TITAN adjustable competition kettlebell vs Urethane dumbbells

This is a comparison of the TITAN adjustable competition kettlebell and the TITAN Urethane dumbbells including pros, cons, and alternatives. This article was originally published under which titan kettlebell to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the TITAN Urethane dumbbells

This is an overview of the TITAN Urethane dumbbells including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more information.

Overview of the TITAN Urethane dumbbells

Price: $48.99 - $670.99

Urethane dumbbells are the Ferrari under the dumbbells which are available on the market. Urethane lasts longer than rubber and is more forgiving when it us dropped. There fore Urethane dumbbells are priced higher than most other dumbbells you will find in the market In addition Urethane dumbbells are usually round instead of hexagonal. This makes them easier to handle when you lift or transport them in your gym. The full specifications of the TITAN Urethane dumbbells are:

Urethane provides greater shock-resistance perfect for dropping repeatedly.
Urethane maintains its looks and shape far longer than tradition rubber.
Each handle features knurling for a secure grip.
Black matte finish for a clean, professional look.
Dumbbells are sold in pairs and are available in 5 pound increments from 5 - 120 LB.

Handle Diameter: 1.25"
Handle Width: 6"
Weight: 5 - 120 LB Single | 10 - 240 LB Pair

Urethane dumbbells are the luxury version of dumbbells which you should get if you expect a lot of use out of them or if you like to just have the best of everything. Otherwise rubber hex dumbbells might be a better choice to save some money.

Pros of the TITAN Urethane Dumbbells

The pros of the TITAN Urethane dumbbells are:

Price
Round design
Durability

As with most TITAN products you will get a comparable piece of equipment for roughly half the price when compared to brands like Rogue Fitness or Eleiko. Especially for an item like dumbbells, which you usually buy in bulk and are not that safety critical, this is nothing to be sneered at.

Urethane dumbbells are usually designed in a round shape compare to the hex design of the cheaper rubber dumbbells. It can be a matter of state, but especially very heavy dumbbells are a lot easier to manage, store and move around when they are round.

Urethane lasts longer than rubber. So especially if your gym is highly frequented or you plan to abuse the dumbbells outdoors and leave them in the rain or moist place, than Urethane might be the better choice.

Cons of the TITAN Urethane dumbbells

The cons of the TITAN Urethane dumbbells are:

Price
Space requirements

While the price of Titan products is always lower than the competition the price for Urethane dumbbells or plates is generally a lot higher than for rubber. If you are building a gym on a budget or a home gym with just one user, I personally do not see it justified to spend that much more compared to rubber dumbbells. Unless you like the good things in mind and having a gym is peanuts for your budget. If you are this kind of buyer i think it is also unlikely that you would be shopping at TITAN.

Dumbbells which are fixed in weight are not necessarily the best for home gyms or any other places that are constrained in space. A full rack of dumbbells ranging from 5lbs to 120lbs or even higher takes up an entire wall. If you are training by yourself this is a lot of space to give up and money to invest on material that you will not use very often.

Alternatives to the TITAN Urethane Dumbbells

Alternatives to the TITAN Urethane Dumbbells are:

The Titan rubber hex dumbbells are the cheaper version of the Urethane dumbbells. You will have the same functionality and space requirements, but at a lower cost and with a different shape. The hexagonal shape makes the hex dumbbells a bit harder to handle and transport. The rubber is also more prone to wear off over time. In return you save on the purchase as the material is cheaper. The rubber hex dumbbells are a good alternative for home gyms that have the space for a full rack of dumbbells, but do not want to spend the money on Urethane. When you are the only user of the dumbbells longevity becomes less of an issue, as the usage will not be as high.

The neoprene lightweight dumbbells are an alternative for anyone who wants to do yoga or other exercises with slightly more weight than body weight. They tale up less space and are cheaper than the Urethane dumbbells. These dumbbells are aimed at stay at home moms who follow programs like bikinibodymommy. Professional gyms can place these in the dedicated ladies area. Athletes can use these for recovery and mobility exercises to work on problematic ranges of motions.

The TITAN Olympic dumbbells come in a 36-inch, 20-inch, and 15-inch version. These adjustable dumbbells are a great solution for home gyms with limited space. You can use the plates you already have to load these individually.This way you have a wide range of weights at your disposal without having to give up the storage space for an entire rack of dumbbells.

Conclusion for the TITAN Urethane Dumbbells

Urethane dumbbells are a great choice for gyms with high traffic in the free weight area. In this scenario they will suffer a lot of abuse and be transported the gym around a lot. The round shape and the Urethane will help so that you have fewer dumbbells to replace. TITAN themselves as a brand also presents an opportunity to gym owners to expand into high weight dumbbells without breaking the bank too much. While the 20-40lbs dumbbells also might be gotten from a brand with a better reputation for high quality, like Rogue or Eleiko, the big bomber dumbbells could be purchased from TITAN. Reason here is to save half the cost on dumbbells that 90% of your members can not use as they are too heavy.

For home gym owners I personally think that Urethane dumbbells are not a great choice. You will not put the mileage on them that warrants paying the extra money compared to rubber hex dumbbells. IN terms of space requirements one of the Olympic dumbbells might be the best choice.

Overview and review of the TITAN adjustable competition kettlebell

This is an overview of the TITAN adjustable competition kettlebell including pros, cons, and alternatives. This article was originally published under which titan kettlebell to get. Follow the links for more details.

TITAN Adjustable competition Kettlebell $199

The TITAN Adjustable competition kettlebell is an opportunity for you to get 19 kettlebells in one go for your personal use. This kettlebell has the size of a regular competition kettlebell with a straight handle. Painted red and embossed with the TITAN logo this is a good option for a single individual that wants to progress their maxes and not stack up multiple kettlebells in a limited space. Paying for the adjustable competition kettlebell also saves money, if a lot of weight variation is your main goal. The specifications of this kettlebell are:

- Adjustable weight from 12 KG - 32 KG with 6 cast iron plates

- Easy adjustment with included Allen wrench

- Cast steel with non-welded handles for maximum durability

- Smooth finish for a great hand feel and grip while performing various exercises

- Using different combinations of plates you can set the weight of this kettlebell to the following: 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 32 kg

A good purchase for someone who mainly works with one kettlebell in many variations.

Pros of the Titan adjustable competition Kettlebell

The pros of the TITAN adjustable competition kettlebell are:

Price
Space-saving
Easier progression
Competition standard

If you really need the weight increments you get 19 kettlebells for the price of one. You can not beat that in any scenario as long as that is really what you want and need. Two 32kg / 70lb Cast Iron kettlebells from TITAN will put you back $200 for comparison. So if you were to get 19 kettlebells of different denominations we are talking $1000 to $2000 depending on which weight combinations you get.

Compared to a set of 19 kettlebells you will save a lot of space. This is the difference between having a rack of kettlebells and just one piece of equipment in the corner. Especially in a home gym scenario with limited space, you do not want to have 19 kettlebells flying around of which you are actively using three different weights.

Depending on how big and strong you are this can also be a good tool for slowly increasing your maximum. The original weight increments of kettlebells are measured in pood which equals 8kg. Going from an 8kg to a 16kg kettlebell for beginners is the biggest relative jump you can make. It gets smaller in relation to the total the more poods you add (80kg to 88kg is an increase of 10% in weight while 8kg to 16kg is 100%). So if you are a beginner this can help with your progression. If you are a professional kettlebell athlete who likes to juggle kettlebells, 1kg increments can also be beneficial in your progression.

Apart from the adjustable setup, this kettlebell is also built to competition specifications. Competition kettlebells stay the same size and shape while they increase in weight. Compared to cast iron kettlebells the handle is straight. Competition kettlebells for juggling have to have the same dimensions so that the movement pattern stays the same. Cast iron kettlebells increase in the size of their handle and diameter the heavier they get.

Cons of the Titan adjustable competition Kettlebell

The cons of the TITAN adjustable competition kettlebell are:

Single user-focused
Small parts
TITAN finish
$400 for two

The first thing is that a $200 kettlebell with a wrench and many little parts can only be considered for home gym use. If more than one person use the gym at the same time you actually want to provide for multiple users and multiple kettlebells with a bias towards the lighter ones. If you are buying for a gym it is a good way to think pyramid in terms of what you buy. An example would be 2x32kg, 4x16kg, 8x12kg, 16x8kg. You can adjust the total, but definitely by a lot more light than heavy kettlebells to cater to the masses.

Even if you are a single user I am not a huge fan of any adjustable weights for two facts. The first is that they are way more likely to break, as they have more moving parts. The second is that it is very likely that you will lose some of the parts. If you lode the wrench, the main advantage of this product turns into a pain in the backside. While adjustable always looks very good on paper, in practice most people do not get the maximum out of what they paid for and a $200 kettlebell is a lot of money. I would rather get a 100lb cast iron kettlebell for that money, but I already own 2x8kg, 2x14kg, and 2x32kg kettlebells.

Another challenge is what I call the TITAN finish. TITAN undercuts the most prices of competitor products by half in the market. With that strategy, the company has to make some compromises on the quality of its staff, products, stock policies and so further. This means that the risk of getting a faulty product, bad service, or long waiting times is a lot higher with TITAN than with Rogue Fitness or Eleiko. In return, you save a lot of money. An adjustable kettlebell needs to be precise and therefore falls into the category of products where you want high attention to detail. So if you buy the adjustable competition kettlebell you get a complex lifting product from a vendor that is more known than others to possibly underperform on the finish. Not the best combo to pick as an informed buyer. I personally would feel way more comfortable with buying cast iron kettlebells from TITAN as the maximum that can happen is access metal which can cut your hand. This can be filed down if it's needed.

While $400 for 38 kettlebells (2x adjustable competition Kettlebells) seems rather sweet it is still $200 per kettlebell and a maximum of two kettlebells you can use at a given time. I do not believe that you need 38 different kettlebells to get stron. I think the maximum is six and Pavel Tsatsouline, one of the most respected resources on kettlebell training in the market, would likely agree or even say you only need three. Personally, for $400, I would try to get 2x8kg, 2x 16kg, 1x24kg or 2x16kg, 2x24kg and 1x32kg. The first set would cost roughly $250 in cast iron from TITAN while the 2nd would cost roughly $350. This gives plenty of training options and progression with a way lower risk of having a piece of equipment that won't work. The only downside is that it will require way more space to store the kettlebells.

Alternatives to the Titan adjustable competition Kettlebell

Alternatives to the TITAN adjustable competition kettlebell are:

The Rogue competition kettlebells also have the competition measurements. While they are not adjustable, they have an extra indentation to make them easier on the arms while tricking. Rogue is known is one of the top producers in the market with unmatched quality and service, even though this suffered a little during Corona where the entire industry was challenged and Rogue went on a massive growth spurt hiring new staff and adding new production lines. That usually comes with a dip in quality due to growing pains when the new machines and staff are trained and broken in.

The Rogue kettlebell 2.0 is a cast iron kettlebell that is exclusively manufactured in the United States. If you want to support the rust belt and ex-military to create jobs in the United States, this is the product for you. Rogue Fitness has a strong association with the US military as the CEO is ex-military himself. There is nothing fancy about this kettlebell and it is more expensive than cast iron made in china, but you can feel better about your purchase.

The 5-20lb adjustable kettlebell from TITAN is the cheap version of the adjustable competition kettlebell. This is an option that sacrifices the integrity of an original kettlebell to make it adjustable. I am not a huge fan as I think that the finish is poor and you might as well get 2 -3 small kettlebells instead for the $80 price tag. If you want to bump the weight up there is also a 10 lb to 40lb version for $120.

The plate loadable kettlebell swing is a cheap alternative to build heavy kettlebells with the plates you already have. The handling for swings will be abysmal, but you can go very heavy and change things around without having a lot of little nuts and bolts that will potentially get lost. For $45 there is also not a lot to complain about in the price department. This is a dark horse for saving money and still being happy with your purchase for adjustable kettlebell swings.

I personally think that a set of 3 to 6 cast iron kettlebells will do the same job better, faster, cheaper for you as long as you have space for them.

Conclusion for the Titan adjustable competition Kettlebell

While the idea looks good on paper I have always regretted it when I got adjustable weights. They tend to break or you lose some of the components. The $200 price tag is only justified if you adjust the kettlebell regularly and really need the 1kg increments to progress in your training. I highly doubt that this is the case for you. You either will use the kettlebell mainly for swings where you seldomly will make adjustments or for full-body workouts where it will be a pain to change the setup in the middle or end. Get a set of multiple cast iron plates that are easy to swap and hard to break instead.