Easy Fix for a Slanted Lifting Platform (cheap & fast)
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If you’ve got a slightly sloped platform, and if it causes the barbell to roll a bit when setting up for pulls from the floor (e.g., deadlifts, rows, snatches, cleans, etc.), this problem needs to be addressed. There are a few ways to fix the issue, so let’s cover them quickly.
Solution #1: Shim the Platform
If the slope is significant, the best solution is to shim your platform. My wife and I often train in our garage gym, and the garage floor has a pretty decent slope to it (as most garage floors do for drainage reasons). We shimmed our platform when we built it, and as a result, the platform is level and works wonderfully for training.
Although very effective, shimming a platform is a pretty involved project and a topic for another article or video as we’re talking about a relatively small slope today. With this in mind, let’s move on to . . .
figure 1: got a bar that rolls away from you? just stand on the other side of the bar.
Solution #2: Lift From the Other Side of the Barbell
If the barbell wants to roll away from you when you set up to deadlift, simply step over the barbell, turn around, and set up facing the opposite direction (Figure 1). The bar will still want to roll, but now it will roll toward you, and your shins will serve as a good barrier for the bar’s unruly behavior.
The drawback here is small but worth noting - we want to set up with the bar over the middle of the foot, and since the bar will roll toward your shins, you’ll need to actually roll the bar forward just a bit when setting up. In summary, it’s not ideal, but it works. Better yet, go with . . .
Solution #3: Use Your Wrist Wraps
The easiest way to solve the problem is to take your wrist wraps, lay one of them flat on the ground immediately in front of the plate(s) on the right side of the barbell, and lay the other wrap flat on the ground immediately in front of the plate(s) on the left side of the barbell (Figure 2). Of course, you can use socks, sponges, lifting straps, etc. - the key is to use something soft and relatively thin (i.e., just thick enough to keep the bar from rolling)
figure 2: Phil & Loren have put wrist wraps on the ground in front of the plates, and this solution stops the bar from rolling.
This solution will arrest the bar’s roll, so you can set up according to a stationary barbell, which is what you’d have if you were lifting on a level platform.
I do not recommend using a small metal weight plate (e.g., a 2.5 lb plate) for two reasons. The first reason is that if you set the bar down slightly forward of where you picked it up - thus landing on the edge of the plate - the bar may come careening back toward your shins, and shins and rolling barbells do not get along well (hint: the barbell wins every time). The wrist wrap solution is much better in this regard since you can set the bar down directly on the wrist wrap with no adverse effects - it has enough “squish” not to pose a problem.
The second reason to avoid using a small plate is that - again - if you set the bar down slightly forward of its original position, you may chip either the small plate or the larger plates on the barbell. Since you obviously don’t want to damage your equipment, just grab your wrist wraps, and you’ll be good to go.
Finally, if a wrist wrap won’t stop the barbell from rolling, your platform probably has enough of a slope that you need to shim it. More on that another day.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
-Phil
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