The Strength Co. Plates Update - 3 Years Later!
The Strength Co. Plates Update — 3 Years Later
We’ve put our Strength Co. plates through the wringer for years at the Massenomics Gym, plus two Lift Hard Live Easy Classic meets. Here’s how they’re holding up and what we’d still tell a friend who asks if they’re worth it.
Quick disclosure
The Strength Co. has sponsored the Massenomics Podcast for years, and Grant (the owner) is a friend. That said, daily use inside our gym has a way of telling the truth. The notes below are based on what we actually see on our plates.
The setup
Inventory: 28 pairs of 45s, with total Strength Co. iron in the gym topping 2,000 lb
Age: a little over three and a half years of constant use
Use case: commercial-style wear and tear, not pampered home-gym duty
Travel history: hauled to and from two Lift Hard Live Easy Classic meets, loaded on trailers, carried up and down stairs, used all day by 100+ lifters, then put back to work in the gym
Typical loads: lots of squats, lots of benches, and especially a lot of deadlifts, including 500–700+ lb pulls on the regular
What these plates are
Made in the USA
Black e-coat finish
Smooth, easy-to-grip edges that make loading fast
What we inspected
We pulled plates straight off the tree and looked for real signs of wear.
Face and rims: light e-coat rub in the high-contact zones on some plates. You can see it if you go looking, especially on the outer rim and inner lip.
Edges: an occasional tiny chip or ding on a rim here and there, which is fair game after years of gym-style handling and meet duty.
Backs: minor scuffing where collars contact the plate and from sliding plates on and off bars.
Chalk and dust: a lot of what looks like “imperfection” is just chalk haze from meet days and heavy deadlift sessions. If we wiped them down, most of that vanishes.
Size usage patterns: 35s look the cleanest (they’re the least abused); 45s do the heavy lifting and show the most honest wear.
Maintenance: we’ve basically never cleaned these. Zero babying.
Durability verdict
These have held up awesome. After years of daily gym punishment and two meets, the wear is cosmetic and minor. No warping, no weird casting issues, no flaking finish problems. Load six or seven per side and it turns into a black monolith of iron that just looks right.
Price and shipping notes
From our vantage point, the price on these hasn’t moved much since we bought them, and shipping options seem to have improved over time. That’s our experience, not a promise, but it’s worth mentioning if you’re pricing out a home gym or topping off a set.
Should you buy them?
Short answer: yes. They’re still our go-to recommendation for someone who wants made-in-USA iron that’s going to look good and work hard for a long time. If you pick some up, tell The Strength Co. your friends at Massenomics sent you.
Tell us about your plates
What are you using, and how does the wear on your plates compare? Drop a comment with your setup, age, and any quirks you’ve noticed. We’re curious how home-gym use stacks against our gym and meet abuse.