Difficult Finding a Gym/Non-circular plates

[OneTake]

I just started my career and my job is far away from my house. My old university gym had everything I needed (power racks, a platform w/ bumper plates, etc.), but it's no longer convenient to go there.

I looked for a gym in the area of my work, but Sport & Health sucks. They have one power rack and NO completely circular plates. One of the S&H's had the 12 sided plates and the other S&H had circular plates with flat portions every third of the circumference of the plate. I tried doing DLs and BB rows at the one with the nearly circular plates and mid work set the plates rotated, one side landed on a flat part, and I had to stop mid set to readjust. Other than this...S&H had everything I needed.

Gold's Gym near my work is tiny and you can tell caters to the BB type only. One tiny, ancient power rack, round plates, but no belt for weighted BW stuff.

There's a CrossFit nearby, but I think it just started and they have yet to call me back.

Does anyone deadlift and row heavy with non-circular plates? If so, have you hurt yourself?

Has anyone else had difficulty finding a good gym?

[muddy]

Just be persistent with the CF folks. However, it seems many CF gyms don't have an open-gym policy, but you may as well be persistent and see what you can find out.

Otherwise, why not Gold's then? Just take/get your own belt if you need one. If no one uses the rack, or you can go at an off-peak time, perfect.

People tend to hate the 12-sided plates, but I have never had a problem with them. I admit, I currently don't use them for DLing though, but I have without problems in the past. If the bar is decent, they never tend to rotate around on me, and look more like what you see in this video:

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/Cros ... sLinda.mov

(Not only is the woman doing DLs with the 12-sided, but in the opening set of 10 DLs, you can see a guy in the right side of the frame doing the same thing.)

Worst case, time to start building up a home gym?

[tigertron]

y my gym has the 12 sided plates and i never seem to have had an issue with them...
and totally off topic ...but i loveeee those crossfit girls!

[OneTake]

Hmm. Maybe I'm just a bitch? I try not to bounce the weight when deadlifting. I let the plates lie on the floor for a second or two in between reps. I approach the 1x5 like 5 singles, but without regripping.

The sleeves always tend to rotate and the plates never rotate at the same rate, so I get screwed over in between reps.

Am I approaching the lift incorrectly??

I got out of work early and used my university's gym for today. I called CF again and got no answer. I will probably do what you suggested and go to Gold's, but buy my own belt.

[Kaizen]

Hmm. Maybe I'm just a bitch? I try not to bounce the weight when deadlifting. I let the plates lie on the floor for a second or two in between reps. I approach the 1x5 like 5 singles, but without regripping.

The sleeves always tend to rotate and the plates never rotate at the same rate, so I get screwed over in between reps.

Am I approaching the lift incorrectly??

I got out of work early and used my university's gym for today. I called CF again and got no answer. I will probably do what you suggested and go to Gold's, but buy my own belt.

I use the 12 sided plated for dead-lifting also, it sometimes gets me also. Like you i also to complete reps, none of this touch'n'go crap using momentum to help me. I do 5 singles, full reps. Ive considered tightening up the sleeves (my weights, home gym) but aint tried yet incase i damage them, plus the rotational movement is useful for cleans etc.

[grambo]

This is a bit late but trying emailing the CF gym from their website, they are probably really busy if they are in the setup/pre-opening phase, but that also means they will be looking for new clients. You might be able to work out a deal with the owner to train by yourself, just say you are doing a Rippetoe style program (since they will of course know Rippetoe). You might want to get into CF group classes after seeing them, who knows. They will have all the best equipment possible as you know (bumpers, platforms, rings, KB's, real pull-up bars, med balls, tires etc).