Loading (and Unloading) the Deadlift Bar

We all want to feel confident at the gym. Like, you want to walk in there and OWN that gym, and all its equipment.

Even if you’re working out at home, with no one watching, the feeling of confidence handling equipment is a good feeling. For many of my newer virtual training clients, loading and unloading the Olympic barbell for deadlifts is anxiety-inducing enough to completely deter them from deadlifts.

Now for Conventional Deadlifts you always want to use at least 1 bumper plate on each side, whereas with Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs) you can use any plates, since with RDLs you don’t actually initiate the lift from the floor (for a full guide on Romanian Deadlifts, click HERE).

Both RDL’s and Conventional Deadlifts are examples of hinge-exercises. Any deadlift or hip thrust falls under this category. To read more about the 7 functional movement patterns, check out THIS article.

Have no fear - this article will briefly explain 3 methods of loading and unloading the barbell for Conventional Deadlifts. Sure, each loading and unloading method will take some practice, but watch the video below and walk through yourself doing this in your mind. Then, put in your headphones, tune out the world around you, and practice loading.

So let’s get to it, shall we?

Loading the Barbell

Method 1: Lever-N-Pull/Push

To get the initial plate on your bar, first roll your bumper plate over nice and close to your bar. Lift the end of your bar up and kinda lean the plate into the bar so the hole of the plate lines up with the end of the bar. Then, you can straddle the bar, grab the plate, and pull it on.

Method 2: Small Plate Trick

If you use the grab-n-pull method to get the first plates on, this small-plate trick works super well for loading and unloading subsequent plates easily. Grab some 2.5 lb /5 kilo plates and place them on the ground in front of your bar. Roll the bar up onto the plates. Bam - your bar is now slightly elevated for easy loading and unloading. PS: make sure you roll the bar OFF the plates and shove the plates out of the way before initiating the lift…

Method 3: Use a Bar Jack

Ok this isn’t really a method, just a super cool piece of equipment you may or may not have access to. If you have access to one of these, consider yourself insanely lucky and take advantage of it. It’s specifically made for easily elevating your deadlift bar for super efficient bumper plate loading and unloading.

unLoading the Barbell

Method 1: Use a Bar Jack

Self-explanatory - use that handy bar jack to pop the bar back off and unload from there.

Method 2: Small Plate Trick

Again…easy to understand. Roll it up onto the plates again and unload. Once you get to the last plates, you can use the next method:

Method 3: Lever-N-Pull/Push (Pull and Shimey) + Optional Bar Dump

Making sure to come into a squat and really brace down, using your arm as a sort of lever to lift the bar slightly, push or pull the plates off the bar with the occasional “shimey” showed in the video. :D