Rogue Calibrated steel plates vs Bumper plates
This is a comparison between the Rogue Calibrated plates and the Rogue bumper plates 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 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
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 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.
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.
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
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.