M80 Roller Review

Through my awesome local Arizona running group, RunEatTweetAZ, I was recently given a M80 Roller to review.  I was actually given it the day before running the Phoenix Marathon, perfect timing right?!  I was so incredibly sore the days following the race, but was up and running pain-free merely 4 days later, and honestly I think I owe it to the M80. 

This thing packs so much punch into its 15" surface.  It's way different from traditional foam rollers because it is a plastic PVC pipe covered in thick foam ridges.  The plastic pipe helps the foam dig deeper and really gave a deep tissue like massage to my weary muscles.

 It is also available in a smaller 6" size and a larger 30" size, but I love the 15" one the best.  It's large enough to target all my leg and back muscles, but the size is compact so it is easily portable.  Or, if you're like me, you'll just keep it in your living room all the time.  Out of site out of mind, I need to see this so I'll use the roller on the daily. 

On their website, the M80 claims to "cut recovery time in half" and I believe this with me 100%.  Following the Phoenix Marathon, it was so darn painful to walk down stairs and forget about getting up from a seated or squatted position, no way, no going to happen, and not even worth it!  to aid in my recovery, I did about 15-30 minutes of yoga daily, followed immediately by 15 minutes of stretching and rolling using the M80 roller.  I had so much pain in my Quads so I spent the most time rolling those out, along the front and sides and then would roll all the way down my legs.

This is the toughest roller I have ever used, but it is by far the most effective.  I was worried at first that because the center was a PVC pipe and that the pressure the roller put on my legs was so intense (in a good way!) that it would leave me all bruised up.  I didn't get a single bruise from using this and in fact, it really did feel like I was getting a pretty amazing deep tissue like massage.  Lets not kid ourselves here though, I was still rolling out my muscles, so it still hurt, no it didn't feel like a trip to a luxury spa!  However, through gritted teeth, I was able to massage out everything, knowing that I was aiding in my recovery process.

While training for my first marathon I was sidelined several times with intense IT and knee pain  I only wish I had known about the M80 roller while nursing these injuries, as I am sure it would have helped tremendously in either preventing them, or getting me back on my feet sooner.

So thank you https://www.facebook.com/pages/Run-Eat-Tweet-AZ/1456447144643065?fref=tsRunEatTweetAZ and M80Roller for the awesome hook up!!  My non-sore legs thank you too!  IF you'd like to get your hands (And legs lol) on one of these sweet rollers for yourself, RunEatTweetAZ is giving away a roller everyday this week on their Facebook page!  Hope on over there an win one for yourself!!