Plate calculator

The calculator loads a barbell the way Pendum Lift does. Plates go on in pairs, one on each side, and any number of pairs of each plate you mark as available is assumed. A load is the bar plus both sides.

load = bar + 2 × (plates on one side)

Kilograms and pounds use separate equipment rather than a conversion, as in Pendum Lift’s default gym. Kilograms: a 20 kg bar (15 and 10 kg also offered) and plates of 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 kg. Pounds: a 45 lb bar (35, 25 and 15 lb also offered) and plates of 45, 35, 25, 10, 5 and 2.5 lb.

Every sum is worked in hundredths of the unit, so 2.5 and 1.25 add up exactly. The calculator lists every load the plates can make and takes the one nearest the target; when two are equally near, it takes the lighter. A target under the empty bar has nothing to load.

Here the calculator differs from Pendum Lift on purpose. Pendum Lift searches loads only up to the target × 1.25 + 10. With only large plates it can therefore settle on a lighter load when a heavier one is nearer: a 95 lb target on a 45 lb bar with only 45 lb plates gives 45 lb in Pendum Lift and 135 lb here. With a 5 kg or 5 lb plate or lighter, as in both default sets, the two agree.

Each side uses the fewest plates that make the load, heaviest first against the collar. That can differ from loading the heaviest plate that fits each time: 165 lb on a 45 lb bar is 35 and 25 lb a side, two plates instead of three.

The kilogram set is the competition one: the IPF uses a 20 kg bar and discs from 25 kg down to 1.25 kg, with smaller discs only for record attempts.