The Pro-Tec Athletics The Y Roller Contoured Foam Roller is a 15.5 inch roller with contoured lines on it, for muscle massage. How does it compare with other similar rollers?


First, let's talk about why people tend to use rollers. The idea is to massage a targeted muscle group to loosen it up. Muscles form knots in them with use. The roller helps to work those out. It also helps to flush toxins out of the muscles. So a good exercise routine would involve using a roller each day.

It then also makes sense that a roller - just like a good masseuse - will get a bit INTO the muscle area. When I go to a massage, I don't want them to just wave their hand over my muscles. I want them to dig in and loosen them up.

So this is key for anybody looking to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. The better your muscles work, and the less pain they bring you, the more like you are to be active and healthy. Especially when you're losing weight and your body is readjusting to new weight loads in different proportions, you need to take care of your muscles.

So let's look at the three rollers I own, to see how the Y roller stacks up. Here's what I have.

* The Pro-Tec Y-roller, 15.5"
* The Gold's Gym flat roller, 24"
* The Rumble Roller, 31"

The Y roller is definitely the shorter of the three. It's more bumpy than my flat 24" Gold's Gym roller. It's far less bumpy than the Rumble Roller 31" roller.

So, on the good side. This is MUCH better for me than just the flat roller. You can turn the Y roller so the straight line or Y open area is pressed against the leg, arm, or other body part you're working on. You have something digging into the muscle. So I greatly prefer the line digging into my hamstrings, for example, than "nothing at all" on the flat roller.

I also greatly appreciate that the central area is open. I dislike greatly having bumps pressing into my spine. I'm 5'7" and 128lb and my ribs are right next to the surface of my skin. So when for example I try to use the Rumble Roller (even the "lighter" of the two) it hurts to use it on my back. Those knobby parts dig right into my ribs. Not good.

So this Y-Roller is my favorite roller for my back.

While the Y Roller is better than the flat roller on my legs, I do appreciate the bumpier texture of the Rumbleroller on my legs. It digs in much better into the muscle groups there.

My boyfriend is heavier than me - he's 190 and 5'10". He prefers the Rumbleroller. So he probably has more "padding" between the roller and his bones, so the Rumbleroller's pointy bits don't jam into his bones.

We have also used the super-hard RumbleRoller version. I found that far too hard for me, even on my legs.

I haven't found a situation where I prefer the flat roller to this (or the Rumbleroller). In my mind, if I'm using a roller, it's to get some muscle massage done. To me, a flat roller just doesn't do that.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of the three!

I was sent a review copy of the Pro-Tec Y Roller to review, from the Amazon Vine program. I purchased the other two rollers with my own funds for my own use.

Buy the Pro-Tec Athletics The Y Roller Contoured Foam Roller from Amazon.com


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