Perhaps this is a stupid question, but do people use a special
stand or something to load the first weights onto a dead lift bar?
Obviously, once a larger diameter plate is on each side, adding
more is trivial, but I would imagine the first on each side could
be made easier with some sort of apparatus.

I guess I could just get some jackstands?

Perhaps this is a stupid question, but do people use a special
stand or something to load the first weights onto a dead lift bar?
Obviously, once a larger diameter plate is on each side, adding
more is trivial, but I would imagine the first on each side could
be made easier with some sort of apparatus.

I guess I could just get some jackstands?
Not usually. Just lift one end of the bar up, put the plate though, and then do the other end before continuing to load. There's nothing to it even if all your plates are the same diameter.

I have sawhorses that I use to spot when I squat. I usually put the bar on there when I load and unload.

The first 45 lb plate is usually not a problem. It's easy enough to hold up the bar and slide on a plate. I usually do dead lifts in front of a power rack and I'll set the pins at a low position and put the bar on the pins.

It does become difficult when you have two 45 lb plates on each end of the bar and want to add another 45 lb plate. They do make a bar jack for this purpose. If you don't have a bar jack, you can always roll the existing plates on top of another plate laying on the floor. It elevates the end of the bar enough to slide on the additional 45 lb plate.

It shouldn't be that big a problem, but the lowest bar on a rack or a smith machine could be used. Then you have to lift off a box or a platform to adjust for the higher height.

Or get you a deadlift machine. (http://nautilusgsa.com/productXPL.asp?item=DL)

It's easy enough to load up the bar. Helps to slide a 5lb-er under the first plate to get the extra weight on afterwards. But after a workout, my grip is shot and sliding 45lb plates off isn't that simple.

My gym has a very simple bar jack that I use. Most I've seen online like this one http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/10802.html lift the entire bar with both sides off the floor. But the one I use is a simple bar of curved steel. At the bottom of the curve is a cross-bar "foot". And the end of the bar is notched to fit the bar. It lifts one end of the bar just enough that you can slide the plates off easily. I haven't tried it with more than two plates on a side (still struggling to get my form right with a pitifully weak back), but I haven't seen it flex at all.

If the safety bars of your power rack go low enough, or you have a platform to stand on, seems it would be even easier. Once I have my home gym set up, that'll be the way I'll go.

Enjoy,
-Sean

Most I've seen online like this one http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/10802.html lift the entire bar with both sides off the floor.

Whoa! What a ripoff, they want 180 bucks (and probably another 40 for freight) for that thing!

NYBB sucks.

NYBB has GREAT prices..........

Perhaps this is a stupid question, but do people use a special
stand or something to load the first weights onto a dead lift bar?
Obviously, once a larger diameter plate is on each side, adding
more is trivial, but I would imagine the first on each side could
be made easier with some sort of apparatus.

The easy way is to put one plate on each side, then roll the bar on that plate onto a small (say 5 pound) plate so the end is tilted up a little. Then load the rest of the plates on that side, and roll the bar off the little plate. Then do the other side.

My gym has a very simple bar jack that I use. Most I've seen online like this one http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/10802.html lift the entire bar with both sides off the floor. But the one I use is a simple bar of curved steel. At the bottom of the curve is a cross-bar "foot". And the end of the bar is notched to fit the bar. It lifts one end of the bar just enough that you can slide the plates off easily. I haven't tried it with more than two plates on a side (still struggling to get my form right with a pitifully weak back), but I haven't seen it flex at all.
We've got one of those at my gym. Comes in pretty handy.

Here's another one: http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=114&pid=197

Yeah, loading the bar isn't a problem for me (although deloading is sometimes annoying when I'm on mats and I'm using slightly different sized plates, i.e. all 45s but diff. brand..this is in a crappy 30 year old garage gym you have to remember), but I can imagine that once you have more than 3 or 4 plates on each side, it could be difficult to hold it up to slide them off :eek:

I've been using jack stands ($15 at the auto store) for deads.
They seem to work OK. I load the bar on the jack stands, and do
the first lift from them. With the bar at top ROM, I take a step or
two backwards, and do 6 down to the floor, then again step
forward at top ROM and return it to the jack stands.

One other observation is that I feel the burn in my back
at very low weight (70lbs), but hasn't gotten worse with more
weight--I just feel it a lot more in my legs now.