How to Buy Rubber Bumper Plates

From Candice:

Neil,

You gave a great recommendation on purchasing barbells. What company do you recommend for the plates?

My Brother-in-law is building his own little GPP at his office in Lehi.  He just subscribed to the website and is working on getting a good base of equipment.

OK, this is an easy one. You have to go with Hi Temp (pic)! 

We've tried most of the others. Some of you will remember, when we moved into HQ at the Centerville location, we didn't go with the High Temps, at first. We had another brand. After our first "Three Bars of Death" workout we noticed dozens of rubber pieces all over the floor. We slaughtered those things! I called the manufacturer and was like, "WTH?" The guy goes, "Yes, they are made to drop - BUT NOT THAT MANY TIMES!" We sent them all back and got Hi Temps. 

• YES, other brands are sexier!
• YES, those Hi Temps bounce a little higher after drops!
• Yes, the 10lb plates "taco" a little when you try to do "monsters" on them. 

But, they are FRICKIN bomb proof. I'm quite convinced that, along with Twinkies and cockroaches, Hi Temp bumper plates will survive the Apocalypse. 

A couple of things to know about them:

• Weight tolerances are better now. When we got ours (5 yrs ago), a 45 lb plate was only "pretty close" to 45 ACTUAL pounds. I weighed a 45 which clocked in at closer to 50LBs. The company I ordered from said I could send it back. Haha - nobody ever noticed, so I figured, "why bother?" Now they are right on. Tolerances are guaranteed to +/- .5LB.
  
  
• These are made in USA! Alabama if I remember right.
  
  
• They aren't pretty. They are made of crumb rubber. I think they are recycled tires. Did I mention they are BOMB proof? Plus, "pretty" and GPP don't really belong in the same sentence, unless you are talking about the bodies we put onto folk, then YES pretty applies, I guess. But ONLY in that context.
  
  
• I wouldn't bother getting "tweener" weights. Leave the 15/35 pounders off your order. You'll do fine with 10/25/45 and a few 5LB & 2 1/2LB "steelies." 
  
  
• If the collars (which are steel - not stupid brass) pop out of your 10s, call me. I'll tell you how to get them back in. I've had to do it thrice. Now that I know how to do it - it's easy!
  
  
• The Hi Temps are generally cheaper per pound than most of the other rubber bumpers out there.
  
  
• There are a lot of companys that carry them. We got ours from RogueFitness.com. Mainly because they were the ONLY place you could get stuff like this 5 yrs ago. Things have changed. You can find Hi Temp rubber bumper plates just about everywhere now. A quick Google search will net you competitive prices.
  
  
• Careful - Shipping costs will kill you, however, a lot of "local" shippers (Colorado & Calif) are actually more expensive per unit. 
  
  
• Please mention GPP when you make an order. I'd love to create a relationship with an equipment company that would mutually benefit us all.

Working the Obliques

It takes a unique understanding of the anatomy of your obliques in order to get the most out of working them.  They don't quite act like other muscles do.  

Most muscles have a very direct line of pull.  Like a biceps muscle (to the left).  The fibers of your biceps muscles only go in one direction.  We'll call this North to South.  Because these fibers only run North to South they lack the ability to go East and West.  If your arms need to move East and West they must be enacted upon by other muscle groups.  

But, your obliques are different.  The muscles of your obliques are comprised of 2 different layers of muscle fibers.  These fibers run on angles between East and West.  The internal layers have fibers running down and backwards, toward your rear pockets.  The external layers run down and forward toward your front pockets.  The cool thing about this is because of how the fibers are angled, they are unlimited in terms of their range of motion.  Not only can they move your trunk in linear movement patterns of North and South, they can also move your trunk East and West.  With the added benefits of rotational movements kicked in for good measure. 

Yep, your obliques can move your trunk in EVERY plane of motion.  Once you understand this, it becomes easier to work them properly and with efficiency.  

Therefore Movements which shape and firm your obliques are the ones that include all of the movement patterns your obliques are capable of.  When shaping obliques look for movements that provide resistance in every plane of motion.  These include the Frontal Plane (up/down from the front), Sagittal (up/down from the side) and Transverse (rotation).  

The short vid below is a good example of a movement that includes movement in all three planes.  It is intended for the abdominals, but also has the added benefits of sculpting and shaping biceps.