Recovery and mobility products are heavily promoted, and anybody who sees enough sports-related advertising can attest to it. At the show, it was readily apparent too, with many of those types of companies exhibiting their wares in the Fitness & Instruction area of the floor. One that I recognized and wanted to visit was Hyperice.1
When Hyperice started, they only had an ice/compression wrap in their line up. Since then, they’ve expanded to multiple different categories of warm-up and recovery products. They had most of these products on display for you to demo, even to the extent of setting up one of those kneeling-style massage chairs where you could have your back worked on with a Hypervolt. Chatting with one of the reps, he explained to me that Hyperice’s products are split into four categories: cold, heat, vibration and percussion.
ICT
Interestingly enough, the cold therapy products that the company started with — and got its namesake from — were not on display at the show. The ICT line, or Ice Compression Technology, uses the combination of compression and ice to help reduce inflammation from activity. The ICT line uses a neoprene wrap that connects to an ice pack they call an Ice Cell. You fill the Ice Cell with ice, then with a patented air release valve, remove the extra air (you can see the process in their video here). After that, you slip the Ice Cell into the neoprene sleeve and attach it to your body. Since the Ice Cell is separate, you can throw the neoprene sleeve into the washing machine. It comes in five versions for different parts of the body: ICT Knee, ICT Utility (which can be used for ankles, elbows, wrists, etc.), Back,2 ICT Left Shoulder and ICT Right Shoulder.
MSRP: ICT Knee: $90, ICT Utility: $75, Back: $110, ICT Left Shoulder: $100, ICT Right Shoulder: $100
Venom
The Venom line is the heat and vibration version of the ICT line. Using the same neoprene style wraps for compression, instead of an Ice Cell insert, it has a module that produces heat and vibration that lets you warm up, loosen and soothe your muscles. Depending on the intensity of the heat and vibration combo, a single charge can provide between two and three hours of use. It comes in four versions: Venom Back, Venom Leg (pictured above), Venom Left Shoulder and Venom Right Shoulder. All are priced the same.
MSRP: $249
Hypersphere
Continuing the vibration part of mobility and recovery, the Hypersphere can be used in various myofascial release exercises to sooth or loosen up muscles. It features a 30w motor and has three levels of intensity. It comes in all black or a black/green version.
MSRP: $149
Hypersphere Mini
The Hypersphere Mini is the same as its big brother, with the exception that it uses a 10w motor and only comes in black.
MSRP: $99
Hypervolt
The Hypervolt introduces the final product category: percussion. Percussion massage helps loosens up muscles before activity and soothes sore muscles afterward. It features a whisper-quiet motor that they call Quiet Glide. As a side note, walking past the other companies that had percussion devices on display, you could hear them operating from quite a ways away. You could barely hear the Hypervolt operating, even when you were right next to it. For something that is supposed to help you relax and loosen up, this seems like a big plus. A single charge gives you around three hours of use and it comes with five different heads for use on different styles of massage.
MSRP: $349
Hypervolt Plus
The Plus version of the Hypervolt has all the same features as the non-Plus version but comes with a more powerful motor. Because of this, the battery life is slightly shorter at only two and a half hours.
MSRP: $399
You can learn more about Hyperice’s full line of products on their site, hyperice.com.
My full-time job has always been in the IT world, but I’ve also spent the better part of a decade writing product reviews and helping cover large industry-only trade shows. It was only in the latter part of 2019 that I put two and two together and realized I should be doing the same thing for something I’ve loved my whole life — golf. This is the culmination of a hobby that started as a child, a hobby that turned into a passion as an adult, and finally a passion that turned into The Golden Ferret.
