The Best Plate Carrier and Weighted Plates for The Tactical Games and the Crossfit Games (includes video)

The Tactical Games are all the rage right now for military, law enforcement, and Constitutionally-minded citizens. Combining physical fitness, marksmanship, and gear selection/setup (not to mention a healthy dose of freedom), it is easy to see why. The Tactical Games has specific rules governing the weight of plate carriers used by every athlete, but it is difficult to get your weighted plates tuned just right to stay within regulations using the weighted or armor plate options on the market today. Generally speaking, they will put you way over the required weight because they haven't been designed as part of a holistic system with you and The Tactical Games in mind. The closer you get to the specified weight, the more of a competitive advantage you create for yourself by carrying as little excess weight as possible.

Above Photo: @brass_n_bullets by @reconro
Weighted Plate Carrier: ICEPLATE EXO®

About twenty years ago, two Stanford Biologists found that powerful cooling applied to the body during and after a workout, can beat the performance-enhancing effects of anabolic steroids.[1] Since cooling is a natural bodily process, no drugs are required. All you are doing is supercharging the body's natural thermoregulatory mechanisms to improve metabolic capacity.

Above Photo: @brass_n_bullets by@youngbuckdave
Weighted Plate Carrier: ICEPLATE EXO®

ICEPLATE® Curve delivers similar levels of powerful cooling (approximately 70 watts per IcePlate® Curve or 140 watts with front and back frozen IcePlate® Curves) in a thin, efficient package that is the same size and shape as a Medium ESAPI armor plate. 

Baseline: how much does an IcePlate® Curve weigh when full of water?
A single IcePlate® Curve weighs approximately 12 ounces empty. One liter of water weighs 2.205 pounds, so 1.5L/50 fluid ounces of water weighs 3.3075 pounds. This means that a single IcePlate® Curve filled with 50 fluid ounces of water weighs four (4) pounds.

Using the recipes below, you can build your own set of IcePlate® Curves that, when used with our ICEPLATE EXO® Ultralight Ventilated Plate Carrier, are the exact regulation weight for The Tactical Games and/or The Crossfit Games. Here is the best part: they will also deliver powerful cooling, similar to the levels discovered by those Stanford Biologists, since a huge part of the recipe is water!

***DO NOT DRINK FROM ICEPLATE® AFTER FOLLOWING STEPS BELOW***

Above: ICEPLATE EXO® Gen 2 setup for The Tactical Games with IcePlate® Curves.
Photo: @brass_n_bullets Weighted Plate Carrier: ICEPLATE EXO®

 

Tactical Games Weighted Cooling Plate Recipe

12 POUND CONFIGURATION
Directions:

1. Add 2280 BBs (0.7 cups in a liquid measuring cup) to ICEPLATE® Curve
2. Add epoxy to BBs inside ICEPLATE® Curve. Even out distribution of BBs in epoxy along the front face of I CEPLATE® Curve, laying I CEPLATE® Curve flat on the front face (the side that says "I CEPLATE"). This will position the ice to face your body for maximum conductive cooling effect while also ensuring the BBs are silent. Place this assembly in a safe place and let it set/cure/dry per the instruction on the epoxy you used.
3. Add 5.5 cups water (44 oz) to IcePlate® Curve
4. Replace Freezer Cap, place in freezer for 6-8 hours

• Cooling Power: 61.6 watts per ICEPLATE® Curve
• Finished weight of one ICEPLATE® Curve: 5.45 pounds
• Total Weight: two weighted ICEPLATE® Curves + ICEPLATE EXO® = 2*5.45 + 1.20 = 12.1 pounds
• If using a MOLLE Cummerbund, add an extra 260 BBs (0.1 cups in a liquid measuring cup) since the ICEPLATE EXO® weighs 0.2 pounds less with the MOLLE Cummerbund vs the Elastic Cummerbund

Above Photo: @brass_n_bullets by @reconro Weighted Plate Carrier: ICEPLATE EXO®

15 POUND CONFIGURATION
Directions:

1. Add 4566 BBs (1.4 cups in a liquid measuring cup) to ICEPLATE® Curve
2. Add epoxy to BBs inside ICEPLATE® Curve. Even out distribution of BBs in epoxy along the front face of ICEPLATE® Curve, laying ICEPLATE® Curve flat on the front face (the side that says "ICEPLATE"). This will position the ice to face your body for maximum conductive cooling effect while also ensuring the BBs are silent. Place this assembly in a safe place and let it set/cure/dry per the instruction on the epoxy you used.
3. Add 5 cups water (40 oz) to ICEPLATE® Curve
4. Replace Freezer Cap, place in freezer for 6-8 hours

• Cooling Power: 56 watts per ICEPLATE® Curve
• Finished weight of one ICEPLATE® Curve: 6.95 lbs
• Total Weight: two weighted ICEPLATE® Curves + ICEPLATE EXO® = 2*6.95 + 1.20 = 15.1 pounds
• If using a MOLLE Cummerbund, add an extra 260 BBs (0.1 cups in a liquid measuring cup) since ICEPLATE EXO® weighs 0.2 pounds less with the MOLLE Cummerbund vs the Elastic Cummerbund 

Regulation Weighted Plates: Crossfit, Memorial Day Murph

20 POUND CONFIGURATION
Directions:

1. Add 8600 BBs (2.6 cups in a liquid measuring cup) to ICEPLATE® Curve.
2. Add epoxy to BBs inside ICEPLATE® Curve. Even out distribution of BBs in epoxy along the front face of ICEPLATE® Curve, laying ICEPLATE® Curve flat on the front face (the side that says "ICEPLATE"). This will position the ice to face your body for maximum conductive cooling effect while also ensuring the BBs are silent. Place this assembly in a safe place and let it set/cure/dry per the instruction on the epoxy you used.
3. Add 3.9 cups of water (31.2 oz) to ICEPLATE® Curve.
4. Replace Freezer Cap, place in freezer for 4-6 hours.

• Cooling Power: 43.68 watts per ICEPLATE® Curve, 87.36 watts total
• Finished weight of one ICEPLATE® Curve is 9.443 pounds.
• Total Weight: two weighted ICEPLATE® Curves + ICEPLATE EXO® = 2*9.443 + 1.20 = 20.086 pounds
• If using a MOLLE Cummerbund, add an extra 260 BBs (0.1 cups in a liquid measuring cup) since ICEPLATE EXO® weighs 0.2 pounds less with the MOLLE Cummerbund

IMPORTANT NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

• ***DO NOT DRINK FROM IcePlate® AFTER FILLING WITH BBs***
• Purchase an additional ICEPLATE® Curve if you want one for drinking/hydration
• 6000 steel BBs with copper coating were bought from Walmart for $8.46
• This setup only has to be done once. After the ICEPLATE® Curve is put into this configuration, you can seal the cap and reuse repeatedly.

Above Photo: @brass_n_bullets by @youngbuckdave Weighted Plate Carrier: ICEPLATE EXO®