If you’re building your home gym and are contemplating whether to pick American Barbell vs Rogue – you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll compare the two brands in all aspects and help you make your decision much easier. Let’s get started!
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Don’t Want To Wait? Here’s Our Verdict…
We believe that both brands are two of the best fitness manufacturers out there. However, if you’re just after top-quality individual products, then American Barbell represents the better option. Their barbells are better than Rogue’s, especially the competitive ones.
Rogue does have more products and thus more variety, though. They have an impressive selection of apparel options as well as rigs and racks – this is an area where American Barbell can still improve in.
American Barbell Review
American Barbell is a manufacturing company producing fitness equipment for both individual users and commercial gyms. They have been active since 1978, and one of their biggest strengths is the quality of equipment they produce.
The vast majority of their products are designed and manufactured in the US. Throughout their history, they have reached many milestones where they were the first company to achieve things.
In 1998, they were the first company to provide the first hard chrome Olympic bar; in 2012, they started producing high-quality urethane bumper plates – they were one of the first companies to step into that market.
All of their products are of a very high level of quality. No matter which product or category you go for, you’ll always find a top-quality product in there. That’s why they have been one of the biggest providers of equipment for commercial gyms like Gold’s Gym, Planet Fitness, and World Gym.
American Barbell’s Bars
To start this review off, let’s take a look at some of their products and see how they rank against other companies.
When you’re buying a barbell for your home gym, it’s crucial to look at the quality of a product. American Barbell excels at that. You’ll find many bars professional lifters use for their training and even competitive barbells, so if they are good enough for those lifters, they are surely great for your home gym, too.
You can buy generalistic bars that will do it all, or go for very specific bars that are made for a specific purpose. Here are the types of bars they are offering:
- Functional training bars
- Gym bars
- Olympic bars
- Power bars
- Specialty bars
- T-Grip bars
- Technique bars
The American Barbell Training Bar is a very good bar that will do it all for you, as well as the Cerakote Training Bar. If you’re looking for a stainless steel bar, then American Barbell have one of the best stainless steel bars out there. In fact, American Barbell was perhaps one of the first companies to produce stainless steel bars, even before Rogue.
They also have premium Olympic bars. Their stainless steel bearing bar is perhaps the best bar out there for Olympic lifters, hands down. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better competitive barbell. And while the price might seem steep at the start, they offer a nice monthly payment plan, making it more affordable for the average consumer.
There is also a wide array of choices when it comes to specialty bars and T-bars. Compared to Rogue, there is perhaps not as much variety in their offerings, but the quality of American Barbell bars is on another level – not just to Rogue, but to most other companies, too.
Weights
This is where American Barbell excels, we think. Not only do they have much more to offer in terms of variety compared to Rogue, but also in terms of quality.
Firstly, you’ll find some very neat bumper plates with American Barbell. Their urethane bumper plates are arguably their best weights option, there are also some very high-quality rubber bumper plates that will complete your home gym.
American Barbell was the first company in the US to start producing urethane bumper plates. Since then, many have followed suit, including Rogue. These urethane plates are made from German urethane, which is one of the most resistant types of urethane out there. This is a big advantage urethane plates have over rubber plates.
In addition to bumper plates, American Barbell have a nice selection of other weights. These include:
- Commercial dumbbells
- Dumbbells
- Kettlebells
- Olympic plates
- Technique plates
American Barbell have more to offer in terms of variety than Rogue, but also in terms of quality. If you’re looking for urethane bumper plates, then you simply can’t look past American Barbell.
Racks and Rigs
No home gym would be complete without racks and additional rigs to hold your equipment. And American Barbell has a lot of those on offer.
They don’t have as much variety as Rogue in this regard, though. But what they do have is still of premium quality.
You’ll find all sorts of racks with American Barbell, including racks for home gyms as well as professional lifting. You’ll find simple products like squat stands, or more complex rigs that will make your gym more complete.
Again, they might not have as much on offer as Rogue, but what they do have is on a very high level.
Other Equipment
So that covers the majority of their products, but they also have many complementing products to help you build an impressive home gym.
If you want, you can build custom weights and create custom products so that you can freely choose the weights you want to have. This is great if you want to insert some branding onto the weights, but that’s more appropriate for commercial gyms.
There are also many additional accessories on offer, though. You’ll find everything you need here for conditioning and strength, including:
- Slam balls, wall balls, medicine balls
- Strength bands, resistance tubes
- Benches
- GHD
- Jump ropes
- Plyo boxes
- Rings
- Ropes
- Sleds
And much more.
That’s a lot of stuff to choose from!
Pros of American Barbell
- Top-notch barbells for all purposes and strength levels
- Some of the best weights currently on the market, including urethane weights
- An impressive array of additional equipment
- Consumer-friendly pricing and payment options (including monthly installments)
- Safe and reliable company to buy from
- Top equipment in all areas
- Equipment leasing
- Custom weights and expert gym design
American Barbell Cons
- Not as much choice in the racks and rigs department as with Rogue
- Not as much variety in terms of barbells
- Great for buying individual plates, but not so good for buying complete packages
Rogue Review
So, what about Rogue then?
You’ve probably already heard about Rogue if you’re in the fitness industry. It all started in 2006 when Bill Henniger launched Rogue from his garage – since then, the company has outgrown his garage and his local town.
Today, Rogue is widely regarded as one of the best companies in the fitness industry. They offer a wide range of gym products, from barbells, weights, to rigs and racks, and they also provide complete solutions for both home gyms and commercial gyms.
Rogue’s Barbells
As we’ve already mentioned, Rogue has a more diverse catalog of barbells compared to American Barbell. You’ll find anything from training bars to powerlifting bars, T-bars, to even custom bars you can build yourself.
The quality is undoubtedly on a very high level. They are probably in the top bracket of companies in terms of their barbells.
However, we still think American Barbell edge out Rogue in terms of quality, but only by a very tiny margin. This is especially true for competitive barbells, but also for training bars. Their stainless steel bars are superior to Rogue’s, although there is more variety in terms of looks and branding with Rogue.
There’s a lot more to choose from with Rogue. Whether it’s training bars, cerakote bars, professional bars, or custom bars, Rogue just has more products on offer compared to American Barbell.
Weights
If you’re looking purely for plates, then Rogue has a fantastic array of options for you to choose from. But American Barbell here wins in terms of variety, as they have many other products in addition to bumper plates, including dumbbells, kettlebells, technique plates, and Olympic plates.
Rogue’s plates are fantastic, too. They also have urethane plates, but American Barbell was really the first company to incorporate them and start producing them. Rogue offers steel plates, urethane plates, and rubber plates.
Rigs and Racks
If you want to build a complete gym with additional racks and all-in-one solutions, Rogue is probably your choice here. They have much more variety in terms of racks and rigs, especially for home gym owners.
American Barbell does have some rigs and racks on their own, but they just can’t compete with Rogue’s offering here. This is one area where Rogue does win out in this comparison, we believe.
Other Equipment
Rogue is more than just a fitness equipment manufacturer – they are a large brand, and just like other large brands, they have several types of branding products and accessories to help them spread their brand.
Of course, they offer anything from rowing machines to medicine balls and gymnastic rings. But they also offer branding apparel and shoes.
In terms of apparel, Rogue’s offering is incredible. This is another area where Rogue wins out, although it might not be as important for those who are looking for the best gym equipment possible.
Pros of Rogue
- High-quality barbells and a diverse catalog of bars
- Great bumper plates and weights
- An incredible variety of rigs and racks, including complete solutions
- An impressive selection of apparel and branding products
- Free shipping for orders over $5k and on select items
- Great support
Cons of Rogue
- Their bars are of a slightly lower level of quality compared to American Barbell
- Lagging behind AB in the weights department
Final Thoughts
Choosing between two of the biggest fitness companies in the world is never easy. Both Rogue and American Barbell have an incredibly impressive catalog of products.
If you’re purely after top-quality products, then American Barbell probably has more in their locker. Their barbells are on a different level, and their weights are fantastic, too. Rogue has more variety in their offerings, though. So if you need more variety in terms of looks, then Rogue is also a great choice.
