

Why does it pick a 25 and a 15 instead of two 20s?

It puts on the heaviest plate that fits first, then the next one down, the same rule the plate sheet in the Kinoku app follows. Both ways weigh the same, so untick the 25 kg plate if you would rather load two 20s.

What if my gym has no small plates?

Untick the plates your gym is missing. When a weight can't be made exactly, the result names the closest weight below it and how far short that is, so you can choose the next weight you can load.

Does it work with a women's bar or a trap bar?

You can type any bar weight, such as 15 kg for the lighter bar many gyms call a women's bar, or the number printed on your trap bar. The calculator only uses that number, so weigh a bar that has no label.

How does it choose the warm-up sets?

The sets climb through 50, 60, 70 and 80 percent of your working weight for 12, 8, 5 and 3 reps, rounded to a weight your plates can make. When your working weight is no more than one and a half times the bar, you get one set of ten with the empty bar.