A no-nonsense reference for the standard barbell plates you’ll find in the wild, in both systems. Bookmark this one.
Kilogram plates (IWF / IPF standard)
Competition and international gyms use color-coded kilo plates. The colors are standardized, so you can read a bar by color alone.
| Plate | Weight | Color | ≈ in lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 kg | 25 kg | Red | 55.12 lb |
| 20 kg | 20 kg | Blue | 44.09 lb |
| 15 kg | 15 kg | Yellow | 33.07 lb |
| 10 kg | 10 kg | Green | 22.05 lb |
| 5 kg | 5 kg | White | 11.02 lb |
| 2.5 kg | 2.5 kg | Red (small) | 5.51 lb |
| 1.25 kg | 1.25 kg | Chrome/small | 2.76 lb |
Standard barbell: 20 kg (men’s), 15 kg (women’s).
Pound plates (US standard)
American gyms typically use cast-iron or bumper plates in these denominations. Color isn’t standardized the way kilo plates are. Most are just black iron.
| Plate | Weight | ≈ in kg |
|---|---|---|
| 45 lb | 45 lb | 20.41 kg |
| 35 lb | 35 lb | 15.88 kg |
| 25 lb | 25 lb | 11.34 kg |
| 10 lb | 10 lb | 4.54 kg |
| 5 lb | 5 lb | 2.27 kg |
| 2.5 lb | 2.5 lb | 1.13 kg |
| 1.25 lb | 1.25 lb | 0.57 kg |
Standard barbell: 45 lb.
The near-misses that cause all the confusion
Look at the two systems side by side and you’ll see why loading across them is a headache. The “equivalent” plates are close but never equal:
- 45 lb vs 20 kg bar: 45 lb = 20.41 kg. The kilo bar is lighter than the pound bar by about 0.9 lb.
- 25 kg vs 45 lb plate: the big competition plate (25 kg = 55.12 lb) is heavier than the big US plate (45 lb) by ten pounds. They look like they play the same role; they don’t.
- 20 kg vs 45 lb plate: a 20 kg plate (44.09 lb) is almost a 45, but not quite.
None of these line up, and they were never meant to. That’s the whole reason a plate calculator is useful in the first place. Here’s the deeper explanation.
How much can a standard set actually load?
With a full standard set, a single pair of each plate goes a long way, but the smallest plate sets your resolution:
- A kilo set with 1.25 kg plates lets you change the bar in 2.5 kg (≈5.5 lb) steps.
- A pound set with 1.25 lb plates lets you change the bar in 2.5 lb steps, which gives you finer control.
This is why pound gyms can hit rounder pound numbers and kilo gyms hit rounder kilo numbers: each system is precise in its own unit and clumsy in the other.
Quick links
Want the exact plates for a specific weight rather than a reference table?
- Load pages: 60 kg · 100 kg · 135 lb · 225 lb
- Cross-unit: 225 lb in kg plates · 100 kg in lb plates
- Or just open the calculator and type any number.
Related reading: how to read a loaded barbell · lifting in a kg gym when you think in lb