Rogue cyclone sandbag vs standard medicine ball

This is a comparison between the Rogue cyclone sandbag and the standard medicine ball including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Rogue Standard medicine ball

This is an overview of the Rogue Standard medicine balls including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of the Rogue medicine balls

Price $65 - $123

The Rogue medicine balls are available in 11 different configurations ranging from 4lb to 30lb. They have a double stitch and also provide extra padding to be forgiving on the user for throws and catches. This medicine ball is designed and manufactured in the USA which sets it apart from other medicine balls that are usually made in China. The available weights for this medicine ball are:

4lb
6lb
8lb
10lb
12lb
14lb
16lb
18lb
20lb
25lb
30lb

This is a solid medicine ball with a wide range of options that is not too expensive to outfit your facility. The only downside is that they are only available in black, except for the special editions that rogue branded for different athletes.

Pros of the Rogue standard medicine ball

The pros of the Rogue standard medicine ball are:

Good value for money
American made
Padded

Rogue took the Dynamax design and cut out the fat to make these medicine balls a bit more affordable. This is what they do with many products without compromising on the quality. For the money you pay you to get a great medicine ball that is made in the United States. Especially if you are government-funded, you might want to take care that the products you buy are not made in China when it can be avoided. The padding works for any type of throws and catches.

Cons of the Rogue standard medicine ball

The cons of the Rogue standard medicine ball are:

Limited color range
Bounce
Finish

Just like any company that has a product, not at its core, so Rogue does fall a little short against the market leader, Dynamax. What Rogue does best is the industrial-scale work of metal. Dynamax has been doing this longer for sewing medicine balls together. Compared to Dynamax rogue offers a limited range in colors, if you exclude the Froning and Leblanc version of the balls. The finish is also slightly inferior to Dynamax. That being said, they also come in at a lower price, which makes it way more attractive to buy them in bulk. Granted, you have to like black to buy a lot of these.

Alternatives to the Rogue standard medicine balls

Alternatives to the Rogue standard medicine balls are:

Athlete branded Rogue medicine balls
Dynamax medicine balls
Rogue Slam balls

The athlete branded medicine balls are available in 14lbs and 20lbs. The Froning design comes in Balck and red, while the Leblanc design comes in white and blue. This gives the setup a little extra pop and should've especially interesting for individuals who equip their home gym.

The Dynamax medicine balls are the gold standard for medicine balls in the current market. They provide the best finish and the most color options for you to customize. The disadvantage is that they also cost the most.

Rogue Slam balls are a good alternative if you will mainly slam your medicine balls and not throw and catch them often. In this case, slam balls will not hit you in the face and are also cheaper to buy.

Conclusion for the Rogue Standard medicine balls

The Rogue standard medicine balls are well balanced between price and quality. If you need a lot of medicine balls for your gym and want good quality you can save a couple of hundred dollars on these compared to the Dynamax balls. Individuals might want to look at the branded rogue balls or get an individual Dynamax stitched up. If you are a university or football club that wants their own colors at a huge scale, Dynamax is probably the better provider.

Overview and review of the Rogue cyclone sandbag

This is an overview of the Rogue cyclone sandbag including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of the cyclone bag

Price: $95 - $145

The rogue cyclone sandbag is an adaption of the strongman sandbag. Rather than having the same diameter on both ends, Rogue decided to make one end bigger than the other. This makes the cyclone sandbag easier to handle and especially interesting for long, heavy front carries. The cyclone reaches from 100lb to 250lb. The full specifications are:

Made in the USA
Patent Pending Design
Cyclone / Tapered style bags, larger at the top and smaller at the bottom
1000D MIL Spec US Cordura construction
Filler Capacity (4 Sizes): 100LB, 150LB, 200LB, 250LB
Built-In Filler Bag
Zipper and Hook-and-Loop Closure
(Filler Material Not Included)
Color: Black with White Rogue logo

This is a great sandbag for beginners without being cheap.

Pros of the cyclone bag

Pros of the cyclone bag are:

Portable
Cone shape
Robust design

Compared to slam balls and kettlebells these sandbags can be emptied after use and stored easier. Especially if you want to have group workouts at the beach this comes in handy. You can fill the bags with sand, get it done, empty them and leave. The cone shape also allows easier handling of this bag than of the original rogue strongman sandbags.

Cons of the cyclone bag

The cons of the cyclone sandbag are:

Shape for certain exercises
Limited weight range
Price

The cone shape is great for carries. Not so much for putting the sandbag to your shoulder. If your main intention is to do ground to shoulder movements than get one of the smaller strongman sandbags instead. Compared to the strongman sandbags the cyclone has a limited size. While the strongman sandbags fill up to 400lbs with sand, you can get only to 250lb with the cyclone bags. Last but not least some might be put off by the price. You could make an argument that a cement bag reinforced with Duct or gorilla tape will do the same trick for a fraction of the cost. I won’t argue with you if you only use them yourself and do not intend to empty/refill regularly.

Alternatives to the cyclone bag

Alternatives to the cyclone bags are:

The original strongman sandbag will give you a true cylinder shape and range from 100lb to 400lb when filmed with sand. The smaller options are very close to round-shaped and therefore a good alternative to atlas stones.

The rubber atlas stones from Rogue are an adaptation of the classic cement mold stones. These stones have an iron core surrounded by rubber and cone in 50lb to 200lb weight denominations. This is a great tool for home gyms or commercial gyms that want to train with a perfect heavy sphere. The only downsides are that they are harder to store and adjust than sandbags and that the black rubber can get very hot in the sun.

The MK d balls are heavy slam ball variations from Rogue. These balls are available up to 150 lb. while the bigger ones can get quite pricey, they will have a good grip and can be slammed better than the Rogue sandbags. I would only consider the mid-range of the MK d balls for heavy slams. If maximum weight is what you are after, the sandbags are cheaper.

Conclusion for the cyclone bag

The cyclone sandbags are great for beginners in heavy sandbag training as they are generally lighter than the regular Rogue sandbags and easier to handle. If you want to save yourself the hassle of bags and dirt the Rubber atlas stones or MK d balls can be an alternative based on your training preferences.