Rogue Froning vs Rogue D-Ball medicine ball

This is a comparison of the Rogue Rich Froning medicine ball and the Rogue D-Ball including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Rogue D-Ball medicine balls

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

Overview of the D-Ball medicine balls

Price: $55 - $110

D-Ball medicine balls are a great option that provides a little more grip than a classic medicine ball. These balls are great for everything you can do with a medicine ball except throwing and catching. For that, a traditional medicine ball is probably the better choice. Rogue D-Ball medicine ball come in 8lb to 40lb with a diameter of 9"or 10.6". The full specifications are:

Made in the USA
Medball/Slamball
9 Weight Increments: 8 LB to 40 LB
Diameter: 9” (8LB to 25LB) and 10.6” (30-40LB)
Durable Rubber Shell with Textured Grip
Color: Black

These are a great addition for anyone who wants to do condition y lifting heavy balls of the ground to the shoulder and dropping them back down to repeat the process.

Pros of the D-Ball medicine balls

Pros of the D-Ball medicine balls are:

Rubber exterior
Standardized size
Gel-like filling

The rubber exterior makes it easier to hold onto and keep the ball in place when you want to perform any kind of movement where you are leaning on the ball. Even if the d-balls get heavier, they stay the same size, which is good to remember the motor pattern. The gel-like filling makes them especially good for lifting to the shoulder and dropping them back down from there without too much bounce.

Cons of the D-ball medicine balls

The cons of the d-ball medicine balls are:

Little bounce
Harder on wrists
Higher price

The D-ball medicine ball has very little bounce and is also harder than a classic medicine ball. This makes it a great option when you drop it and pick it up, but less ideal for throwing and catching. Compared to the Echo Slam balls they also have a higher price. ou get a better grip on the D-Balls than on the slam balls, but the difference is negligible to justify the higher price. Especially if you are buying in bulk.

Alternatives to the D-Ball medicine ball

Alternatives to the d-ball medicine ball are:

If you want a heavy medicine ball for your workouts that stays the same size, then the MK D`Balls are a good option. Especially for the higher weights, I would go for the MK instead of the regular D-Balls.

The Echo slam balls are a great alternative to the light D-Balls that cost less. If all you do is slamming the balls rather than bringing them to the shoulder than this might be the right one for you.

If you want to save some money, but still have a medicine ball that you can throw around, then the Rogue Rubber medicine balls can be a good alternative to combine a low price point with some weight to throw about.

Overview and review of the Rogue Froning medicine ball

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

Overview of Rogue Froning Series medicine ball

Price: $110

The Rich Froning series medball is an interpretation of the Rogue Standard medicine balls in Black and red. It is only available in 20lbs and comes with the same specs as the standard black balls from Rogue. These are a nice addition to your gym if you want to tip your hatto the CrossFit legend or just like the colors red and black. The specifications of this medicine ball are:

Part of the Rich Froning Signature Series
Made in Columbus, Ohio
Weight: 20LB
Diameter: 14”
Coated Vinyl Shell – moisture and scuff resistant
Soft Shell safe to use at high speeds, but strong enough to maintain stable shape
Double-stitched paracord threading on seams
Color: Red with Black and White Branding (Rogue and Froning logos)

A nice Christmas present for anyone who already owns a home gym and no medicine balls.

Pros of the Rich Froning medicine ball

The pros of the Rich Froning medicine balls are:

Red and black color scheme instead of black
Double-stitched

This is a nice little customization on the standard medicine ball to get a pop of color into your gym. The standard Rogue medicine balls only come in black. That is not for everyone, especially if it is off-brand for your gym or the color scheme in your home gym.

Cons of the Rich Froning medicine ball

The cons of the Rich Froning medicine balls are:

Only available as 20LB
Higher cost than standard ball

These balls are $5 dearer than the standard ball of the same size. This can make a difference if you are trying to outfit multiple gyms and buy somewhere between 20 - 100 medicine balls. For your home gym, it will probably be more a question of personal taste rather than pricing.

Alternatives to the Rich Froning medicine ball

The alternatives to the Rich Froning medicine ball are:

The standard for most CrossFit WODs for males is a 20lb medicine ball. For females, this drops to 14lb. If you like the color blue and want to equip yourself with an inspiring medicine ball you can get the Camille Le blanc version of the medicine ball which comes in 14 lb instead of the 20lb the Froning version has.

Dynamax is the market leader in the US for medicine balls. While Rogue at first resold these medicine balls they went on to produce their own brand to maximize profit margins on low price tag equipment produced in masses. There is not a big difference between the two. Still, if pressed, I would always go for the product that is core for the company. The core competency of Rogue is to work with Steel to build first-class racks and barbells. Dynamax focuses on perfecting the stitch on their medicine balls.

The standard Rogue medicine ball is a good alternative to Dynamax if you want to buy a lot of medicine balls and do not care that much about the design. If you like black, you can save some money on bulk buy compared to Dynamax balls the same size.

Slam balls are a great, cheap alternative to medicine balls. If your medicine balls are used 90% of the time to be thrown on the ground, save yourself some money and yourself/or clients some injuries. These balls are cheaper to make and do not bounce back from the floor to hit you in the face. If your training is more about throwing against walls or to each other, stick with the classic medicine ball.

Conclusion for the Rich Froning medicine ball

This is the right medicine ball for the dedicated CrossFit individual with great ambitions or the one's around him who want to give something nice. Anyone who buy in bulk is probably better off to either trade up in quality by buying Dynamax or compromising in price and getting a lot of Rogue standard medicine balls.