Rogue Wagon wheel pair vs Fractional plates

This is a comparison between the Rogue Wagon wheel and the fractional plates including pros, cons and alternatives. Follow the links for more details

Overview and review of Rogue fractional plates

The Rogue fractional plates will set you back about $33 dollars. These plates are especially good to use for lifters who want to microload. This overview has originally been published in the article "Which rogue plates to buy" which you can find on this blog.

Overview of the fractional plates

Rogue Fractional plates come in pairs of 0.125kg and 0.250kg. They are a helpful tool for the most advanced athletes to steadily increase the weight being lifted. They can also be used on beginning athletes or anyone who is facing a plateau. These plates allow you to increase the weight on the bar in increments which are smaller than 2.5kg and therefore provide more options for your training.

Pros of the fractional plates

Fractional plates are a great tool when you know how to use them. For programs like Jim Wendler, you want to use them as they break down the weight increments very finely.

Cons of the fractional plates

These plates get easily lost or stolen. Also most people in your gym will not know how to use them probably and scatter them all over the place as they are so small.

Overview and review of the Rogue Wagon Wheel Pair

The Rogue Wagon wheel plates will set you back about $425. These plates are especially good to use for powerlifters who are serious about competing. This overview has originally been published in the article "Which rogue plates to buy" which you can find on this blog.

Overview of the Wagon wheel plates

The Wagon wheel plates are a co-design between Mark Bell and Rogue. The basic idea is that a standard 45LB can be bigger than 450mm. The result is a pair of plates which have 660mm in diameter and are therefore called Wagon wheels. If you do not want to buy blocks save storage space for block pulls, this is the way to go. Specs of the wagon wheel plates:

Made in the USA
0.375'' thick laser cut steel construction
45LB
2% Weight tolerance
660mm Diameter
50.80mm width

This is a specialized tool when you get serious with your powerlifting to get more volume in without wrecking your lower back. They also cost less than proper pulling blocks. If you only need blocks for powerlifting purposes, this is a great option which is easy to store in your gym.

Pros of the Wagon wheel plates

The Wagon wheel saves space and time when you want to deadlifts from a block. They also cost less than their wooden or metal blocks which fit the same purpose from Rogue.

Cons of the wagon wheel plates

The Wagon wheel cannot be used for Olympic weightlifting style block pulls or jerking. For jerking, they are too low and for dynamic block pulls the metal is too hard on the floor and wrists of the lifter. For Olympic weightlifting, you are better off to buy proper jerk blocks.

Alternatives to the Wagon wheel plates

Alternatives to the wagon wheel are:

The metal jerk blocks from Rogue are adjustable in height and beasts to behold. These are space saving compared to their wooden counterparts as you do not need multiple of them to stack higher up.

Wooden jerk blocks take up more space in your gym than the metal blocks offer the same height options, but are in turn more modular. With one full set, several athletes can train from different starting positions.