Hyperice has been making vibration based recovery tools for the last few years (see our review on Venom and Vyper). The Hypervolt is a handheld device that applies 3 levels of powerful vibrations to areas of the body. This helps stimulate recovery (and feels great).
Battery powered and portable massage therapist
As a trainer and active outdoor athlete, I am constantly trying to find the best ways to recover from training and get more performance out of my favorite activities – splitboarding and hiking. I have spent years learning different recovery strategies. From foam rolling and trigger points to massage therapy and acupuncture. Of those strategies, only the foam roller (and other self-myofascial release tools) have been in the daily routine. Mainly because getting a massage or acupuncture take someone else to perform, and can cost a bit of money.
Hypervolt – 3 levels of powerful recovery relief
Enter the Hyperice Hypervolt. This handheld device is capable of doing some pretty awesome stuff. First, it is powerful as anything out there with up to 3200 percussions a minute. What that translates to is a very quick and smooth action that will stimulate the tissues to help improve movement and recovery.
How I used it to get the best recovery
Of the 3 settings, I find the level 1 and even level 2 are sufficient for relieving tension in even tightest of areas. When I apply the Hypervolt to my quads, I can immediately feel adhesions breaking down. Then I stick it into my hamstrings and get instant relief and feel them loosen up. On level 1, I apply it to my forearms and biceps and get them prepped for kettlebell exercises.
The lithium battery is quick to charge and will last up to 3 hours. This is plenty of time for personal use or even a small group setting. I used it during a 3-day IKFF kettlebell certification taught by the talented Ken Blackburn. Needless to say, the Hypervolt saw a lot of use! Every student and instructor took turns using it. They loved it and wanted to buy it on the spot!
How do you benefit from the Hypervolt?
I have used the Hypervolt to prep muscles and tissue before training to great effect. Doing this either before or after mobility drills seemed to help prep my body for training. After the session, I would use the Hypervolt to help relax and then stretch the muscles. On clients, I would let them use it to soothe their aches after training. Even outside of training time, I used the device. Sometimes as I was reading or watching a movie. I think the Hypervolt could be a helpful tool for anyone looking for a way to prep areas before training and to aid in recovery.
Some insight from a professional massage therapist
You read my professional opinion on the Hyperice Hypervolt, now let’s hear from someone else. I turned to my good friend Jarrett Smilie of Body Mechanix for his insights. I met Smillie at a StrongFirst SFG1 kettlebell course in 2015 and realized that he had more knowledge regarding bodywork than just about anyone I have met. And that is saying a lot! The man knows his stuff. In his words, here is his take on the Hypervolt:
My first dive into handheld vibration was with various car buffers. While I saw the benefit, I also saw that it was like a shotgun blast to an area, which can at times be very overstimulating. Especially when more direct pressure is needed.
Then I came across Jigsaw type percussion devices and their associated high prices. I thought to myself, I could just make my own and save a lot of money, and that’s just what I did! (And no, I did not just stick a golf ball onto the end of a jigsaw blade, haha, I’m not trying to scare people). Well the results were very good, except that it was: big, heavily, LOUD, could not keep a steady vibration frequency,e1, would not hold a charge long enough to last through just a couple of therapy sessions, but worst of all, I felt like the jigsaw shaft extended too far during percussions. So where the buffer vibrated but didn’t move back and forth into the muscle, the jigsaw pushed quite possibly too far into the body part being worked, which can easily be overstimulating to the area.
Just as I began to accumulate these results, Hyperice released the HyperVolt on pre-order. I was already a huge fan of their Vyper 2.0 and Hypersphere. In my opinion, there is no reason to spend less money on an inferior vibration roller. Do to my own past injuries, I often wake up with my back stiff and aching, but I can spend 30 to 60 seconds on either one of those rollers and feel 80-90% better! And sometimes I get the relief in less time. Every area that took 2-4 minutes now takes less than half the time to get the same amount of release in the soft tissue. I have had many clients purchase one or both of these as soon as they witness what they can do on my studio floor.
I saw the video and had a feeling this was the future of handheld vibration therapy! I immediately sold the two customized (and actually pretty cool) jigsaws I had made and had more than enough to place my pre-order in the first couple days of release and waited with anticipation.
As soon as I pulled it out of the box and had it in my hand I knew I had unrivaled technology. This was something unrivaled technology nicely worth the wait. As I turned it on I heard about a 10th of the noise that my jigsaw had made. It was lighter, smaller and the battery lasted much longer on a single charge. And then I checked out the shaft as it moved back and forth. The range of motion was less, just as I had expected from the company that had produced such high quality vibrating rollers. Was this device actually perfect? That had yet to be proven. What really matters is a positive therapeutic response from myself and my clients.
While the past jigsaw made many people nervous at first sight, the HyperVolt seems to always earn an immediately intrigued smile. The percussions are much smoother than I had been used to, making therapy much more tolerable on the more sensitive and overactive areas worked. That was huge because those are the areas that most often need focused work. The various tips give great variety, yet I feel that starting most areas with the flat wide tip on level 1 gets the best reaction and outcome from not only the area worked, but the client as well. Then I will change to a narrower tip and/or increase to level 2 as needed.
I’ll be getting deeper into the details of why vibration therapy is changing the world of therapy and how Vyperice got it right in a book I’m working on when I’m not helping my clients through bodywork therapy, personal training, running my beard oil company and chasing my 4 kids around.
Check out Smilie’s Facebook and website for more info on how he helps people feel better. He specializes in: Trigger Point Therapy, Vibration Therapy, FMS, Craniosacral Therapy, Medical, and Sports Massage, IASTM Myofascial Scraping, PNF and Postural Analysis. Do you now see why I reached out to him for his insights?! 🙂
Conclusion on the Hyperice Hypervolt
As you just read, the Hypervolt is an effective tool that really works. It is quiet, portable, effective, aesthetically pleasing (more so than a Frankenstein jigsaw!) device and is more cost-effective than other tools in this category. At $349, the Hyperice Hypervolt is a good deal and should serve you well.
See also –
NEXUS Fitness App and Push Band 2.0 Review – The Future of Fitness Tracking
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