TITAN Economy color plates vs Rogue Technique plates

This is a comparison between the TITAN economy color bumper plates and the Rogue Technique plates including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which titan plates to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Rogue Technique plates

The Rogue technique plates will set you back about $125 - $160 dollars. These plates are especially good to use for beginning weightlifters. This overview has originally been published in the article "Which rogue plates to buy" which you can find on this blog.

What else to consider from Rogue

Overview of the technique plates

Technique plates are special plates which have the same diameter of 450mm than regular competition plates but at a much lower weight. This is achieved by using high-density polyethylene Plastic (HDPE). These are the right plates to teach beginners, juniors or getting rehabbing athletes back to lifting. These plates combined with a technique bar can lower the weight of the bar for a beginner to 15kg to enter the sport of Olympic weightlifting. If you work a lot with children or very unfit beginners, this is a good plate to add to your arsenal.

The technique plates are available in red and white in 2.5kg, 5kg, 5lb, and 10lb versions. They have the following specs:

450mm Diameter
50.2mm Center Hole Diameter
Grooved edge for easier handling

Pros of the technique plates

Technique plates help to ease into the sport and to hone your lifts to perfection. If your gym or yourself are serious about Olympic weightlifting they will be a great addition to your arsenal to grind on technique without wreaking your body.

Cons of the technique plates

These plates have a very narrow and specialized use case. If you do not enter the realm of Olympic weightlifting you will probably only get very little use out of them.

Alternatives to the technique plates

Alternatives to technique plates are:

Fractional plates and change plates help you to work with lower denominations in work and to microload. In most cases you will get more use out of these for everyday training than out of technique plates.

Overview and review of the TITAN Economy color plates

This is an overview of the TITAN economy plates including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which titan plates to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of the TITAN Color bumper plates

Price: $64.99 - $474.99

The economy bumper color plates are a nice addition to the lower range of plates from TITAN. Most vendors only offer the rubber plates in black which might not be to everyone's liking. With this option, TITAN provides bumper plates at a slightly higher price with the official color coding for different sizes and weights that is used in international competitions. The full specifications are:

Very low bounce with a durometer rating of 88.
Extremely durable rubber used.
Fits Olympic barbells.
Color-coded for easy identification.
Quieter than steel plates.

Material: Rubber with Steel Insert
Diameter: 17 3/4"
Collar Opening: 2”
Durometer Rating: 88

10 LB:
Plate Width: 1"
Color: Green

15 LB:
Plate Width: 1 3/8"
Color: Black

25 LB:
Plate Width: 1 7/8"
Color: Yellow

35 LB:
Plate Width: 2 3/4"
Color: Blue

45 LB:
Plate Width: 3 1/2"
Color: Red

These plates are a great start for a home gym when you do not like black and want to mix it up a little. They only cost a little more than the black economy plates and make things a little more interesting, if you like the international color coding with red, blue, yellow, and green.

Pros of the TITAN Color bumper plates

Pros of the TITAN Color bumper plates:

Low price
Design
Outdoor / Indoor

The main argument for TITAN Fitness is the low price. Most of their free weight equipment comes at about half the price of their direct competition from Rogue and Eleiko. These two brands are usually considered as the golden standard when it comes to free weight lifting equipment. If you are building a home gym on a budget and either want to get twice as much weight or the next quality of plates up, TITAN is usually a good pick. Especially if it is equipment that is more of a commodity and not a high health risk, like plates.

If you think that black plates are ugly and boring the color economy plates are a great option. They will also not break the bank like other color options as competitive Olympic plates.

Generally, cheap bumper plates are great to be sued indoors and outdoors. They are ideal to be used on a sled or yoke as you will not feel guilty when you leave them in the heat, cold, or rain as much as with a plate set that costs you $2000 to acquire. I would not put my calibrated plates outdoors or on a sled unless I was an NFL or NBA team. Then the plates are peanuts compared to what you pay the athletes.

Cons of the TITAN Color bumper plates

Cons of the TTAN color bumper plates:

Steel Inserts
Can not be dropped from overhead
Sleeve space
Dirt / Markings

As you have to cut some corners when you offer your product at half the price of the competition you will often find some little quality issues with TITAN. It might be the finish of the plates, customer service being impolite, or a certain rubbery smell of the plates. These will not keep you from training with these plates but might irritate you or lead to the plates breaking sooner than other products. Still, especially for plates, half the price is great.

If you are planning to do a lot of Olympic lifting these plates are not the right choice. For this purpose plates with a full steel disc in the middle are better as they can take more of a beating. TITAN has the Elite bumper plates and competition bumper plates in their range which fulfill these criteria but also come at about twice the price of the color-coded economy plates.

As with all bumper plates, they will ake up more sleeve space on your bar than cast iron plates. If you work with 400lbs and more on a regular basis on the bar, cast iron plates are usually a better choice. Keep in mind that when you work with iron plates the weights can not be dropped from overhead and the floor should have some mats or gym flooring to protect the plates and floor from damage when you work out.

The last thing to mention is that you will see markings on these plates sooner than on black bumper plates. If this is the kind of stuff that irritates you, save yourself some money and get the black ones instead, as the markings will not be visible as quickly.

Alternatives to the TITAN Color Bumper Plates

Alternatives to the TITAN color plates are:

If you are shopping for plates on a budget of $1000 and came from a different vendor to TITAN you might treat yourself and get the elite color plates on the same budget instead of the rubber economy plates. These plates have the same color-coding, but can also be dropped repeatedly from overhead. Think of this as an upgrade to the better technology with the same amount of money. Still, you can also go for the colored rubber and save half the price.

The Titan economy bumper plates are black instead of color-coded. The price difference is minimal and will not matter to home gym buyers. COmmercial buyers might have an interest when they buy 1000s of pounds, but that is a very exceptional scenario. If you want the black or colored ones is mainly down to how much abuse you put them through. If you are looking for plates to use outdoors and band around a lot, the black ones are probably the better option, as they will age better optically.

The cast-iron plates from TITAN are a good option when you need to pack a lot of weight on your bar. Iron plates save space in storage and are also quite cheap compared to the fancier rubber versions of plates. The disadvantages with cast iron plates are that they hurt more when you bang off them and that they will definitely wreck your floor if you do not take the necessary precautions. Cast iron plates are not recommended for any type of Olympic lifting.

Conclusion for the TITAN Color bumper plates

The TITAN color economy plates are a great option for a home gym that wants more color in their training and life and just thinks that black plates are boring. They are also good to test colored plates out for your gym before you go all-in with the more expensive competition options. Still, I think that these are more of a niche product, as the workhorse plate in any gym will remain the black rubber plate. This is mainly because they will just age better than the colored ones when the first scratches and dents appear.