“As a forefoot runner I regularly suffer from tight calves. Having played football all my life I also have old knots in my muscles which can often restrict movement. So when I was looking around for a decent but affordable massage gun I found the carbon amongst many many different options. I was happy that it had so many great reviews and that MensHealth magazine voted it as number 1. So I decided to go for it and made the purchase.
How glad I was. I used to pay good sums of money (pre-lockdown) to get a firm massage to try and iron out the tight spots but now I can do it myself. I’m able to apply as much pressure as I like (and can take!) to get right into the muscle. It worked a treat right from the start. I recently pulled up on a long run due to a very tight calf muscle. I spent a few minutes per day working on it with the muscle gun and within a few days I was able to complete a gentle run. A few more days and I completed a 16 mile off-roader. A few days after that and I’ve just completed a 7 mile hill rep session. I’m delighted that I’m able to manage the tightness myself and sadistically I love the little bit of pain too”
“If you are at least mildly serious about training or fitness, I think these are a great investment. I went for the larger (Carbon) model and it has added to and/or improved on the range of self-massage tools I have already. Lacrosse balls, foam rollers, the stick, etc. - none of them are as low-effort and accessible as this is.
I was sceptical of massage guns in general, having seen online that lots of massage therapists and physios are doubtful of their effectiveness due to a lack of research. Whilst it has since occurred to me that massage therapists have a very obvious reason for opposing the use of a device which effectively makes their services partially redundant, I have been converted and am now a huge fan of this product.
I've had this about a month now, so have had time to get to grips with it. Now for the specifics of my experience:
Pros:
- Really easy to access most muscles in a way that you can't with other massage tools. E.g. my calves are now looser than they have been since forever - whereas a foam roller or lacross ball pushes the muscle to the side (since you have to put weight on it to get any MFR effect) the Musclegun lets it remain where it is. In fact, I think calves are probably the area of my body which have benefitteed most.
- Whereas getting on the foam roller or the lacross ball is unappealing - you get a sweat on sometimes, have to get in awkward positions, need floor space, etc. - this can have a similar effect with none of the difficulty. Really makes it more appealing to do the soft tissue work you inevitably will need to do if you train even casually. You can even do it whilst you watch TV or scroll through Insta, whatever it is your prefer.
- Good selection of attachments for different purposes. Personally I most heavily use the 'bullet' because it focusses the gun's power on a smaller area and therefore is more effective at working out tight spots.
- It's actually pretty powerful. I rarely need to go to the top setting (5) to get the stimulus I need. 4 is usually good and 3 will do the trick for sensitive spots.
- The ease of use has enabled me to work out tightness in muscles which I didn't even know was there, and, in turn, prompted me to learn more about anatomy and muscle function. E.g. I'd never massaged my TFL before but have since started to address it, which has helped me work through some nagging knee pain I've had.
- Don't be fooled by the 'made in China' label. The build quality is great. It feels really sturdy in the hand and has a nice weight to it without being too heavy. Despite the vigorous, repetitive motion of the motor it does not feel like it will shake itself apart.
- Great packaging, presentation and storage case.
- Warranty is a nice bonus and did help convince me to buy.
- Relatively good battery. Definitely lasts for quite a few sessions depending on how heavily you use it. Recharges in a few hours too. Haven't measured either of these but they haven't been so short/long that it's bothered me.
Cons:
- There's an auto-off function built in which you can't disable. So if you use it long enough (maybe 10-15 mins? I haven't timed it) it will just turn off for you.
- The app that they advertise is not really that useful. It does the job but seems to mostly just cover light massage (like you might do after a workout or run) to help with DOMS, rather than getting into knots to create lasting change in tight muscles, which is what I think most people want for.
- It's quite difficult to use this on your back. You could get someone else to do it for you but then they wouldn't know where the tight spots were.
- I had hoped to use this on my shoulders and neck (desk job issues) but anything above the chest is just uncomfortable because the force of the device just rattles your skull.
- The massage oil is effective but not to the extent that I'd pay £30 for a small bottle of it (when I purchased it was advertised as £30 off the gun plus free massage oil, worth £30). So this just feels a bit of a hollow sales tactic to me, but not that bad as I do feel the gun is good value at £200.
That's pretty much it. Overall I'm very impressed and would definitely recommend if you train in any sport/activity whatsoever and are at least mildly interested in improving your mobility and recovery, or helping with pain. Supplement this with your own research or intuition (i.e. just getting amongst it) into which muscles to use it on, and also keep stretching and doing other mobility work. All in all a great purchase!”
