THIS IS NOT A DRILL
A trendy high-tech fitness ‘gun’ is helping sculp the bods of New York workout fiends
FLEXING your guns in front of the mirror at the gym? So last year, bro! At hot workout studios and on social media, New York’s fitness elites are all about flashing another type of gun: a $599 massagerlike device called the TheraGun that promises quicker recovery and better workout performance.
The pricey status symbol is “like having the iPhone X,” says Louis Choi, 30, a product-development manager who lives in the Theater District. Choi bought one for himself almost immediately after trying it out a few months ago at Tone House, an intense circuit-training workout studio in the Flatiron District.
“We talk about it in the locker room,” says Choi. “There are a few guys who will bring it in their gym bags, and ... everyone will ask [about it].”
Dudes especially dig its Home Depot-esque design.
“It looks like a power tool!” says Tone House's chiropractor and early TheraGun adopter Kamraan Husain.
With an exclusive price tag and
serious cool cred, the guns have become the device du jour among Manhattan’s musclemen. But fans say that the TheraGun’s benefits make it more than just a trend.
LA-based chiropractor Jason Wersland invented the machine 10 years ago after a motorcycle accident left him with a herniated disc. He set out to alleviate his pain and ended up with the original prototype for the TheraGun.
The device combines pressure, like the kind you’d get from a massage or a foam roller, with vibration, which Wersland says can stimulate the nervous system. The result is a tool that, according to Wersland, can flush out lactic acid, improve circulation and reduce pain, providing immediate relief for tired, post-workout muscles.
He began using it on his clients and then selling it to fellow chiropractors for use on athletes. Now, the machines are sold directly to consumers and are ubiquitous at fitness studios around the city. That’s thanks, in part, to the NBA. During last year’s finals, thenCleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving hobbled to the bench, wincing. The cameras caught a trainer gunning Irving’s back before he went back into the game.
“The players were like, ‘Hold up, if Kyrie Irving is using it, why aren’t we?’ ” says New York Knicks director of performance Mubarak Malik. So the Knicks bought five TheraGuns, which they now use during every practice and game.
“We keep a gun on the bench,” says Malik, who will use it on players’ backs, arms and legs while they chill on the sidelines. “You can’t predict the substitutions and the patterns and strategy during the game, so all you can do is keep the muscles warm. And one of those ways is with a TheraGun.”
It’s recommended that the gun be used for 20 to 30 seconds on each body part, for a total of two to three minutes a day.
There are other gunlike devices that blend pressure and vibration, but they’re typically far more expensive and meant for in-office professional use — the Hyperice Raptor, for example, retails for $3,499 and must be plugged in, while the TheraGun runs on a battery.
Shom Chowdhury, the global director of health and wellness at Soho House, was an early adopter, purchasing his first TheraGun a couple of years ago.
Chowdhury, 43, who lives in Chelsea, now owns three guns, stashing one at his brother’s place to use during his regular visits. But when he first starting posting videos of himself using it on Instagram, friends were skeptical.
“I ride motorcycles, and the guys I ride with would be like, ‘I don’t want to see pictures of you vibrating yourself — I’m going to unfollow you,’ ” Chowdhury says.
Now, he estimates that at least 20 of his friends own TheraGuns.
“[It] went from people asking me, ‘What is that stupid vibrator you have?’ to ‘Where can I get one?’ ” he says.
“We just [built a Soho House] in Amsterdam, and we’re going to have four onsite for use,” Chowdhury says. (Soho House’s Manhattan location doesn’t have a gym, hence no TheraGuns.)
They’re also popular at elite downtown weighttraining gym S10, according to its owner, Stephen Cheuk. He keeps four guns at the front desk for clients, although he estimates that 50 percent of his regulars just buy their own after falling for the contraption.
“There’s definitely a big wow factor,” Cheuk says. “Joe Jonas comes here: I used it on him, and then he bought one for himself. Diplo travels a lot, so he has one that he travels with.”
Despite its flashy appeal, physical therapist Wendy Winn warns that the gun isn’t a cure-all.
“Muscle soreness [occurs] because you tear your muscles while you’re working out,” she says. Better circulation can speed up blood flow to those microtears, but the TheraGun doesn’t heal them.
“If you love it, great,” says Winn. “There’s no downside. I just want to make sure the expectations are managed.”
It’s a warning that’s lost on some, for whom ponying up $600 is proof of badass dedication — or at least the appearance of it.
“If you bring one to Tone House,” says Choi, “it kinda says, ‘Hey, I’m a serious athlete.’ ”