Hybrid stone mold vs standard medicine ball

This is a comparison between the Hybrid stone mold and the Rogue standard 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 Standard medicine ball

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

Overview of the Rogue medicine balls

Price $65 - $123

The Rogue medicine balls are available in 11 different configurations ranging from 4lb to 30lb. They have a double stitch and also provide extra padding to be forgiving on the user for throws and catches. This medicine ball is designed and manufactured in the USA which sets it apart from other medicine balls that are usually made in China. The available weights for this medicine ball are:

4lb
6lb
8lb
10lb
12lb
14lb
16lb
18lb
20lb
25lb
30lb

This is a solid medicine ball with a wide range of options that is not too expensive to outfit your facility. The only downside is that they are only available in black, except for the special editions that rogue branded for different athletes.

Pros of the Rogue standard medicine ball

The pros of the Rogue standard medicine ball are:

Good value for money
American made
Padded

Rogue took the Dynamax design and cut out the fat to make these medicine balls a bit more affordable. This is what they do with many products without compromising on the quality. For the money you pay you to get a great medicine ball that is made in the United States. Especially if you are government-funded, you might want to take care that the products you buy are not made in China when it can be avoided. The padding works for any type of throws and catches.

Cons of the Rogue standard medicine ball

The cons of the Rogue standard medicine ball are:

Limited color range
Bounce
Finish

Just like any company that has a product, not at its core, so Rogue does fall a little short against the market leader, Dynamax. What Rogue does best is the industrial-scale work of metal. Dynamax has been doing this longer for sewing medicine balls together. Compared to Dynamax rogue offers a limited range in colors, if you exclude the Froning and Leblanc version of the balls. The finish is also slightly inferior to Dynamax. That being said, they also come in at a lower price, which makes it way more attractive to buy them in bulk. Granted, you have to like black to buy a lot of these.

Alternatives to the Rogue standard medicine balls

Alternatives to the Rogue standard medicine balls are:

Athlete branded Rogue medicine balls
Dynamax medicine balls
Rogue Slam balls

The athlete branded medicine balls are available in 14lbs and 20lbs. The Froning design comes in Balck and red, while the Leblanc design comes in white and blue. This gives the setup a little extra pop and should've especially interesting for individuals who equip their home gym.

The Dynamax medicine balls are the gold standard for medicine balls in the current market. They provide the best finish and the most color options for you to customize. The disadvantage is that they also cost the most.

Rogue Slam balls are a good alternative if you will mainly slam your medicine balls and not throw and catch them often. In this case, slam balls will not hit you in the face and are also cheaper to buy.

Conclusion for the Rogue Standard medicine balls

The Rogue standard medicine balls are well balanced between price and quality. If you need a lot of medicine balls for your gym and want good quality you can save a couple of hundred dollars on these compared to the Dynamax balls. Individuals might want to look at the branded rogue balls or get an individual Dynamax stitched up. If you are a university or football club that wants their own colors at a huge scale, Dynamax is probably the better provider.

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.