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REP fitness color bumper plates vs Rogue fractional plates

Posted by Pascal Landshoeft

Jun 22, 2021 9:00:00 AM

REP fitness color bumper plates vs Rogue fractional plates

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

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Overview and review of Rogue fractional plates

The Rogue fractional plates will set you back about $33 dollars. These plates are especially good to use for lifters who want to microload. This overview has originally been published in the article "Which rogue plates to buy" which you can find on this blog.

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Overview of the fractional plates

 
Rogue Fractional plates come in pairs of 0.125kg and 0.250kg. They are a helpful tool for the most advanced athletes to steadily increase the weight being lifted. They can also be used on beginning athletes or anyone who is facing a plateau. These plates allow you to increase the weight on the bar in increments which are smaller than 2.5kg and therefore provide more options for your training.
 

Pros of the fractional plates

 
Fractional plates are a great tool when you know how to use them. For programs like Jim Wendler, you want to use them as they break down the weight increments very finely. 
 

Cons of the fractional plates

 
These plates get easily lost or stolen. Also most people in your gym will not know how to use them probably and scatter them all over the place as they are so small.
 
 

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

 
 
  • 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.

Topics: Powerlifting, Plates, Garagegym, Home Gym, Bodybuilding, REP Fitness