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Rogue Monster Rig 2.0 vs TITAN cable crossover machine

Posted by Pascal Landshoeft

Dec 30, 2020 9:00:00 AM

Rogue Monster Rig 2.0 vs TITAN cable crossover machine 

This is a comparison of the Rogue Monster Rig and the TITAN cable crossover machine including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

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Overview and review of the TITAN cable crossover machine $459

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

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Overview of the TITAN Cable Crossover machine

 
The TITAN cable crossover machine is a take on a classic which you will find in most gyms. Usually this is part of a machine with weight stacks and an included pull up bar. This machine is great for cable pulls and chopping movements to strengthen your core and back. You can even use it for chest presses and other pressing exercises, given that you have a bench. The full specifications of this machine are:
 
- Fits and stores easily in your garage. 
- Unit fits in rooms with an 8 ft ceiling. 
- High-quality pulleys and cables used. 
- 4 Weight plate holders measuring 9.75-in each. 
- Includes 2 premium cable handles. 
 
- Footprint: 113-in W x 36-in D. 
- Overall Height: 83.5-in. 
- Clearance Height: 80.5-in. 
- Weight Holder Length: 9.75-in. 
- Weight: 110 lb.
 
This is machine that covers most of your pulley needs in one go if you can fit it into your gym. In my opinion it is still a makeshift and cheap solution to cover this need. If you can afford it, try to go with something more substantial like the TITAN functional trainer or the TITAN lat tower depending on the space you have at your command.
 

Pros of the  TITAN Cable Crossover

 
The pros of the TITAN cable crossover machine are:
 
  • Price
  • Plate loaded
 
This machine is all about getting a pulley system into your gym for a minimal amount of money. Everything about this has been optimized to achieve a low price, while still providing an industrial grate machine. If you want pulleys for your home and do not want to spend a fortune, this is the one to get.
 

Cons of the TITAN Cable crossover

 
 
  • No Pull up bar
  • Low own weight
  • Makeshift solution
 
Most of the Cable crossovers you will find in the industry will come with a pull up bar in the middle. That TITAN to choose to ship this one without a pull up bar already shows you how confident they are that this machine will stand by itself. If you are looking to get a fully functioning home gym for the lowest possible price, try to get a cable crossover machine that includes a pull up bar. If you look for it on Amazon, take a close look into how to anchor it to the ground and how much it weighs.
 
This stations has a low weight without plates and the construction is done in a way that it does not stand that well by itself. Be careful and do not climb on this, especially when there are no weights attached. It might fall over.
 
As with all complex assemblies from TITAN this pulley system makes no exception. The instructions are hard to follow and faulty and the end result does the job, but not very well. This whole station has a bit of a makeshift feeling about it, but you can also not complain a lot for less than $500 for such a big machine.
 

Alternatives to the TITAN Cable crossover

 
 
The TITAN lat tower is a clone of the Rogue lat pull machine. If you want to mainly use your cable crossover full vertical and horizontal pulls than this machine delivers it all. A seat, weight stack, beefy installation and proper pulley system. If you have the money and space beside a rack, this is a great option from TITAN to save money compared to the competition.
 
The TITAN wall mounted pulley tower is another option from TITAN for the low budget brigade. I would recommend this over the cable crossover if you are allowed to drill into the walls of your gym. It costs less, is safer as it is mounted to the wall and you can still use it in a very similar way. The money you save you can invest in a proper pull up station, as this also does not come with this cable crossover.
 

Conclusion to the TITAN Cable Crossover

 
I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of cable crossovers in general and the TITAN does a poor job of being one on top of it. For the low budget you still get an OK machine, but as it most likely to be used in a home gym you can also go for something smaller and really bolt it down. This saves you space and money, and is more secure. If you love cable work, go for the plate loaded functional trainer or the mounted pulley tower instead.

Overview and review of the Rogue Monster Rig 2.0

 

 

Price: 1.845 - 6.095$

This review was originally posted in the longer article "Which strength equipment to buy from rogue" in in which you can read about 25 products of Rogue which cost more than 1.000$. The Rogue Monster Rig 2.0 can be a good start to build your first commercial gym. See the details in this article.

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Overview of the Rogue Monster Rig

 
The concept behind the rigs is the backbone of any CrossFit "box" gym. This design is genius in its adaptability and flexibility. As with all highly flexible and adaptable systems, this makes the purchase process a bit more complicated. Before you buy a rig, make sure you have measured your gym, made some reasonable assumptions about your potential clients, or even better asked them directly. You can spend thousands of Dollars on attachments and space, that your clients might not even use and you, therefore, don't need.
 
The constant factors in the Monster Rig built are the width, height, steel notes, and built pattern. The Rogue Monster rig is 6' wide and 9' high. The steel nodes come in 3x3 11- Gauge steel. The rigs will be built in a 4-6-4 pattern, which means that the squat/bench stations are 4' wide while there is 6' space between the stations. The main variations are the length and edition of the Rogue Monster Rig. The editions are from lowest to highest price:
 
  • Base 2.0 Edition
  • Standard 2.0 Edition
  • Racked 2.0 Edition
 
The base version has the lowest cost, The construction gets its stability from double pull up bars. If you have no clients who want to do muscle ups and you do not want options to place rogue accessories up high for climbing exercises this is the way to go. If you want to be able to do muscle ups ask rogue whether you can swap the double bars to dirty south bars. This provides the double beam while moving the pull-up bars out to be able to do muscle ups. The standard Edition might be more cost effective for this purpose.
 
The standard edition comes in at a slightly higher cost. For this, you get the second generation of the rigs. Rogue changed their pull up bars so that muscle ups are possible and there's more support where the bars attach to the beams of the rig. The upper construction has also been optimized that it can take more accessories. This leaves you with more options for upgrades and more stability, as the upper construction is now sturdier. The base and standard edition are optimized for Crossfit as you can move around the ground more freely. For gyms focused on weight training & powerlifting, you might want more stability and beams.
 
The Racked Edition of the Rig adds considerable cost. In return, you will get more rack space. Each bench/squat station now basically turns into an RM6 rack with one full rack in front and a half rack in the back. The half racks could be filled with Rhino belt squat machines. This setup also enables band work in and outside of the rack and opens more storage options for plates. The downside is that this setup is suboptimal for CrossFit gyms. There is too much going on on the ground to freely move around.
 
The Rogue Monster RIg is available in 4 different lengths which are
 
  • 10'
    • 2 Squat/Bench Stations
    • 6 Pull-up Stations
  • 14'
    • 4 Squat/Bench stations
    • 8 Pull up stations
  • 20' 
    • 4 Squat/Bench Stations
    • 12 Pull up Stations
  • 24'
    • 6 Squat/Bench stations
    • 14 Pull up Stations
The more clients you want to serve in parallel the longer the rig should be. Choose wisely between the setups especially on your first purchase. Remember that you can always buy more at a later stage. You can even make it a business goal to be able to justify to make your Rig longer based on growing numbers in classes.
 

Pros of the Rogue Monster Rig

 
The Rigs are highly modular and versatile. You can find an option for almost any budget and can do a multitude of exercises in them. The general feedback in the market is that Rogue comes in at a higher price and delivers with solid builds. You can also see how Rogue incorporated client feedback and kept improving their RIgs based on it. Buying anything out of the Monster series also protects your investment for the future. Most upgrades are first released for Monster and are only later made available for Monster lite if it all.
 

Cons of the Rogue Monster Rig

Some clients might be put off by the open design of the Rigs. It all depends on whom you are targeting. Exercising in a Rig means that others are very near to you. If you expect to have clients which want to be more private go for separate racks, rather than connected setups with rigs. 
 
 

How many clients should the Monster Rig 2.0 bring you?

 
Your first monster Rig purchase will be very important. If you are at this juncture take a really hard look at your business plan. 
 
  • How many people live in the area?
  • How many people are already on your books?
  • What kind of training do they like?
  • Are there other gyms in the area?
  • What kind of equipment do they have?
  • What do you like?
  • What do you dislike?
  • What kind of equipment do you have yourself?
  • Is it compatible with the Rogue Monster Rig?
  • How much space do you have?
  • Where are the doors?
  • Where are major obstructions?
  • Where will you store equipment?
 
Just to name a few. It is easy to get excited about Rogue's great equipment and get carried away. If you are flush with cash have fun. If you are cash-stricken do multiple iterations of the planning process and reflect with others over it to get the optimum for your dime.
 
If you think that the Monster Rig will bring you 7 to 21 new clients who pay you 50$ on a 1-year retainer it is worth the investment. This will yield 4.200$ to  12.600$ in net new revenue against an investment of 1.895$ to 6.095$. Adjust the numbers for your own gym accordingly. If this Rogue is being bought for opening the doors also factor in running costs like electricity, insurance, staff education, and labor. 
 

Alternatives to the Monster Monster Rig

 
For this, I will go with the average between of 1.895 and 6.095 which computes to 4.995$.
 
 
This is the minimum configuration of the little brother of the Monster Rig.
 
  • Base Edition
  • Rig length 10'
 
The main difference are the holes which have been drilled into the material. This means that usually more accessories work with the Monster than with the Monster lite. Most rogue material is overbuilt for the purpose. I would not worry too much about stability and safety between the Monster Lite and Monster versions.
 
1x Monster Lite High End @ 5.095$
 
This is the maximum configuration of the rogue Monster Lite Rig. Same applies as for the minimum edition at 1.000$ less than Monster. The longer the Rig you want to build, the more financial sense it makes to go with Monster Lite.  
 

Conclusion

The Rogue Monster Rig 2.0 is an uncompromising start to your new gym. Even the biggest athletes will be able to brutalize it without significant impact or movement in the structure. If you have the money and want to build the best of the best, this is the way to go.

Topics: Rogue