SnapMyGym
Enter a target weight and bar — see exactly which plates to load on each side. Supports pound and kilogram bars. Free, no signup.
Standing over a bar doing plate math under fatigue is exactly where loading mistakes happen. Enter the target weight and your bar, and this calculator shows which plates go on each side — in pounds or kilograms.
A standard men's Olympic bar weighs 45 lb (20 kg) and a women's bar 35 lb (15 kg). The plates must cover the difference between your target weight and the bar, split evenly: (target − bar) ÷ 2 per side.
Load the heaviest plates first, against the shoulder of the bar, then work down in size. In gym slang, "one plate" means a 45 lb plate per side — 135 lb total with the bar. Two plates is 225 lb, three is 315 lb, four is 405 lb.
With a 45 lb bar: one 45 lb plate per side is 135 lb total, two per side is 225 lb, three is 315 lb, and four is 405 lb. In kilograms with a 20 kg bar and 20 kg plates: 60, 100, 140, and 180 kg.
A standard men's Olympic barbell is 45 lb (20 kg); women's competition bars are 35 lb (15 kg). Specialty bars vary widely — safety squat bars often run 60–70 lb and many home-gym bars are 15–35 lb — so check yours before loading.
Plates come in fixed pairs, so some targets can't be built from a standard plate set. Round to the nearest loadable weight, or add fractional plates (1.25–2.5 lb) if your gym has them — micro-loading is also the cleanest way to keep progressing on pressing lifts.
Want the number to actually go up? Snap My Gym builds percentage-based programs around your lifts and tracks them automatically. More evidence-first training articles on the blog.