Rogue Strongman throw bag vs Froning medicine ball

This is a comparison between the Rogue Strongman throw bag and the Froning medicine ball including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. Follow the links for more details.

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.

Overview and review of the Rogue Strongman throw bag

This is an overview of the Rogue Strongman throw bag including pros, cons, and alternatives. It was published first under which rogue sandbag to get. Follow the links for more details.

Overview of the strongman throw bag

Price: $145

The Rogue Strongman throw bag is a design taken from the Arnold classic and brought to the home gym. They come in one size fits all and can be loaded up to 75lbs with sand and 30 lbs with crumb rubber. Another option is to fill them with lead shot. The full specifications are:

Made in the USA - Patent Pending
As Seen at the 2017 and 2018 Arnold Strongman Classic
1000D and 500D Cordura construction
12" diameter, 13" length
Sold Unfilled
Approx. Max Loading Weight (with sand): 75LB
Funnel Filler Technology for quick, clean, custom weight adjustments
Rubber Handle: 10" long x 1-0.375" diameter three pieces of 1.5" wide nylon webbing fed through it
MIL spec criss-cross webbing for extra reinforcement
Color: Black
Rogue logo in white on both ends

What makes these bags special is their great finish and the solid handle. This makes it a great product to throw about and have fun with.

Pros of the strongman throw bag

The pros of the strongman throw bag are:

Adjustable
Robust
Easy to handle

As with most Rogue products they have carefully thought about the design of these bags. The ideas from Slater for the cyclone and regular sandbags have been replicated in this bag design to make filling it seamlessly. The added handle has thorough stitches and does not come apart unless you go at it with the specific intent of severing the connection. Compared to kettlebells or iron weights with a handle you have at least the option to change the weight, even though most sandbags will be filled once and used until they break or the novelty wears off.

Cons of the strongman throw bag

The cons of the Rogue strongman throw bag are:

Weight lock-in
Handles are not detachable
Price

For a simple bag to throw around $145 is a big ask. You might be able to build a sturdy bag with a handle yourself for fat less money, but the finish will most likely not be nearly as good. Even though you can swap around the weight, in practice it is very unlikely that you will regularly change the filling of the bag. If you want throw bags with the different weight it will be more practical to get two and fill them with different media. The last con is that you can not detach the handle. This is great for the build of a bag that can be filled up to 100lb and thrown. It is bad if you want to use it for something else than throws. it is a tool designed for one purpose.

Alternatives to the strongman throw bag

Alternatives to the Rogue strongman throw bag are:

The cyclone bag from Rogue is made of the same fabric and has the same funnel to fill the throw bag. The main difference is that the top part is wider in diameter than the bottom which creates a t shaped cylinder when the bag is filled. The different sizes go from 100lb to 250lb when filled with sand. This is a good bag to get when you want to simulate front carries.

The rogue strongman sandbags were the first in the Rogue line up to be brought to market. These bags range from 100lb to 400lb. They are a cylinder that grows longer, the heavier the bag gets. The smaller bags can be used for simulating Atlas stone events. The bigger bags can be tried for team events.

The Rogue rubber atlas stones take the classic atlas stone and make it more accessible for a home gym. They are available from 50lb to 200lb. Their build rests on an iron core that has been encapsulated by rubber. This design gives you the shape and handling of an atlas stone while being less likely to wreck your floor when dropped.

Conclusion for the strongman throw bag

The strongman throw bag from Rogue is a high-quality build. The handle will not come off, they are easy to fill and the fabric is outstanding. They won’t be a very versatile tool in your gym as the handle will get in the way for most other strongman events. But if you want to prove that you can fling a very heavyweight very high, this is the equipment to get.