Rep Fitness Bumper Plates Review
I get a lot of requests to review products and food. Most of them fall through since I won't exchange an awesome review for free stuff. A few weeks ago, Rep Fitness sent me a pair of bumper plates to try out and honestly review. I've been using them for a few weeks now and I have to say, I'm impressed!
Most gyms don't allow you to drop any plate less than 25#, and there are good reasons for this. Most 10# and 15# plates bounce everywhere and while you're working out in a packed class, this is a safety hazard. In addition, when people drop the 10# and 15# plates, they tend to bend, fold over, and ultimately break... even when loading multiple 10#/15# plate combinations on each side. Rogue, Again Faster, Hi Temp, HG or not, all these training bumpers face the same issues.
Rep Fitness sent me a pair of 10# bumper training plates to try out a few weeks ago. For awhile, I did my snatch warm ups with these plates and happily dropped them after every rep. I was please to see that the bar didn't travel very far when dropped, the plates barely bend, and the plates stayed on as if I had collars on the end. Impressive!
Most gyms don't allow you to drop any plate less than 25#, and there are good reasons for this. Most 10# and 15# plates bounce everywhere and while you're working out in a packed class, this is a safety hazard. In addition, when people drop the 10# and 15# plates, they tend to bend, fold over, and ultimately break... even when loading multiple 10#/15# plate combinations on each side. Rogue, Again Faster, Hi Temp, HG or not, all these training bumpers face the same issues.
Rep Fitness sent me a pair of 10# bumper training plates to try out a few weeks ago. For awhile, I did my snatch warm ups with these plates and happily dropped them after every rep. I was please to see that the bar didn't travel very far when dropped, the plates barely bend, and the plates stayed on as if I had collars on the end. Impressive!
Awesome:
- Very high quality, durable plates... and drop-able! These are top notch. I've tossed, dropped, and slammed the plates... and recruited other to do the same in both low and high intensity scenarios. My plates are still solid and good to go... though Rep Fitness recommends dropping them as close to straight down as possible.
- The 10# plates are low-bounce and slightly thicker than most 10# plates in the market, specifically "HG" ones. However, if you have the traditional padded bumper plates (i.e. this one from Rogue), the Rep Fitness ones are thinner!
- The 45# bumper plates are thinner than most 45# plates in the market.
- Stainless steel inserts are heat bonded to the rubber. This makes it difficult for the inserts to pop out and hence prevent the plate from bending and folding when dropped. Apparently the bumpers have been factory tested to withstand over 12,000 drops from 8 feet!
- Max bar load of 515#. This is four 45# plates and one 10# plate on each side. You even have enough room for a clip.
- Same price as Hi-Temps and most bumper plates in the market!
Some things that could use improvement:
- The same training bumper plates in kilos? Now that I'm using the real metric system, the kilo version of these plates would be sweet! They do have "elite competition" plates that come in kilos, but those cost at least twice as much.
- A bit greasy and smelly still to this day, even after wiping them down... but that's typical with new plates. However, it's been weeks. My plates live outside as my gym is outdoors. At least they didn't dye my hands black when I first used them.
2. 90 seconds product info
3. 10# plates on a women's bar.
4. Solid hold up on it's own.
5. Thicker than most 10# plates... "HG" ones specifically.
6. ...except padded rubber bumper plates (Rogue Hi-Temp pictured, right)
5. Me warming up for snatches.
These are probably the best 10# plates I've tried to date. What an upgrade! I haven't tried their other stuff, but it seems like Rep Fitness is pretty strict with their standards, and hence produce quality products. If you're looking to buy some new solid plates, or replace broken ones, you should invest in the Rep Fitness Bumper Plates. They take up less room than most training plates in the market, are drop-able, and have a long life span. I'm hoping to get the kilo version of these plates for Christmas!
