The Rogue Rhino vs The Squatmax-MD - Battle of the Two Best Belt Squats
My days of placing a heavy barbell on my back are behind me (no pun intended). However, I love squatting heavy and squatting close to failure. For many years, I used the Titan Fitness loading pin, a couple of cinder blocks, and the Spud Inc Belt Squat Belt. Eventually, I upgraded from cinder blocks to 12" plyometric boxes. The plyometric boxes offered a more stable base of support than the cinder blocks and this DIY belt squat served me well for about 4-5 years. I remained injury free and saw my top sets get so heavy that I ran out of room on the loading pin.
When it was time to upgrade from my DIY belt squat, I looked at all the belt squats on the market and I even placed an order for the Titan Belt Squat. However, if I was going to go big and take up a lot of space in my garage, I wanted to get the best. As a result, I cancelled my order for the Titan Belt Squat and completely dismissed any of the lever belt squat options as the line of drive is not vertical. Ultimately, I narrowed my choices down to the Rogue Rhino and Squatmax-MD. Considering my DIY belt squat set up was somewhat similar to the Squatmax, I opted to go with the Rhino.
When I received the Rhino I was impressed by the quality of the machine. The Rhino stood out as being the nicest most overbuilt piece of equipment among all my other pieces. After using the Rhino for a few workouts, I declared it was my favorite piece of home gym equipment. Not only is the Rhino great for belt squats, but it's also great for lunges, calf raises, bicep curls and more!
The home gym journey never seems to end and after having the Rhino for a year, the Squatmax started calling my name again. On multiple occasions, I tried to talk myself out of buying a second belt squat; unfortunately, the urge was too strong and the Squatmax was ordered and on the way.
In this video I compare the Rogue Rhino and the Squatmax-MD. I argue they are the two best belt squats on the market...especially at their price-points.
At the time of this blog post,the below YouTube video is about two months old. I will tell you now, everytime I use the Squatmax, I like it more and more. Consequently, the Squatmax is creeping closer and closer to being my favorite belt squat. I appreciate the Squatmax base model includes a seat for box squats and the Transformer Pin for added variety. Furthermore, the Squatmax has an awesome chest-supported row add-on and an amazing hip thrust add-on.