Slater stone mold vs froning medicine ball

This is a comparison between the Slater stone mold 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.

Which grip strength tool to get from Rogue

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 Slater stone mold

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

Overview of the slater stone mold

Price: $50 - $220

The Slater stone molds are one of the products that Steve Slater promotes together with Rogue. The strongman bags are other products aimed at Strongman that he also showcases on Rogue’s website. The Slater molds range from 23lb to 536lb in various sizes and start at $50. The full specifications are:

Made in the USA
Designed and Produced by Steve Slater at Slater Hardware in Lancaster, OH (founded 1946)
Durable plastic construction, lightweight and portable
Build up to 50 or more Atlas Stones off one mold
10 different size options (8" to 24" diameter, resulting in stone weight of 23LB to 586LB)
Consistently clean, seam-free stones when preparation directions are followed
Molds have produced stones for many record-breaking performances at the highest levels of strongman competition

These are good, easy to transport molds to make your atlas stones wherever you need them, rather than transporting them.

Pros of the slater stone mold

The pros of the slater stone mold are

Price
See-through
Durable

The slater stone molds produce up to 50 stones from each mold, if treated with care. Compared to their main competitors from hybrid they are also cheaper. Also, you can see inside them while you are making the atlas stone, which makes the process a little easier.

Cons of the slater stone mold

The cons of the slater stone mold are:

Fiddly
No matching funnel
Not sold in sets

Apart from that, you will feel more comfortable with making atlas stones when you already know how to handle cement the slater stone molds are a little more tricks to handle than their hybrid competitors. They come with a little wooden peg to get them apart and with no funnel. The takes a little more finesse to make a stone than with the hybrid molds. Another bummer is that you can not just get a whole set of them in one purchase. You will have to get all of the different molds into your cart with no inbuilt discount.

Alternatives to the slater stone mold

Alternatives to the slater stone mold are:

The hybrid mold is the direct competitor of the slater mold to make atlas stones from Cement. While the hybrid mold is not see-through and a little more expensive, it is more user friendly for beginners. You can buy an extra funnel for the cement and when the stone is hardened you can pry the mold apart on the rim that goes around the mold. With the latter, you can not pry apart, but have to go around with the tapping stick.

The rogue strongman sandbags are the option if you do not want to work with cement at all. They come in sizes from 100lb to 400lb when filled with play sand. Other options are crumb rubber or lead shot. The strongman sandbags leave you with more weight options and can be stored and transported easily when emptied. The only downside of them is that they are a lot more forgiving on the user for grip strength as they do tend to give in more. Therefore they are not a true representation of what awaits you in a strongman contest.

The MK d balls are a heavy version of slam balls that go up to 150lb. This is a good option if you want the diameter of the ball you are working with to stay the same, but the weight to get heavier. These can also be used for slams without destroying the floor. The downside is that you will only get one for your purchase while the slater molds can be reused many times over.

Conclusion for the slater stone mold

The slater stone mold is a great option to make stones of all sizes. The instructional videos are also easy to follow and get yuh there. The only downsides of these molds are that they are a little messier than the hybrid molds as they do not provide a funnel and can not be compressed as much.