Rogue ISO Leg Press vs TITAN plate loaded chest press

This is a comparison of the Rogue Iso leg press and the TITAN plate loaded chest press including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the TITAN plate loaded chest press $464

This is an overview of the TITAN plate loaded chest press including pros, cons and alternatives. This article was originally posted in Which gym machine to get from TITAN. Follow the links for additional information.

Overview of the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

The TITAN plate loaded chest press machine is a chest press machine with a foldable bench which makes it unique. Again TITAN designs a machine with the spacious home gym in mind that saves money and space. The plate loadable chest press can be used with regular Olympic plates. The bench is adjustable for incline presses and has multiple grip variations. The full specifications of this TITAN machine are:

- Fits Olympic plates and features (2) 9.5-inch loadable weight posts

- Fully adjustable bench for the incline or flat reps

- (13) Bench depth positions to easily adjust to any size athlete and to accommodate hand placement for presses

- (5) Lifting arm positions to easily adjust the angle of your lift

- Bench easily stores on top of the frame when not in use to

- Minimum Footprint: 64-in. W x 63-in. L

- Maximum Footprint: 64-in. W-in. x 23-in.

- Seat Pad Dimensions: 11 - 8-in. x 12.5-in.

- Lifting Arm Length: 34-in.

- Vertical Handle Spread: 26.5-in.

- Weight Post Length: 9.5-in.

- Weight Capacity: 1,000 lb.

- Weight: 155 lb.

This is a great machine for bench presses and replacing a dumbbell rack, if you have the space for it.

Pros of the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

The pros of the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine are:

Multiple grip variations
Foldable bench
Plate loaded
Price

Compared to a barbell, rack and bench setup this machine provides you more grip variations. This could also be done with dumbbells and a rack, but then you have to factor in the storage space for multiple dumbbells and that they are awkward to work with by yourself once it gets heavy.

The foldable bench saves some space when you want to free up the center of your gym for stretching exercises, runs or other stout ones which need space. The footprint gets smaller, but you still have the metal frame to consider.

Plate loaded machines are great for home gyms as you can use one set of plates for all the machines you own. This saves cost in getting your little park of machines together as you not pay the weight stack for each and every machine.

As with all TITAN products you will have a hard time to find something that is priced better. Especially as this machine already includes an adjustable bench which already can easily cost $500 or more by themselves.

Cons of the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

The cons of the TITAN plate loaded chest press are:

Plate loaded
Space requirements
Bench is attached

While plate loaded designs can be great in smaller gyms it can turn into a trip hazard and bottlenecks in high frequency commercial gyms. If you have a lot of footfall with a varying level of experience combined with little supervision, than go for a chest press machine with an included weigh my stack.

If your home gym is very crammed you might not have the space to get another machine in like the Titan plate loaded chest press. In this scenario you might want to get three pairs of dumbbells (light, middle, heavy) and spotter arms for dumbbells for your rack. This makes the setup more modular.

A further disadvantage of the TITAN plate loaded chest press is that the be cj is attached. This means that you can not move things around in your and might even need to get a second bench for that purpose. Just keep that in mind based on the plans you have for your gym and the exercises you want to do.

Alternatives to the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

Alternatives to the TITAN plate loaded chest press are:

The Titan functional and plate loaded functional trainer can also be used as bench press stations as long as you get an additional bench. With the different grips you can have more variety than with a barbell. These two machines have $1300 between them. In a home gym scenario you might want to use the plate loaded version to save considerably.

Conclusion for the TITAN plate loaded chest press machine

The TITAN plate loaded chest press machine is a serious consideration to get instead of a full rack of dumbbells. If you have the space for a full rack of dumbbells you can most likely also fit this machine. You can do all of the dumbbell exercises you need with this machine and load it with plates instead. For a home gym this is a definite alternative. In a commercial setting you can not replace a dumbbell rack with this machine as you have to cover more people at the same time. It can however be used to make the bench press more accessible toi wider community of your clients.

Overview and review of the Rogue ISO Leg Press

Price: 4.750

This review was originally posted in the longer article "Which strength equipment to buy from rogue" in which you can read about 25 products of Rogue which cost more than 1.000$. The Rogue ISO leg press is a machine for the advanced athlete to perform the leg press. See the details in this article.

Overview of the Rogue ISO Leg press

The Rogue Iso Leg press is one of the products of Rogue which have recently appeared in the portfolio. In my opinion, you can clearly see that Rogue wants to use the Lat pulldown machine, Prone Leg Curl and ISO Leg press to gain market share in the commercial gym sector to diversify their business beyond CrossFit gyms. While Rogue has already mastered the mass production of barbells and rigs, the production of big machines is done more manual. You might get a cheaper, more refined machine from somewhere else who has specialized in these for decades. Still, this will be most likely not American made and definitely not fit the rest of your Rogue gym setup.

The future looks promising as the Rhino Belt Squat has been a great release with a positive reception in the market. I am sure rogue will take the new technological developments from the 50 cals (locking system) and the Rhino (Pulley System) to create more refined machines in the future which will take over the market.

The Rogue ISO press can load up to 2475lb and has four load pegs. Rogue claims a 60% true weight ratio for the leg press. Machines are often criticized that too much of the load gets lost and does not have an effect on the lifter. This is why you see some people on Youtube leg pressing a bunch of plates and four Chinese girls on a leg press machine. They have better leverage than in a barbell squat.

The Rogue ISO leg press weighs 708lbs with a footprint of 64'' x 98''. It is 98'' long, 64'' wide and 47'' high.

Pros of the Rogue ISO Leg Press

Rogue has paid attention to the feedback from other machines by working on the true weight ratio. The four loadable pegs will go down well with your stronger clients who like big machines and also cannot find sufficient machinery in other gyms.

The fact that each leg can be addressed individually will be interesting to rehab clients and professional athletes alike. Not many leg press machines bear this feature.

You will also get a machine that has been made by American hands in Columbus. There is quite some work to be done to finish this beast and you will always know that this has been done by an American.

A leg press machine is also less intimidating to many clients than a barbell squat. Anyone who feels like they are hurting their back with the barbell squat can be put on a leg press machine instead.

Cons of the Rogue ISO Leg Press

The leg press machine is a single purpose machine with a relatively big footprint. This does not make it a suitable option for most gyms with a small footprint. You will also be buying outside of Rogues core business with less volume. Expect that customer services have fewer options to help you out with parts/replacements/repairs as the order volume on these is lower. There is less storage to draw from and all parts are welded together for the ISO (which means if you want to return it, they probably have to weld another from scratch or move someone else's order).

For this price, especially if you buy multiple, maybe ask Rogue whether you can inspect the machines on site before delivery. Bring your biggest and smallest athlete/client&relative, Based on the test ask whether small alterations can be made before the machines are finished (coated etc) and shipped.

How many clients should this leg press bring you?

If you think that the ISO leg press will bring you 16 new clients who pay you 50$ on a 1-year retainer it is worth the investment. This will yield 9.600$ net new revenue against an investment of 4.750$. Adjust the numbers for your own gym accordingly.

Alternatives to the ISO leg press

Here are some alternatives to the Rogue Iso leg press which come in at roughly the same budget.

1x Rogue Wingspan Rig @ 5.099$ (including all options, no weights)

The Rogue Wingspan Rig only costs about 250 USD more but is an all in one gym for that price. You have a pull-up station, rack, lots of storage room, a crown pull up bar for various grip variations and space to store up to five barbells. While the ISO leg press is on one end of the spectrum as a leg training giant, this is one of the most versatile options from Rogue in the same price range.

1x Rogue Rhino Stand Alone @ 1750$ USD
6x Monster Lite SML.2C @445$

This would be an alternative for a weightlifting gym that has no need for pull up bars and has a lot of space. You have to teach your clients how to drop a bar safely when there is enough room. The Rhino belt squat can be used by athletes with shoulder injuries or for heavy squats/volume work. It still loads enough weights for mere mortals.

1x Rogue Wood Jerk Block Starter Set @ 972.50$
1x Rogue Multi belt @90 USD
1x 10lB chain @ 17$ USD

The belt squat is the poor man's version of the leg press. It does more for balance and natural movement patterns and can not be loaded as heavy as the Rhino Belt Squat or Leg press machine. If you already have jerk blocks or pylo jump boxes this is probably the most cost-efficient version to get close to a leg press. Be aware that the setup is tedious and the injury risk is high if you do not assist your clients in setting this up.

Conclusion

With the Rogue Iso Leg press you will get a fully welded, American made leg press machine. The specialty of this leg press machine is that you can work one leg at a time or both optionally. With some extra space to add plates to the leg press and special attention to a maximum carry over of the weight to the lifter this leg press is for serious gyms that do not want to compromise.