Rogue Hi Temp Bumper Plates Review

Rogue Fitness Hi Temp bumper plates are the workhorse of the fitness world. They’re rugged bumpers made right here in the USA out of recycled rubber, best suited for high-rep work involving lots of drops on abrasive surfaces like concrete.

If you need bumper plates to use outside and you don’t mind paying a little extra for quality equipment made in the USA, the Hi Temps are a great option.

Specifications

Rogue Bumper Plates by Hi Temp specs:

• Made in the USA from Crumb Rubber (Recycled Vulcanized Rubber)
• Diameter: 17.5”
• Plate Widths: See chart below
• Durometer: 75
• Weight Tolerance: +/- 0.5LB
• 2” Stainless Steel Insert
• Inset Collar Design to reduce friction
• Color: Black w/ Rogue and Hi-Temp logos
• 1 Year Warranty after purchase

Procurement

I like saving money, so I’m always scouring the used market for deals on gear.

I have several search alerts set up on Craigslist for specific keywords, including “bumper plates”. Because of the search alerts, I get notified as soon as someone posts a new listing in my area that meets my search alert criteria.

Someone posted these Rogue Hi Temps for sale, and thanks to the search alert I was able to jump on them as soon as they were listed.

These plates had not been used before, which was unfortunate for the seller but great for me because I got a good deal on 160lbs of plates.

Incidentally, using Craigslist search alerts can be a great help for building your home gym at a discount, as long as you have the patience to wait for someone to post what you need.

Impressions

The Rogue Hi Temp Bumper Plates are the first crumb rubber plates I’ve owned. In case you’re not familiar with crumb rubber, this term basically means recycled rubber that’s been shredded, mixed with polymers, and compressed into into a new form.

The recycled rubber composition is really evident when looking at the texture up close – I can see all the little pieces of shredded rubber that make up the plate.

Rogue Hi Temp bumper plates are not pretty plates, certainly not as nice looking as virgin rubber bumper plates.

But who cares about that! These are bumper plates, not dinner plates. How it looks is secondary to how well it performs.

They’re also wicked thick. Virgin rubber is much denser than recycled rubber, so crumb rubber plates are going to be thicker and take up more room on the bar.

Not a big deal, unless you can hoist more than four plates per side. If that’s you, you’ll probably want to look at competition plates or even iron plates instead you beast!

Another factor to consider when looking at crumb rubber plates like Rogue Hi Temps is their increased amount of bounce over virgin rubber.

Virgin rubber plates have less bounce to the ounce, but make a louder racket when hitting the floor. All that momentum has to go somewhere kimosabe. The laws of physics will not be denied.

In comparison, crumb rubber plates will bounce higher with less sound, and also bounce more unpredictably.

Take a look at my profoundly unscientific drop test in the video below to see what I mean. Notice the difference in sound, height, and direction of bounce for each plate.

I want to stress that none of this is inherently bad, it’s just worth knowing if you’re looking at buying Rogue Hi Temps, or any crumb rubber plates for that matter.

The upside of the extra bounciness and the rugged makeup of the Hi Temps is that they can be used on almost any surface, including concrete, and for the most part will look the same after dropping them a hundred times as they did when you first got them.

One last thing that occurred to me is that these plates are completely lacking in any kind of noxious rubber smell, which I appreciate because I can keep these plates inside my house without driving off my wife and pets.

Virgin rubber bumper plates typically have a long off-gassing period where the rubber sheds strong-smelling compounds that can stink up your house. Recycled rubber often has a strong smell too, as anyone who has bought recycled rubber mats to use in their home gym can attest to.

I don’t know how Hi Temp managed to do it, but these plates are almost completely free of rubber smell*. Good job Hi Temp!

*NOTE – The lack of smell may be because I bought them used and they had sufficient time to air out. I’ve heard from others that they do have a noticeable “tire” smell when purchased new. 

Real world use

So far I’ve been using the Rogue Hi Temp bumper plates mainly for powerlifting, and they work just fine.

However, if powerlifting was all I ever intended to do with them I wouldn’t have bought them. Hi Temps are relatively expensive as far as bumper plates go, and the thicker width means that less of them will fit on a standard barbell. A serious powerlifter would be better off with virgin rubber plates, or better yet, iron plates.

Hi Temps are specifically made to take abuse, so they’re really meant for Olympic lifts and high-rep WODs where a weighted bar will be dropped on a regular basis.

I’m currently learning how to perform Olympic lifts like the clean, jerk, and snatch, which I practice in my garage on the occasions when I don’t have a car parked in it. The floor of my garage is bare concrete, and I specifically bought the Hi Temps to use in there without having to lay down any extra padding.

I have no complaints so far, but I’ll likely revisit this review in 6 to 12 months to update this section with a progress report to see how well they’ve held up.

EDIT – the plates have held up fine, but I’ve found I don’t use them as much since I bought a set of Rogue competition bumper plates off Craigslist.

Bottom line

Rogue Fitness Hi Temp bumper plates can be used and abused in the most demanding home fitness settings and will likely outlast your will to use them. They’re a good investment for any home gym but they’re best suited for high-rep work that involves lots of drops on concrete.

Olympic lifting and CrossFit WODs come to mind, but these are overkill for good ol’ fashioned powerlifting.

If you need some plates to use outside and you don’t mind paying a little extra for gear made in the USA, the Hi Temps are a great option. They will last you a long time and the resale value on these is very high in case you ever decide to sell them.

Pros

• Made in the USA, not a Chinese import
• Practically indestructible
• Quieter bounce than virgin rubber
• Recessed stainless steel insert protects the collar from damage

Cons

• More expensive than virgin rubber plates
• Higher, more erratic bounce than virgin rubber plates
• Thicker width means less room available on barbell sleeves
• Not the same diameter as competition plates (slightly smaller)
• 10’s and 15’s will not hold up to drops (but c’mon, are you really gonna drop a bar with only 10’s or 15’s on it?)

Got any questions about the Rogue Hi Temps? Put it in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer you!