Rogue bumper plates vs Urethane plates

This is a comparison between the Rogue bumper plate and the urethane plate including pros, cons and alternatives. Follow the links for more details

Which plates to get from Rogue?

This video discusses which plates you might want to buy for your home gym from Rogue Fitness. Good options are their bumper plates or simple cast iron plates if you want to save money. I personally own the Black training plates from rogue and like them a lot.

Overview and review of the Rogue Urethane plates

The Rogue Urethane plates will set you back about $1150 dollars or $7.46 dollars per kg. These plates are especially good to use for gyms who want long lasting plates. 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 Urethane plates

The Rogue Urethane plates are the second most expensive ones in the Rogue portfolio per kg. What you get in return are the longest lasting, all weather plates you can obtain from Rogue. These plates are 450mm in diameter and made to IWF specs. They have a chrome insert and dead bounce on the drop. The chrome piece provides easy loading on the bar and reduced friction on the sleeves. This is the plate to buy if your last competition plates fell apart at the chrome insert.

Weight / Color / Diameter / Thickness / Price per pair

55LB / Red / 450mm / 58mm / $310

45LB / Blue / 450mm / 53mm / $260

35LB / Yellow / 450mm / 48mm / $220

25LB / Green / 450mm / 40mm / $160

10LB / Black / 450mm / 20mm / $70

Available sets

210lb, 2x 25-35-45LB $750

300LB, 2x 25-35-4x45LB $1050

320LB, 2x 25-35-45-55LB $1100

340LB, 2x 10-25-35-45-55 $1150

Pros of the Urethane plates

This is an all-purpose plate which will last a long time and is hard. It will take the abuse of many users of different experience levels and still look good. This is a great plate for high demands and someone who does not want to replace the plates as often compared to other plates with a chrome insert.

Cons of the Urethane plates

The biggest con is the high price. If you go for Olympic or bumper plates you will get a lot more kilograms per $$$. You might be buying twice in this scenario and you will also know that you took the cheap road to success. I personally stopped doing this and it yields great results.

Alternatives to the Urethane plates

Alternatives to the Urethane plates are:

Competition plates will not last as long as they have a tendency to pull apart between the rubber and the chrome insert. They also bounce more. Still, if you want to get as close as possible to the real world championships, then these are the plates to go for instead with the slight risk that they might fall apart after years of heavy use.

The black training plates are a great design from rogue which combines the bumper plate effectiveness with the excellence of Rogue's competition grade plates. You will find color coding and extra touches to make the plates more user-friendly and robust. This is the elegant choice of the professional.

Calibrated steel plates are the plates for anyone who wants to put the maximum amount of weight possible on the bar while still having color-coded plates. These plates are also approved by the IPF and are used in competition. If you want to get serious about powerlifting, this should be your choice.

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.

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.