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.
Overview of Rogue Froning Series medicine ball
Price: $110
- 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
- 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
- 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 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.