Only newbs use plates for this-
act like you know what you are doing and grab a dumbbell. come in from you body side and set one end in through the hanging loop. just let it hang, no need to wrap the chain around or through. This is by far the easiest way to use the incremental and big weights with a dip belt.
With this info, I have forever changed your gym experience. No need to thank me, just pass it along to the other gym newbies you see foolishly hooking plates up through the chain.
took me a bit to find a pic - pulled from T-Nation:
Tip of the Day
Many times I'll see people in the gym stringing the dip belt's chain through the center of weight plates to add weight to their dips, pullups, or chinups.
As a tip, I'll mention to them that it's much easier to simply loop the chain around one end of a dumbbell than it is to string the chain through the center of a weight plate.
It's actually pretty inconvenient to use weight plates versus a dumbbell. The dumbbell stands up on it's own, you don't have to squat very low before the chain reaches the dumbbell, and you don't need to loop multiple dumbbells if you're going heavier than a standard 45lb plate.
I highly recommend chaining up a dumbbell instead of weight plates when adding additional weight to dips, chinups, or pullups.
Of course, this only works up to the weight of your heaviest dumbbell! Anything over and above that heaviest dumbbell is all weight plate!
Give the dumbbell method a shot next time, you'll be happy how simple and hassle free it really is.
Thank me later!
Ryan