Overview and review of the difference striking pad

The difference striking pad comes in at $950 and helps especially when you specialize in football training. This article was originally published in "which accessory equipment to get for your rogue rack".

What else to consider from Rogue

Most popular Rogue accessory in 2020

This is an overview of the most popular Rogue accessory on Marathon-Crossfit.com in 2020 based on views of the reviews and click throughs to the Rogue fitness shop for purchases. If want to know more about the details on how this data was collected you can read what were the most popular rogue products in 2020.

These were the most popular accessories from Rogue on Marathon-CrossFit.com. The ranking is as followed:

The LT1 50 cal lever arm had a huge surge in interest this year. It can be used to turn your rack into multiple different gym machines by attaching arms to it. The secret sauce is a pop and lock system to adjust the height which has been inspired by the 50 cal machine gun. These are a little pricey as you can get a full rack for the same price, but they are worth it if you compare it to getting all of the separate machines instead. If you are considering these, you are probably a Rogue fanboy/girl anyway and the price won’t be what matters most to you. You can read the full review of the Rogue LT1 50 cal lever arm by following this link.

The Rhino belt squat could also be classified as a rack or gym machine. For this popularity contest, I chose to enter it in accessories as it also can be bought as a drop in unit to an RM6 rack. I am surprised that it wasn’t more popular on Marathon-CrossFit.com as it is a great machine, especially for anyone who wants to build massive legs without wrecking their backs. You can read the full review of the Rogue Rhino belt squat via this link.

The flip-down safeties are an accessory you can get for the Rogue Monster racks instead of safety pins. The big pros of the flip-down safeties are that they are way easier to set up than pins and also have holes in them for attachments. If you are in a cramped space or hate to fiddle safety pins in the right holes in the rack then these are for you. Combined with a Rogue utility seat they can provide a lot of variation to your training. You can read the full review of the flip-down safeties via this link.

The squat max MD surprised me in its popularity. Probably there are fewer reviews out there compared to the Rhino belt squat and therefore Marathon-CrossFit.com got a bigger cut of the overall search volume. The Squat Max MD is cheaper than the Rhino and also closer to free weight training as it does not work with a pulley. This makes it a better option for strongman competitors while also leaving more money in the bank. The only downside is the higher platform that you have to step into. You can read the full review of the Squat Max MD by following this link.

The last accessory on the list is the Rogue Monster slinger which I personally would not recommend. Rogue put this out to monetize on people who already have a Rogue rack and have no space for a lat pull. The monster slinger is basically the pulley system that is being used on the newer lat pull towers from Rogue. While this is sound commercial thinking, Rogue did not pay enough attention to detail on how someone would actually use this pulley she attached to the rack. It’s a nice toy to get but for the money, I think you are better off getting a couple of strongman sandbags or a pair of loadable dumbbells from Rogue. They are fun and you will get some tricep activation out of them too. You can follow this link to read the full review of the Rogue Monster slinger.

Overview of the difference striking pad

The difference striking pad is a training tool specialized for the needs of footballers. It will enforce correct hand placement for striking in a football match with various levels of resistance. The specs of the striking pad are:

Made in the USA
Color: Black
Length: 18.5”
Width: 3”
Height: 18.5”
Distance from rig or rack 19”
0.1875” steel nodes

The difference striking pad comes with four different springs which enable you to adjust the resistance. The options are:

Green Spring (Lil Rookie = 15LB – 35LB) – Great for young athletes, introducing technique, rehab, punching.
White Spring (Rookie = 35LB – 70LB) Great for Junior High and High School Athletes.
Gray Spring (Challenger = 70LB – 105LB) Great for High School, College, and Professional Athletes.
Black Spring(Champion = 105LB – 150LB) Great for College and Professional Athletes.

With this, you are sorted for an entire team and different age groups to get them to train their striking skills. You might even attach one of their least favorite persons image to the difference strike pad, but that is just a personal tip from my end.

Pros of the difference striking pad

This is a specific movement which needs to be trained for football players either on the field or in the gym. Preferably this is trained in real-world circumstances, but if you have especially strong or weak players you might want to have them train on the striking pad. The extremely strong players might wreck your team otherwise while the weak ones just need the extra hours to catch up to the rest of the team. Of course, it is also a good toy to have for the eager beavers to let off some steam after the training session or particularly shoddy away match.

Cons of the difference striking pad

If you are not a footballer, bouncer or coach you have little use for this and are probably better getting a good boxing bag. $950 can even add another rack to your gym.

Alternatives to the difference striking pad

Alternatives to the difference striking pad are:

The LT1 is the better attachment than the striking pad and I would take it over the striking pad any day unless I was an institution or NFL Star who do not have to care about cost. I wouldn’t recommend simulating strikes against the LT1 but you can definitely simulate some of the tackle or a scrum movement and so much more.

If you want to punch something on a regular basis why not do it with your fist. Now I would not recommend doing this with your boss, client or other people. That is what punching bags are for and Rogue has the right attachment for your rack. The speed bag also only costs $265 and is a bargain compared to the striking pad.

If you don’t like punching things and belong to the group of gentle giants you might want to squat heavy without a barbell. The Squat Max MD is for you and it costs only slightly more than the striking pad.

Th fortis RM4 is the vest rack from Rogue which you can get for under $1000. This is a solid addition to your gym and if you are a college that is not flush with cash I probably would prefer to add another rack to my gym than the striking pad.

Summary of the difference striking pad

The difference striking pad is great for what it was designed for. The application is very niche and probably only suitable for elite athletes or facilities which want to create elite athletes in football. I think the price is fair as you get four metal sponges with it to adjust for different needs. As I am not into football I would spend almost $1000 bucks on something different for my gym. But if you are Tom Brady you probably spend $1000 like i spend $10. It just doesn’t matter and the striking pad is cool.