REP fitness color bumper plates vs Rogue bumper plates

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

Overview and review of the Rogue Bumper plates

The Rogue bumper plates will set you back about $565 dollars or $3.76 dollars per kg. These plates are especially good to use for all purposes in commercial gyms. 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

Overview of the Rogue Bumper plates

The HG Bumper plates are the workhorse in the plate portfolio of Rogue. If you want cheap plates with a three-year warranty which do the job, this is your place. These plates will last, can be abused in any kind of way and will perform. The disadvantages of these plates are that they are harder to handle than 6 shooters and do are as plain as they come. They score 88 points on the durometer scale and have therefore slightly more bounce than the high range options from Rogue. The only color option for these plates is black.

Weight / Diameter / Thickness / Price per pair

25kg / 450mm / 3.5'' / $162.50

20kg / 450mm / 3.25'' / $130

15kg /450mm / 2.625'' / $97.50

10kg / 450mm / 1.75'' / $63

5kg / 450mm / 1'' / $52.50

Available sets

90kg, 2x 10-15-20 kg $370

110kg, 2x 10-20-25 $437.50

120kg, 2x 15-20-25kg $460

140kg, 2x 10-15-20-25kg $525

150kg, 2x 5-10-15-20-25kg $565

This is the no-nonsense choice if you are starting out and just want weight.

Pros of the Rogue bumper plates

These plates will not oxidate and can be used outside. If they reak your heart won't sink and you just replace them. They will be forgiving when dropped on feet or on the skin. Hurting your fingers is less likely than with other plates. You can drop them from overhead. Take your pic.

Cons of the Rogue bumper plates

These plates look dull and you can not see what you have exactly loaded. You also will not fit as much weight on the bar than with higher price ranged options from Rogue. It is also more likely with these plates, tat th weight varies more considerably compared to what is stated on the plate.

Alternatives to the Rogue bumper plates

Alternatives to the bumper plates are:

The 6 Shooter Urethane plates are another workhorse option with a different design. The six holes make it easier for athletes to handle the weight. These plates can also be used for workouts without a barbell, which is hard to do with bumper plates.

Olympic weights are the ultimate plate for getting as much weight as possible on your bar at minimum cost. These metal plates are not fancy, but weigh a lot while not taking up a lot of space on the bar. If your gym should make clanging and banging noises, this is the plate to get.

Competition plates are the Nascar version of bumper plates. These plates are color coded so you can easily see how much weight is on the barbell. They also have a steel core which makes them behave better when you change direction for the Olympic lifts.

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.