Hyperice Vyper: For this reporter, the Hyperice Vyper is the most useful and valued fitness gadget I’ve ever owned, let alone reviewed. I get my hands on many such devices. Some seem like they could be useful for some applications. Some seem far-fetched or too specific in application. The Vyper is life changing.
The concept is simple. The Vyper is a high quality foam roller that will fit in any good size gym bag. By itself, it’s perfectly useful for stretching and kneading out tight muscles before, during or after a workout. But, the Vyper (I admit I don’t get the name as there’s not a lot of fitness or therapeutic connotations to venomous snakes, but…) employs the current fitness phenomena of high frequency vibration. There is no ice involved as that refers only to the brand name.
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A rechargeable battery powers three settings of vibration. For therapeutic purposes, we’ll call them Pleasant, Getting Serious and I’m Going to Die. I prefer the third option as, once the pain subsides, the vibration loosens muscles, relieves cramps, disperses lactic acid and greatly improves blood flow.
I pulled a hamstring while amateur sparring and expected to miss the better part of a month while doing nothing but upper body weight work because of the potential pain. Using the Vyper every day, I recovered in a week and was back to sparring. In these parts, it’s worth the $200 price tag.
Sensoria: Making a wide range of fitness tracking devices and wearables, Sensoria builds tools for the serious exercising enthusiasts. From Fitness Socks to its Sports Bra and T-Shirt (rigged for the detachable Sensoria heart rate monitor and answering to a free app), the Sensoria lines takes a little time to learn and adjust — but the result is worth it. The results are solid, providing detailed training tools.
POWERHANDZ: The unique design of these training gloves looks to make your hands stronger and quicker by temporarily making the slower and slipperier. Form fitting and carefully weighted from wrist to fingertips, the heaviness increases overall strength and dexterity. Hands are naturally faster once the athlete removes them. The gloves also have a slightly slippery surface, encouraging the wearer to grip more tightly and improve finger strength.
The POWERHANDZ gloves come equipped for multiple sports including basketball, football, baseball and softball. The only sport that I’d recommend caution for with the POWERHANDZ is golf. You don’t want a stronger grip in golf as the game calls for the effective player to hold the club like a baby bird. Powerful hands and that game don’t mix.
Pickle Juice: Fair enough. A shot of Pickle Juice is not a scientific or technological gadget. However, there’s plenty of science that goes into Pickle Juice, so we include it here. That science states that the neutrients from that jar of pickles includes electrolytes, sodium, potassium and magnesium in more concentrated form than sports drinks. The science on that is not disputed.
The Pickle Juice shots let you take some concentrated, enhanced green juice with you to prevent cramps instead of carrying a jar of dill spears in your gym bag. Does it work? I didn’t cramp up while working out after trying a shot. Maybe it helped. But I wasn’t attacked by a tiger either, so maybe Pickle Juice defends against big cats, too. The point is it’s difficult to attest to what a product prevents from happening. More testing is in order here to see if the product really counters or prevents cramps, but we’ll rely on the science to recommend trying it.
