Micro Gainz Calibrated Fractional Weight Plates Set, 8 Piece Olympic Weight Plates Set with Bag, Designed for Olympic Barbells for Strength Training and Micro Loading, Made in USA

Brightly-colored, tiny and reasonably-priced calibrated fractional steel weight plates that have a nice powder-coat finish and are well within the +/- 5g stated weight tolerance. I’m happy with them. Fractional weights are really useful for providing incremental weights, especially when using 5 lbs. and 10 lbs. dumbbells where the step up from 5 lbs. to 10 lbs. is 100%, and when you reach a sticking point with dumbbells or barbells and can't move up to the next largest regular weight plate. The first thing you notice about these weight plates, besides the bright colors, is how tiny they are: a uniform 3.5” outside diameter (compared to around 5” for my rubber-coated bumper fractional plates) with thicknesses ranging from 4.4mm (3/16”) to 17mm (3/4”). Then you notice that the powder coating is really smooth with a very slight texture. (It’s sometimes slightly sharp where the edges meet.) My weights were well within the stated tolerance of +/- 5g: under 1g for the two lightest weights, under 2g for the 3/4 lb., and under; 4g for the 1 lb. weights. They fit fine on 2”-diameter barbell and dumbbell sleeves and are reasonably-priced for calibrated steel fractional plates with a nice finish. They come with a small bag that's convenient for storage or for transporting them to the gym. How do I like them compared to my rubber-coated fractional bumper plates? There’s absolutely no smell (though I don’t find that my small fractional bumper plates have much of a rubber smell). They’re noisier when you put them on the bar or you accidentally bang them together. They have a nice, smooth powder-coat surface. The plates are labeled with their weight, but in small numbers in the same color as the weight; if you rely on nice, big numbers to remind you of the plate’s weight, you won’t find them on these. They don’t have the cool look of a white logo and weight in bright white letters on bumper plates. I think they look a bit odd when I have more than two on each side of a barbell because they’re so small compared to larger, heavier plates, but I think they look nice when using only one or two and on dumbbells with smaller-diameter weights. Overall, I think it’s roughly a tie and I use both.

Made in USA. Quality precision! got out my scales to check for weight accuracy. -/+gm nothing!! They are all spot on the stated weights. Another thing I never thought about until I had these weights. My 2 olympic barbells are 20kg weight so around 44lbs or 44.1lb. Now I can add on the 0.5lbs discs for the 135lbs instead of 134lbs. Not a big thing but just makes me so Happy! Thanks

Once you get past the newbie gains stage and it gets a bit harder to consistently get stronger, one of the best ways to keep progress going is through microloading. At most gyms, the lightest Olympic plates they have weigh 2.5lbs, meaning you must add 5lbs to the bar each time you want to go up in weight. While that's feasible for awhile, eventually it gets impossible to add that much weight each session and still get your reps in. These plates allow you to load an additional 2.5lbs onto the barbell (1.25lbs per side) or even less weight at a time (down to .5lbs), allowing you to keep progressing each week. The attached chart shows how this works--consistently bumping my barbell bench press up by 2.5lbs allowed me to add almost 40lbs to my closing barbell bench press sets (preceded by heavy 5x5 dumbbell work) over the course of about 3.5 months, which is something I couldn't have achieved bumping the weight by 5lbs each session. These weights are compact and easy to stash in your gym bag, and allow you to consistently ramp up weight over time without limiting your volume. For instance, if you could bench press 185lbs for 10 reps one week that's 1,850lbs of overall volume (185 x 10), but if you had to bump up by 5lbs to 190 maybe you could only get in 7 reps before failure (190 x 7 = 1,330lbs) whereas if you only bumped up by 2.5lbs to 187.5 you could probably get in 9 reps (187.5 x 9 = 1688) or even hit all 10 (187.5 x 10 = 1,875lbs). So rather than dropping from 1,850lbs of volume to 1,330 you can adapt to heavier weights with similar volume or even more volume the very next session. Getting stronger and building muscle is all about increasing volume over time, and these plates help you do exactly that. Check these out to keep the gains coming for a long, long time.

Great set for incrementally increasing barbell weights in less than 2.5lb jumps. One or two of the plates came with some minor scratches but other than that they were a quality purchase.

Absolutely perfect for small muscle groups that you can only really add .5 incriminates to for progressive overload. I have the clip on ones for fumbles but these have been a game changer for shoulder and triceps where you can’t always add a lot of weight

Might have preferred the Rogue fractional plates as first choice because of their rubber composition. These were my second choice based on price and promise of precision. Here is what they weighed: 1 lb. 16.05/16.05 oz 3/4 lb. 12.10/12.05 oz 1/2 lb. 8.00/8.00 oz 1/4 lb. 4.00/4.00 oz They weigh what they say, they fit on my barbell. The e-finish is great. The edges are just slightly sharp in places but nothing to worry about. I put some thin colored electrical tape on the edges to color code them.

The microgains mini weights were just what I needed for gradual weight increases as I recovered from an injury. They arrived quickly and the quality is excellent!

I ordered these from the USA and they arrived here in 12 days (I'm in Australia). The seller packaged and sent them quickly which definitely helped them arrive in a timely manner (well under Amazon's estimate). The plates themselves I quite like, 4 pairs in the denominations advertised. They are simple rings of steel coated in some kind of black paint. Being steel, they are fairly thin, so don't take up any significant space on the olympic bar. You could also use them on oympic dumbbell handles if you have those. I'm using these in my home gym. Currently I'm keeping them in the box they came packaged in until my weight storage rack shows up, then they will go on that. If you don't have a weight rack, I'd recommend holding onto the cardboard box. Since they are not that heavy, they would be easy to transport to a commercial gym - IF you received a carry bag. I didn't. Still, it was mostly the plates themselves I was after, hence I only knocked off 1 star for missing the advertised bag.

Es perfecto!

I didn't weigh the plates for accuracy since I'm not using calibrated plates to begin with but these are great even just for the mental aspect of still putting a 1-2.5lb PR on paper if the last workout was super grindy.

Very pleased really happy with the quality and build really useful to getting over the platto on the heavier weights.My only complaint is the price of micro incrementle weights it cost almost as much as 2 X 25 pound plates I bought .