Microloading

Towards the end of a training cycle, when the work sets for each main exercise are getting very hard, it is generally impossible to jump up in 2.5kg/5lb leaps each workout. This means most people have to 'microload', or use smaller poundage increments to continue gaining.

How can you get around this? It is possible to purchase beautifully engineered fractional plates from specialist suppliers, but many frugal people (like me) prefer to engineer their own solutions. In the past I have used smaller (0.5 and 1kg) plates designed for regular barbells. I simply hooked them over the ends of spring clip collars.

I am at the stage of my current training cycle where it will be necessary to employ these tactics once more. This time I am going to use twine to attach the plates to the bar to help get the right combination. More ideas here.

With the weights I have, I should be able to add 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2kg to the bar.