What's good technique to load plates when deadlifting?

Question

I find it hard to load and unload plates when the bar is on the ground for deadlift.

When the bar is on the rack, it's easy to put the 45 lbs on and off. But, when the bar is on the ground, it's very hard to hold the bar up with one hand, hold the 45 lbs plate in the other, and bend down and around and put the plate on. Bending to the bottom seems to ruin all my leverage and ability to use my back muscles to hold the plates. (The bars in my gym are nicked enough that the plates don't just slide - you have to work them on.)

When I'm done, getting them off is even harder, esp. as I'm already exhausted. Today I dropped the bar on my foot trying to do this!

What's the best way to get the plates on and off a bar on the ground for deadlifting?

Answer 1

This tip won't help for getting the first plate on, but for subsequent plates you can roll the bar-with-first-plate onto another plate (even a 5 or 10 will work) that's laying flat on the ground. This will give you just enough clearance to load on more plates without having to lift the bar.

As for that first plate, you might be able to just rest the plate on the ground and hold it in place while you slide the bar into it (as opposed to sliding the plate onto the bar). You'll still have to slide the other plate onto the bar, but leverage may help a bit since the other end of the bar is no longer resting on the ground.

Answer 2

Have you thought about 25lb plates?

(As long as there's enough at your gym to go around)

They're easy to put on.
They give you a good warm-up weight.
They're a nice increment size for additional sets. (as well as pyramiding down)
They're smaller, so they give you a little more range of motion than a 45lb plate.

Answer 3

Personally I load up the first 45# plates in my squat rack and walk it over to my deadlift area. I'm not strong enough, and have enough other plates, that subsequent plates can be restricted to smaller-diameter plates. But it's important to have a consistent and correct height in order to maintain correct form.

Deadlift jack

They make tools for this situation. A rolling ldeadlift loading jack is a specially-designed lever that lifts the bar just a little bit, and balances in that lifted position.

Using it is as simple as a crowbar. Per West Cary Barbell:

Just hook it under the bar and pull backon the handle. Add your plates then raise the handle to put the par back on the ground.