Skip to content
BarWeight
Tools

001 Free tools — no login

Load thebar right.

A 45 lb bar and a 20 kg bar are not the same bar. 137 lb is not a weight you can load. BarWeight does the arithmetic so you can get under the bar and lift.

Run the plate mathEstimate my max
001 Men's Olympic bar
45 LB20 kg = 44.09 lb
002 Lifters analyzed
587,379OpenPowerlifting, raw
003 Bars in the database
8lb and kg, spec-sourced

The 587,379 figure is a count of unique raw lifters in the public-domain OpenPowerlifting dataset. It is a sample of people who entered a powerlifting meet — not a general-population sample, and nothing derived from it should be read as a norm for everyone.

002 The toolkit

Every calculator

Every one of these is free, works on a phone in a gym, and shows its work.

A woman performing a barbell back squat in a rack, using a padded bar sleeve, with plates loaded on the bar
The bar, the rack, the plates. Everything on this site exists to get the number on that bar right before you get under it.Photo by Nenad Stojkovic, CC BY 2.0.

003 The gear

Equipment, spec'd the same way as the tools

Same rule as the calculators: every number here was read off a real listing or a manufacturer sheet, and the source is on the card. No prices, no star ratings, nothing we claim to have tested.

BarWeight is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure.

Adjustable dumbbells

Bowflex Results Series SelectTech Dumbbells

B0FRNG2N5H
Adjustable dumbbellsBowflexSelectorised adjustable dumbbells
Type
Selectorised adjustable dumbbells
Sold
Multiple weight options on one listing

Best for: The current-generation replacement for the SelectTech line most people mean when they say "Bowflex dumbbells".

Skip if: You drop your dumbbells. No selectorised dumbbell is built to be dropped.

Check these yourself before ordering

  • — Which weight option the listing is set to before you order — this listing carries more than one
  • — Whether a stand is included or sold separately
  • — The top weight per hand against what you actually press
View on Amazon

Specs read from the listing on 2026-07-24. Listings change — confirm the current spec and option before you order.

Smith machine

DONOW Smith Machine with Weight Stacks

B0D632P2SW
Smith machinesDONOW352 lb weight stacks
Weight Stacks
352 lb weight stacks
Cable Ratio
2:1 cable crossover
Frame
2 in x 2 in steel
Smith Bar
Linear-bearing Smith bar
Pulleys
Aluminium pulleys (listed as optional)
Extras
Power rack, lat pulldown

Best for: One corner of a garage doing Smith work, cable crossover and rack work without three separate machines.

Skip if: You want free-weight barbell work. A Smith bar runs on rails.

Check these yourself before ordering

  • — Ceiling height and full assembled footprint before ordering
  • — Which options the listing includes — the pulleys are listed as optional
  • — The counterbalanced Smith bar weight, which is not 45 lb
View on Amazon

Specs read from the listing on 2026-07-24. Listings change — confirm the current spec and option before you order.

Power rack

ULTRA FUEGO Multi-Functional Power Cage

B0BFQVVFB7
Power racksULTRA FUEGOJ-hooks, dip handles, landmine attachment
Includes
J-hooks, dip handles, landmine attachment
Optional
Cable pulley system

Best for: A first rack that covers squats, presses, dips and landmine work.

Skip if: You need Westside 1 in hole spacing through the bench zone — check before ordering.

Check these yourself before ordering

  • — Ceiling height and footprint
  • — Hole spacing in the bench and squat zone
  • — Whether the pulley system is included in the option you picked
View on Amazon

Specs read from the listing on 2026-07-24. Listings change — confirm the current spec and option before you order.

See all 180 models

004 Shopping for something

Straight to the gear you are actually buying

Each of these compares published specs across every model we have verified, explains which spec decides the purchase, and says plainly that we have tested none of it.

What this site will not do

  • Tell you we tested equipment we have not tested.
  • Invent a rating, a price, or a review count.
  • Make up a formula. Every equation here is published and cited on the page.
  • Pretend an estimate is a measurement.

Bar and plate weights on this site are nominal manufacturer sizes — what the bar is sold and stamped as. They are not weights we put on a scale. If the exact number matters for a competition, weigh the bar.

The two numbers that trip everyone

45 lb is not 20 kg. The American 45 lb bar and the IWF 20 kg competition bar get used interchangeably in conversation, but 20 kg is 44.09 lb. Nearly a pound apart, and it compounds every time you add a plate.

Not every number is loadable. With a standard pound set, the smallest jump is 5 lb — a 2.5 lb plate on each side. Ask for 137 and the honest answer is 135. Every calculator here says so instead of rounding silently.

See every bar weight