REP fitness color bumper plates vs Rogue black training plates

This is a comparison between the REP fitness color bumper plates and the Rogue black training plates. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Rogue Black Training plates

The Rogue black training plates will set you back about $985 dollars or $7.03 dollars per kg. These plates are especially good to use for all purposes in gyms who are serious about competing. 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

Most popular Rogue plates

This is an overview of the most popular Rogue plates on Marathon-Crossfit.com in 2020 based on views and click thoughs for purchase on Rogue Fitness. If you want more detail on how the data was collected and what the strengths and shortcomings of the data set are you can dig deeper on what were the most popular rogue products in 2020.

These were the most popular rogue plates on Marathon-Crossfit.com. On the plates, I would caution between overall popularity and the popularity of my site. The plates listed below are more niche than the Rogue bumpers, the calibrated steel plates, and competition bumpers. If you want a safe bet for your use case these three might be better, as more people buy them.

The Fleck plates are a variation on the Rogue bumper plates which have been infused with red, blue, yellow, and green to indicate the weight of the plates. The splash of color also makes them more fun compared to the regular bumpers. If you find the rogue bumpers too bland but also do not want to shell out more than $1000 on calibrated steel plates or competition bumpers to get color coding then the Fleck plates are for you. You can read the full review of the Fleck plates via this link.

The Rogue Urethane plates are color-coded and also claim the best durability in the Rogue plate portfolio. Whether that warrants the high price tag compared to regular bumpers is a question you have to answer for yourself, but I personally don’t think so. If you want to spend more money on plates, spend it on precision rather than durability in my personal opinion within the Rogue portfolio. Rogue equipment is known to be more durable than the competition so I would not put too much focus on this unless you run an Olympic training center where the plates will go through hundreds of heavy drops per day. You can read the full review of the Rogue Urethane plates here.

The Rogue black training plates have the best dead drop in the Rogue portfolio which means they bounce the least when dropped from overhead. These are the plates which I use most often as I like the design because black does not show marks as easily as other plates. You can read my full review of the Rogue black training plates via this link.

The 6 shooter plates from Rogue are often overlooked as a good option for commercial gyms. They are relatively cheap compared to other Rogue plates and easier to handle in a gym setting where you have a lot of them flying about. The downside is that you can not use them for overhead drops as this will wreck the plates, floor, and barbell in the process. You can read the full review of the rogue 6 shooter plates via this link.

Overview of the black training plates

The Rogue Black training bumper plates have a unique design with a color-coded stripe to identify the weight easily. All of Rogue's top engineering is combined in these plates. The little things do make a difference, even in something so simple as bumper plates. These plates raised rubber around the center and at the outskirts. This makes them easier to pick up from the ground and avoids wear and tear at the middle metal discs. In addition, these plates are normed to the same diameter. This is great for weightlifting purposes. If you want a good, cheaper alternative to the official competition plates, this is the way to go.

Based on the Durometer they score a 94, which means that they are pretty hard and have therefore less bounce.

Weight / Color / Diameter / Thickness / Price per pair

25kg / Red / 450mm / 66mm / $275

20kg / Blue / 450mm / 55mm / $225

15kg / Yellow / 450mm / 42mm / $190

10kg / Green / 450mm / 29mm / $140

Available sets

90kg, 2x 10-15-20kg $655

110kg, 2x 10-20-25kg $770

120kg, 2x 15-20-25kg $825

140kg, 2x 10-15-20-25kg $985

The black training plates will be an eye-catching feature for your gym which enables you to train Olympic weightlifting at a lower cost per station than the official competition plates. You will have all of the quality and luxury of competition and a well thought out design which is user-friendly.

Pros of the black training plates

The extra features of these plates make them less prone to get wrecked than the competition plates. They will also continue to lock nicely even if they get abused. The hard bounce will make you train like a champ. On top of that, you will save a little money compared to getting the full-blown competition plates.

Cons of the black training plates

These plates have a pretty high price tag for a piece of equipment that will be thrown around in your gym on a daily basis and abused. If you specialize in powerlifting these plates will also take up more real estate on the bar for the same amount of weight.

Alternatives to the black training plates

Alternatives to the Black training plates are:

The black training plates are also available in LBS denominations. If you run a gym where people prefer to calculate their weights in LBS and you still want to provide the best bumper plates there are, this is the way to go.

The Rogue competition plates are what is being used on the platform in official competitions. The main difference to the black training plates is that their colors run through the entire plates. They are also more prone to get broken when abused, as they do not bear all of the extra features that the training plates have to protect them from harm.

If you want to save money and know that your clientele does not care that much, bumper plates are your go-to option. These are a lot cheaper than the black training plates and can also be dropped from overhead. If you train outdoors or in a wet dungeon/cellar, I might get these as the plates well get wrecked anyway.

Overview and review of the REP fitness color bumper plates

This is an overview of the REP fitness color bumper plates including pros, cons, and alternatives. The original was published under which plates to buy from rep fitness. Follow the links for more details.

REP color bumper plates $49

The REP color bumper plates are a colored option of the REP black bumper plates. What I like about these bumpers is that they are affordable and very close in price to the standard black. If you are torn between black and colored bumpers for the same price I definitely recommend going for the colored ones. Way more fun to train with. The full specifications are:

Plate Sets:

160 lb - (2)Each 45-25-10
210 lb - (2)Each 45-35-25
230 lb - (2)Each 45-35-25-10
260 lb - (2)Each 45-35-25-15-10
370 lb - (2)Each 55-45-35-25-15-10

10 lb - Gray
15 lb - Black (from our regular black plates)
25 lb - Green
35 lb - Yellow
45 lb - Blue
55 lb - Red

A very affordable way to get colored plates into your home gym as other options might break the budget.

Pros of the REP color bumper plates

Pros of the REP color bumper plates:

Price
Color
Very forgiving
Can be used outdoors

The best thing about the REP-colored bumper plates is the decision of REP to not charge you a lot extra if you prefer color over black. That is great as other vendors go for a different policy on this one or do not even stock anything but black plates. So if you want colored plates on a budget, then these are a good choice.

Bumper plates are very forgiving on the lifter, floor, and equipment. They are the least likely to injure someone or cut into the floor and rack you are using. If you have a lot of beginners around or do not know who and how the plates will be used at all times, try stocking more bumpers than iron plates. Iron is great, but it is a lot easier to hurt yourself with these plates.

The last bonus of these plates as that they can be used outdoors. They won't deform and if they get dirty they are easy to clean.

Cons of the REP color bumper plates

The cons of the REP colored bumper plates are:

Price compared to iron
Sleeve space
High bounce
Stain easier
Suboptimal for oly lifts
Can be awkward to pick up

The main con for bumper plates is that they take up more sleeve space than iron plates. They are usually also a little more expensive than Iron plates per kilogram. With bumper plates, you usually max out the barbell somewhere around 180kg - 220kg depending on the barbell you use and how you stack the plates. If you are a serious powerlifter that regularly works with 200kg or more you need iron plates. But if you are shopping for plates as a powerlifter, you probably are already well aware of that as you did not step into the gym yesterday.

These bumper plates have a higher bounce than specific competition plates. If you are only lifting a lot, especially heavy, this can become annoying. Again, if you are an experienced OLy lifter you will know how to handle a bouncing bar, but it would be beneficial if it did a little less of that when you do 100s and 1000s of reps. In that case, get plates with a low bounce that usually cost a little more like the REP sports plates or competition plates.

Colored plates pick up blemishes and stains more than simple black plates. If you do not want to have to clean your plates as often to keep them looking nice then black plates are the better choice.

As these plates do not have a metal core they tend to spin a little more in an unpredictable way for oly lifts or not at all. That can mess with the dynamic of an oly lift and lead to lower lifts. However, this is minor and only relevant to top athletes.

Bumper plates are generally a little more awkward to pick up from the floor than iron plates as you get less grip. Some bumper plates have an added little lip to get grip on which these do not provide. Again minor, but we like to split hairs here.

Alternatives to the REP color bumper plates

Alternatives to the REP bumper plates are:

If you want to play it safe, especially for a commercial gym, then you can also get a stack of black bumper plates. Not everyone likes to train with colored plates, even though I think they are the best thing since sliced bread.

If you want to take it up a notch you can get the REP competition bumpers instead. They will have a lower bounce and weight tolerance and are therefore more precise instruments than the colored bumpers. They also have a metal core which makes them more centered during oly lifts. The big con is that they can cost up to triple what a single bumper plate costs.

Rogue fitness also offers a line of colored bumper plates if you are leaning more towards equipping your gym Rogue themed. These plates are also imported so the patriotism card does not apply as much as with some other products from Rogue. If you want to go for American-made plates you can order the Rogue deep-dish plates.

The machined iron plates are high precision iron plates from Rogue with a lower tolerance compared to regular iron plates. This means you pay a little extra so that these plates are being produced with lower fault tolerance to weigh exactly what it states in the plate.

The TITAN color bumpers are a low-budget option. Especially if you want to build your entire gym as cheap as possible without ransacking Facebook groups and Craigslist you should pay TITAN a visit.

Conclusion for the REP color bumper plates

These are a good option to get color in our home or commercial gym at a reasonable price if you want to.