Rogue Calibrated steel plates vs Fractional plates
This is a comparison between the Rogue Calibrated plates and the Fractional plates including pros, cons and alternatives. Follow the links for more details
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 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.