Review: New Rogue Collar

[Lawrence "Bo" Boland III]

Bill, of Rogue Fitness, was gracious enough to send out a few of his new collars to people that responded to a post on his Facebook page. He wanted to test them in the real world, and get the word out (like most of his new products).

I received my new collars about a week ago, and here is my initial assessment.

Pros:
- Very tight clamping. This baby feels way more solid that the Lockjaw clamps I have.
- All one piece. No pin means easy attachment.
- No slippage. I've done a high rep deadlift workout and high rep cleans workout, and all the dropping did not cause the collars to slip outward at all. This is a great thing.

Cons:
- Being a very tight clamp, it is tough to unlock. My training partner is a woman, and she says "Anyone with any nails is not going to like these". I haven't found them to be too bad, but have snapped my fingers into them when disengaging.
- Along with being slightly difficult to unlock, you actually have to pay attention to the orientation that you put these on the bar. What I mean is... there is only 1 way to take this off (in my opinion). You put your thumb on the red release switch, push down, and pull up with your fingers on the other part. If you only use your dominant hand to unlock it, you might have to walk to the other side of the bar to get the correct grip. I admit, this is a bit of a silly complaint, but there it is.

Overall Impression: These things are beasts. I surely haven't done enough overhead work and dropping of the bar to fully test these yet, but I highly recommend them for someone looking for an absolutely solid collar. Another solid product from Bill.

[Trevor Wallace]

They look like great clips. Thanks for the review.

[Casey Dupre]

Originally Posted by Lawrence "Bo" Boland III

Bill, of Rogue Fitness, was gracious enough to send out a few of his new collars to people that responded to a post on his Facebook page. He wanted to test them in the real world, and get the word out (like most of his new products).

I received my new collars about a week ago, and here is my initial assessment.

Pros:
- Very tight clamping. This baby feels way more solid that the Lockjaw clamps I have.
- All one piece. No pin means easy attachment.
- No slippage. I've done a high rep deadlift workout and high rep cleans workout, and all the dropping did not cause the collars to slip outward at all. This is a great thing.

Cons:
- Being a very tight clamp, it is tough to unlock. My training partner is a woman, and she says "Anyone with any nails is not going to like these". I haven't found them to be too bad, but have snapped my fingers into them when disengaging.
- Along with being slightly difficult to unlock, you actually have to pay attention to the orientation that you put these on the bar. What I mean is... there is only 1 way to take this off (in my opinion). You put your thumb on the red release switch, push down, and pull up with your fingers on the other part. If you only use your dominant hand to unlock it, you might have to walk to the other side of the bar to get the correct grip. I admit, this is a bit of a silly complaint, but there it is.

Overall Impression: These things are beasts. I surely haven't done enough overhead work and dropping of the bar to fully test these yet, but I highly recommend them for someone looking for an absolutely solid collar. Another solid product from Bill.

I was one of the lucky ones to receive a set of these babies. I second Bo's pro's and con's. I find it is easier to use two hands when releasing the collar as it prevents the collar (and bar) from spinning while trying to push the red button.

[David Luu]

So what's the difference btwn the new HG collars and the old Lock-Jaw collars? The old ones are on sale at Rogue. Are the new ones that much better and worth the price?

How do they compare to the Muscle Clamps?

[Tom Seryak]

I picked up a Rogue bar last Friday and did "Fran" with the new clamps that Bill threw in with my purchase. I was intentionally "launching" the bar at the top of my last thrusters to see how well the clamps would hold. I did notice a little bit of slippage, but I think this may have been due to the oil that comes on new bars Help me out here Bill, is there an oil that comes on new bars that wears off over time? I will say this, it appears that these clamps are much stronger than anything else that I have used. The muscle clamps that we have are easy to put on and take off, but as far as "clamping", they kind of suck. Our spring collars do a better job of clamping than the muscle clamps. I don't care that the Rogue collars are harder to release. They're not that hard actually, but i can see some people with weak fingershaving some issues. It's definitely worth spending a few extra $$ to have a clamp that actually works. Thanks Bill!

[William Henniger]

Tom:

It is the oil from the new bars you picked up, there is some residue on the bar when they are brand new. I would just wipe down the sleeves and now the collars with some rubbing alcohol.

Once cleaned and/or dry they should be fine.

How did the bars hold up to the abuse?

Bill

[Tom Seryak]

Originally Posted by William Henniger

Tom:

It is the oil from the new bars you picked up, there is some residue on the bar when they are brand new. I would just wipe down the sleeves and now the collars with some rubbing alcohol.

Once cleaned and/or dry they should be fine.

How did the bars hold up to the abuse?

Bill

The bars are fantastic, myself and clients are very happy, so I'm sure that you will see me again soon. There is something about that burner bar that I am really attracted to, the rawness of it i guess...

[Robert Britt Freund]

Originally Posted by Tom Seryak

The bars are fantastic, myself and clients are very happy, so I'm sure that you will see me again soon. There is something about that burner bar that I am really attracted to, the rawness of it i guess...

I agree 100% about the Burner bar. Something about raw steel...

Regards,
brittf