RESPECT THE PROCESS — Making a Rogue Barbell in the USA
How BADASS is this barbell manufacturing video from the leader in CrossFit / Olympic weightlifting equipment, ROGUE Fitness? I don’t know about you guys, but this to me is what being a ‘maker’ is truly all about. If you don’t get emotional watching this, you aren’t human - period!
This short four-minute clip captures the elegant symphony of the metallurgical and manufacturing process that goes into every single one of ROGUE’s indestructible barbells — which are designed and built specifically to take a beating during high volume, high intensity Olympic style heavy lifts. The process of going from A to B to make a seemingly simple object like the standard barbell might be hidden from the consumer’s eyes, and the craftsmanship of the manufacturing is all too often underappreciated by the ‘suits’ of the Wall Street business community. ROGUE does a great job showing the elegance that’s involved in the manufacturing process for what it is — art. Remember that the next time you pick up a product and take for granted, and consider where those individual parts came from, because the process behind their creation makes ALL the difference between something of quality and something that’s been lazily slapped together in an effort to squeeze a few pennies out of each unit to boost the bottom line.
The founder of ROGUE, Bill Henniger, was working as an industrial engineer at General Motors’ powertrain factory in Toldedo when he first dreamed up the brand: “There was something about metal that just sang to him. He loved figuring out how to shape it and make things out of it. Shipping other people’s barbells and bumper plates made him want to forge his own wares and make them better, indestructible and impervious to CrossFit’s relentless brunt force and load.” (quoted from ‘Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of Crossfit and the Primal Future of Fitness’ by J.C. Herz).
This is a perfect example of how taking something simple, but doing it extremely well, can often lead to breakthroughs.