Rogue LT1 50 cal lever arm vs difference striking pad

This is a comparison between the Rogue LT1 50 cal lever arm and Rogue difference striking pad including pros, cons, and alternatives. The Original was published in which accessory equipment to get for your rogue rack. Follow the links for details

Overview and review of the difference striking pad

The difference striking pad comes in at $950 and helps especially when you specialize in football training. This article was originally published in "which accessory equipment to get for your rogue rack".

What else to consider from Rogue

Overview of the difference striking pad

The difference striking pad is a training tool specialized for the needs of footballers. It will enforce correct hand placement for striking in a football match with various levels of resistance. The specs of the striking pad are:

Made in the USA
Color: Black
Length: 18.5”
Width: 3”
Height: 18.5”
Distance from rig or rack 19”
0.1875” steel nodes

The difference striking pad comes with four different springs which enable you to adjust the resistance. The options are:

Green Spring (Lil Rookie = 15LB – 35LB) – Great for young athletes, introducing technique, rehab, punching.
White Spring (Rookie = 35LB – 70LB) Great for Junior High and High School Athletes.
Gray Spring (Challenger = 70LB – 105LB) Great for High School, College, and Professional Athletes.
Black Spring(Champion = 105LB – 150LB) Great for College and Professional Athletes.

With this, you are sorted for an entire team and different age groups to get them to train their striking skills. You might even attach one of their least favorite persons image to the difference strike pad, but that is just a personal tip from my end.

Pros of the difference striking pad

This is a specific movement which needs to be trained for football players either on the field or in the gym. Preferably this is trained in real-world circumstances, but if you have especially strong or weak players you might want to have them train on the striking pad. The extremely strong players might wreck your team otherwise while the weak ones just need the extra hours to catch up to the rest of the team. Of course, it is also a good toy to have for the eager beavers to let off some steam after the training session or particularly shoddy away match.

Cons of the difference striking pad

If you are not a footballer, bouncer or coach you have little use for this and are probably better getting a good boxing bag. $950 can even add another rack to your gym.

Alternatives to the difference striking pad

Alternatives to the difference striking pad are:

The LT1 is the better attachment than the striking pad and I would take it over the striking pad any day unless I was an institution or NFL Star who do not have to care about cost. I wouldn’t recommend simulating strikes against the LT1 but you can definitely simulate some of the tackle or a scrum movement and so much more.

If you want to punch something on a regular basis why not do it with your fist. Now I would not recommend doing this with your boss, client or other people. That is what punching bags are for and Rogue has the right attachment for your rack. The speed bag also only costs $265 and is a bargain compared to the striking pad.

If you don’t like punching things and belong to the group of gentle giants you might want to squat heavy without a barbell. The Squat Max MD is for you and it costs only slightly more than the striking pad.

Th fortis RM4 is the vest rack from Rogue which you can get for under $1000. This is a solid addition to your gym and if you are a college that is not flush with cash I probably would prefer to add another rack to my gym than the striking pad.

Summary of the difference striking pad

The difference striking pad is great for what it was designed for. The application is very niche and probably only suitable for elite athletes or facilities which want to create elite athletes in football. I think the price is fair as you get four metal sponges with it to adjust for different needs. As I am not into football I would spend almost $1000 bucks on something different for my gym. But if you are Tom Brady you probably spend $1000 like i spend $10. It just doesn’t matter and the striking pad is cool.

Overview and review of the LT1 50 cal lever arms

The LT1 50 cal lever arm kit comes in at $995 and is a great addition to your existing rack to widen the possible exercises you can do. This article was originally published in "which accessory equipment to get for your rogue rack".

What else to consider from Rogue

Overview of the 50 cal lever arms

The LT1 50 cal lever arms are one of the latest innovations of Rogue. The idea is to press most of the machines you find in a gym into a rack. The lever arms can be used for lunges, snatches, squats, rows, incline bench presses, and many more setups. If you want to get the maximum out of your rack these are a good addition. I especially like the snatch and push movements which can not be performed with a barbell in this way. The uniqueness is the ease of adjusting height without using a wrench.

The lever arms are available for the Monster and Monster lifelines from Rogue. The monster version has a stainless steel finish, while the Monster lite version is powder-coated. There are two versions in 48” and 35” length. Be aware that you can only use the short arms inside a 43” rack. The specs are:

Made in the USA
Color: Black
71LB per arm
48” standard 35” shirt length
3x3” Gauge Steel

The package includes

2 lever arms
2 Trolleys
2 handles with loading pins

If you want to hold your plates in place you will need to purchase some axle collars as regular spring and HG collars will not work with this setup.

Pros of the LT1 50 cal lever arms

The LT 1 cal lever arms are a great addition to a home gym, especially if you are a bodybuilder. With the help of these arms, you can recreate most of the isolated machine exercises in your home gym without increasing its footprint. It will also add some interesting push variations to your repertoire of you play football or rugby.

Cons of the LT1 50 cal lever arms

As with all Rogue innovations, the price is usually a hump to get over. With $995 you have some alternatives you can get instead to simulate some of the activities. But there will be no full replacement and these items will take up more space in your gym.

Alternatives to the LT1 50 cal lever arms

These are the alternatives for the LT1 out of the Rogue portfolio.

If you are mainly interested in the LT1 to keep deadlifts safer for beginners you can also use a trap bar. Rogue has updated its trap bar design and there are two different designs available.

If you find the LT1 appealing to create a monolift for bench presses you can also get the adjustable monolift kit for a third of the price.

To cover the uses of the LT1 as a rowing machine you can also get the Lat pull down and row combination.

If you want the LT1 and you have the spare change in your first Rogue order you might as well go for the rolls Royce of Racks from Rogue. The RM8 includes the lever arms and the Rhino belt squat with a Cerakote finish. If you only want the best, that is your place to go.

Summary for the LT1 50 cal Lever arms

The LT1 is probably the most versatile attachment you can get for the Monster and Monster Lite series as long as you are willing to pay the price of a full rack for them. The RM4 fortis and the LT1 are almost the same price. The LT1 will probably not be your first purchase unless you go for the RM8 which includes the lever arms.