
You can make big gains with tiny plates.
If you've read my stuff before, you know I'm a big fan of micro-loading.
In case you're not aware, micro-loading is the practice of increasing the amount of weight on the bar by small (or micro) amounts. Most guys try to add 5-10 lbs to the bar every time they increase they weight.
This inevitably leads to stalled progress.
But micro-loading is the practice of adding just 1 or 2 pounds to the bar every time you increase the weight.
It sounds like a slow way to make progress.
And it is. But if you added just 2 pounds to the bar once a week on your bench press for a year, you'd be benching 104lbs more today than you did last year. Suddenly, it doesn't sound like such a slow way to make progress.
Micro-loading with barbells is easy. You just have to buy (or make) some microplates and you can slap them on the bar when needed.
Micro-loading dumbbells takes a little more creativity.
Here's how I do it: