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REP fitness color bumper plates vs Rogue calibrated steel plates

Written by Pascal Landshoeft | Jun 13, 2021 4:00:00 PM

REP fitness color bumper plates vs Rogue calibrated steel plates

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

Overview and review of the Rogue Calibrated steel plates 

The Rogue calibrated steel plates will set you back about $885 dollars or $5.56 dollars per kg. These plates are especially good to use for powerlifters 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.
 
  2. Urethane plates
 
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 calibrated steel plates

 
The Rogue calibrated steel plates come in KG and LBS nominations. They are popular for powerlifting purposes as they can fit a lot of weight onto a bar. They are also approved by the IPF and therefore be used for official powerlifting competitions based on their high level of precision.
 
In the manufacturing process, each plate will vary in weight when it is finished. The cheaper the plate, the more variance you will have. Calibrated plates are made with better quality machines and add one production process at the end which is the calibration. What happens here is that the plates are weighed and then there will be a disc placed into little holes at the back of them to adjust to within 10grams of the desired weight.
 
Further specifications for the Rogue Calibrated steel plates:
 
Weight / Color / Diameter / Thickness / Price per pair
 
50kg / black / 450mm / 50mm / $386.50
25kg / red / 450mm / 27mm / $225
20kg / blue / 450mm / 22.5mm / $182
15kg / yellow / 400mm / 21mm / $140
10kg / green / 325mm / 21mm / $99.50
5kg / white / 228mm / 21.5mm / $82.00
2.5kg / Black / 190mm / 16mm / $55
1.25kg / Chrome / 160mm / 12mm / $42.50
0.5 kg / Chrome / 134MM / 8mm / $35
0.25kg / Chrome / 112mm / 112mm / $25.75
 
Available sets
 
159kg, pair of each plate except 50kg $885
459kg, pair of each plate 0.25kg to 20kg & 7 pairs of 25kg $2060
 
 
Calibrated steel plates are very good when you want to fit as much weight in as little space as possible. As long as you do not want to drop your weights this is great.
 

Pros of the calibrated steel plates

 
Calibrated steel plates are the ones you will use in competition in a powerlifting meet. They will also take up less space in your gym than bumper plates for the same amount of weight. The color coding looks cool and gives any gym a little extra feel of being professional when it comes to getting results. With these, you can train like a real champion.
 

Cons of the calibrated steel plates

 
Steel plates are not ideal for overhead lifts. They spin differently than competition bumper plates and behave differently when you switch direction during the lift. They also suffer from dropping or heavy use a lot more. Especially the calibration discs can come loose and start to rattle or fall out over time altogether. 
 
 

Alternatives to the calibrated steel plates

 
Alternatives to the calibrated kg plates are:
 
Calibrated steel plates with LBS nominations are the same plate style but take out the thinking for you when you prefer to lift in pounds. If you do not want to compete this might be an option, as the international standard for the IPF is to measure the weight lifted in kilograms.
 
Competition bumper plates can be a good alternative if you focus more on weightlifting than powerlifting in your local gym. These plates are specially designed to be used in Olympic lifts. Dor this purpose they have a metal core and bumper surroundings. The only downside with these plates is that you can not fir as much on the bar as with steel. But you were not planning on overhead pressing 400kg soon, weren't you.
 
The most durable and high-quality plates you can get from Rogue are the Urethane plates. Therefore, they are also the most expensive. You can basically think of these as the steroid version of the competition bumper plates which last longer. If you will drop your plates often and use them outside for overhead lifts, this might be the way to go. 
 

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.

 

Related articles

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.
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