Hybrid stone mold vs froning medicine ball

This is a comparison between the Hybrid stone mold and the froning medicine ball including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Rogue Froning medicine ball

This is an overview of the Rogue Froning medicine ball including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Which grip strength tool to get from Rogue

Overview of Rogue Froning Series medicine ball

Price: $110

The Rich Froning series medball is an interpretation of the Rogue Standard medicine balls in Black and red. It is only available in 20lbs and comes with the same specs as the standard black balls from Rogue. These are a nice addition to your gym if you want to tip your hatto the CrossFit legend or just like the colors red and black. The specifications of this medicine ball are:

Part of the Rich Froning Signature Series
Made in Columbus, Ohio
Weight: 20LB
Diameter: 14”
Coated Vinyl Shell – moisture and scuff resistant
Soft Shell safe to use at high speeds, but strong enough to maintain stable shape
Double-stitched paracord threading on seams
Color: Red with Black and White Branding (Rogue and Froning logos)

A nice Christmas present for anyone who already owns a home gym and no medicine balls.

Pros of the Rich Froning medicine ball

The pros of the Rich Froning medicine balls are:

Red and black color scheme instead of black
Double-stitched

This is a nice little customization on the standard medicine ball to get a pop of color into your gym. The standard Rogue medicine balls only come in black. That is not for everyone, especially if it is off-brand for your gym or the color scheme in your home gym.

Cons of the Rich Froning medicine ball

The cons of the Rich Froning medicine balls are:

Only available as 20LB
Higher cost than standard ball

These balls are $5 dearer than the standard ball of the same size. This can make a difference if you are trying to outfit multiple gyms and buy somewhere between 20 - 100 medicine balls. For your home gym, it will probably be more a question of personal taste rather than pricing.

Alternatives to the Rich Froning medicine ball

The alternatives to the Rich Froning medicine ball are:

The standard for most CrossFit WODs for males is a 20lb medicine ball. For females, this drops to 14lb. If you like the color blue and want to equip yourself with an inspiring medicine ball you can get the Camille Le blanc version of the medicine ball which comes in 14 lb instead of the 20lb the Froning version has.

Dynamax is the market leader in the US for medicine balls. While Rogue at first resold these medicine balls they went on to produce their own brand to maximize profit margins on low price tag equipment produced in masses. There is not a big difference between the two. Still, if pressed, I would always go for the product that is core for the company. The core competency of Rogue is to work with Steel to build first-class racks and barbells. Dynamax focuses on perfecting the stitch on their medicine balls.

The standard Rogue medicine ball is a good alternative to Dynamax if you want to buy a lot of medicine balls and do not care that much about the design. If you like black, you can save some money on bulk buy compared to Dynamax balls the same size.

Slam balls are a great, cheap alternative to medicine balls. If your medicine balls are used 90% of the time to be thrown on the ground, save yourself some money and yourself/or clients some injuries. These balls are cheaper to make and do not bounce back from the floor to hit you in the face. If your training is more about throwing against walls or to each other, stick with the classic medicine ball.

Conclusion for the Rich Froning medicine ball

This is the right medicine ball for the dedicated CrossFit individual with great ambitions or the one's around him who want to give something nice. Anyone who buy in bulk is probably better off to either trade up in quality by buying Dynamax or compromising in price and getting a lot of Rogue standard medicine balls.

Overview and review of the Hybrid stone mold

This is an overview of the Hybrid stone mold including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of the stone mold

Price: $75 - $650

The hybrid stone mold was a solution to a problem in the strongman community. How do you save on transport cost? You just make the stones in your home or at your competition place. The hybrid molds are made from plastic and are be screwed together. They range from 35LB to 300lb and start at $75. The specifications for the molds are:

Made in the USA
Designed by Rob Orlando of Hybrid Athletics
Durable plastic construction, lightweight and portable
Build multiple stones off of the same mold
Available individually or in sets
13 different size options (10” to 19” diameter, resulting in a stone weight of 35 LB to 300 LB)
Will require concrete mix (not included)
Atlas Stones will include “H” Hybrid logo

A great way to make your stones at home and get into strongman training.

Pros of the stone mold

The pros of the stone molds are:

Easy to make
Portable
Multiple stones from one mold

This is a good way of making your atlas stones from cement as long as you know how to mix it. The molds can be easily transported to wherever you want to have a strongman competition or where you want to train yourself.

Cons of the stone mold

The cons of the hybrid stone mold are:

Need to know how to make cement
Not see-through
Takes time

The process of making cement can be messy, especially when you are not used to it. It will take some practice and the cement bags to get your stone ready. As the hybrid molds are a bit see-through you will also not see how full the mold is, so the risk of spillage is a bit higher. Once done you will have to wait for the cement to set. So this is is not plug and play and needs some planning for your training or the necessary storage to keep the stones around once they are made.

Alternatives to the hybrid stone mold

Alternatives to the hybrid stone mold are:

The slater stone molds are also plastic molds to make your atlas stones. They are a little cheaper than the Hybrid molds and are see-through. This way you can see how the mix is settling in the mold for better results. While the slater molds are lighter and easier to handle, they bring less pressure onto the cement itself. If you want smoother results that take a little more craftsmanship the hybrid molds are the better choice.

The MK d balls are the heavy slam balls from. They go up to a maximum of 150lb. As atlas stones are not great for slams these might be the better option. The only negative is that they are quite pricey is you only get one whereas a mold makes multiple stones.

The strongman sandbags are a great compromise between an Atlas stone and a slam or medicine ball. They are available from 100lb to 400lb when filled with play sand. These are ideal if you want to lift heavy and be ready on the same day while still being able to transport the bags easily when they are empty.

Conclusion for the hybrid stone mold

The hybrid stone mold is the original idea to make it easier to create atlas stones at home. The funnel and design make it easy to create compact stones if you know how to mix cement. The only downside is that you can not see what is going on I side the mold as they are black.