Weight Lifting: How are you supposed to know the weights of unlabled things?
Weight Lifting: How are you supposed to know the weights of unlabled things?
I started lifting weights (again) and accurately tracking my progress (I bought a "cheap" workout and weight loss plan, which requires a lot of data so you can see your progress (or regress)). When bench pressing and doing squats on the (Cybex) Smith Machine I had assumed that the bar weighed 45 pounds like a free bar does and added it to the total weight. It wasn't until my most recent session (finished about 30 minutes ago) that I realized that the bar doesn't in fact weigh 45 pounds....but weighs anywhere from 7 to 30 pounds, according to what I saw from a quick search. I should have realized that it wasn't 45 pounds because it felt pretty light. Google says that the average weight tends to be about 15 pounds, but I have no idea.
I was also using the (Cybex) overhead should press machine and saw that the plates past 50 pounds went in 15 pound increments. Then I noticed the additional weight at the top, disabled by a pin. When I lowered it down on to the stack there was no number on it. Was it 5 pounds? 7.5 pounds? 10 pounds? Who knows?
How are people supposed to know how much weight they're lifting if things aren't numbered properly? They have these huge stickers that say everything, but they can't put "bar weighs 15 lbs" on it?
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Step on a scale holding whatever you want to weigh.
Put down the thing
Step on a scale not holding the thing you want to weigh.
Subtract the second number from the first.
I realized I didn't need a special scale to weigh light things if I just did it like that.
Now lift it up 11 more times. You've done a set... do it four more times, move on to the next object.
(I think OP is more talking about thinks you can't bring to a scale)
This is a great method if you own the object in question... Sounds like OP is curious about equipment at their local public gym though.
I was under the impression most gyms had a scale, but I have a sample size of one gym that I've ever been to, and that gym had a scale.
Maybe that's not as common as I imagined it was.
My gym has a scale, but not a digital one and it would be... Unusual, if not somewhat dangerous, to bring a bar across the entire place to where it's placed.
I can see reasons why they wouldn't want to do that, even if there is a scale.
Unusual? Sure.
Dangerous? Are you planning to carry it perpendicular to your body? That's like how a car is dangerous if you drive it on the sidewalk.
Depends on your gym layout I guess. I've done this a few times when the bar weight felt off at a new gym. Do what you need to do. Don't let the fear of weird looks deter you.
Or, just put the thing on the scale?
Many scales won't register low weights, that's what this method is for.
OP is looking for the weight of the bar on a smith machine, which means they'll have to take the scale with them to the machine. That's definitely not going to fly in most gyms. Nor would it work on the weights on a machine's weight stack.