Rogue Monster Rig 2.0 vs TITAN standing back extension machine

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

Overview and review of the TITAN standing back extension machine $381

This is an overview of the TITAN standing back extension 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.

Overview of the TITAN standing back extension machine

The TITAN standing back extension machine is a simple and robust design from TITAN. With this machine you can do back raises and side raises to train your core and back. The pad is adjustable in height and can also be tilted in different positions. This is a machine for accessory work that can not be done with a lot of other machines. It is great for what it does if you have the space for it. The full list of specifications is:

- Strengthen your posterior chain

- Fully adjustable unit to fit a wide variety of exercises and athletes

- (8) adjustable foot roller and round pad positions in 1-inch increments

- (4) adjustable angle positions for the rounded pad

- High-quality 2 x 2-inch steel frame for a solid and stable design

- Footprint: 65-in x 28-in (39.5-in with band pegs)

- Footplate Dimensions: 24-in x 24-in.

- Rounded Pad Height: 28-in – 35-in.

- Foot Roller Diameter: 3.5-in.

- Product Weight: 112 lb.

Simple, elegant and effective. This is a machine that is easy to use and can be used in many different ways. Compared to a reverse hyper or GHD it delivers similar results but in a more accessible way for the general public.

Pros of the Titan Standing back extension machine

The pros of the Standing back extension are:

Price
Easy to use

As with almost all TITAN products you get an industrial grade machine for a consumer price. TITAN undercuts their competition by about half and the standing back extension machine is no exception.

This is a great machine for a commercial gym to provide options to train g your back and sides. In a home gym you might want to go for a GHD and reverse hyper combo as it offers you more options while it takes up roughly the same footprint.

Cons of the TITAN back extension machine

The cons of the TITAN back extension machine are:

Footprint
mainly suited for bodyweight exercises

For a bodyweight exercise machine the standing back extension takes up quite a bit of foot print. For this big a machine you might want to get something else instead that enables you to add resistance to your exercises via plates.

Alternatives to the TITAN standing back extension machine

Alternatives to the standing back extension machine are:

The TITAN H-PND is TITAN’s Monster Reverse hyper. This thing is built like a tank and will have enough padding for even the biggest of athletes. If you want to train your lower back with a reverse hyper than this is the best you can get from TITAN.

The TITAN economy H-PND is the little brother of the original H-PND from TITAN. The steel gauges and the padding have been downsized to offer this reverse hyper at a lower price. The economy H-PND also builds the base for the Glute and hamstring combo, which is a great choice to train your posterior chain in a spacious home gym.

The Rogue donkey is the gold standard in the market for posterior chain development. Rogue came up with a clever design and executed it perfectly. Especially the lad on this machine is very high quality and supports even the biggest athletes. Good quality also comes at a high price as the Donkey puts you back close to $2000.

Conclusion for the TITAN standing back extension machine

The standing back extension machine is a great addition to any commercial gym with space. You might even want to get multiple of these and create a back area. In a home gym the glute and hamstring combo might be better use of your space.

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.

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$.

1 x Monster lite Rig Low end @ 1795$

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.