Nobody needs urethane-coated plates this nice… but once you use them, regular plates feel like peasant equipment. They look incredible, feel premium, and the urethane coating makes me feel way more sophisticated than I actually am while loading a barbell in my garage. The built-in handles are legitimately awesome — moving plates around no longer feels like wrestling manhole covers. The 45s also double as elite farmer’s carry implements, so technically I’m getting cardio equipment too. That’s how I justify the price to myself anyway. Fair warning: buying one pair “just to try them” is how you accidentally end up collecting every size.

Absolutely love this thing. I paired it with my Ares 2.0 and a very scientific “custom engineered” setup consisting of a makeshift 4x4 crossmember with a pulley and a rounded calf block for calf raises… and it works ridiculously well. The retractable feature alone deserves 5 stars. Being able to get in and out quickly without performing a full Olympic gymnastics routine is a game changer. Once you use it, you realize there’s really nothing else out there quite like it.