Marc Pro, worth it?

I've had one for a couple years. Son uses it as soon as we get in the car after a game. He also uses it on quads and other muscles after a workout. My wife and I also use it occasionally. The idea of getting blood flow through the muscles can be useful for a number of applications. Sprains, bruises, etc. Make sure you find a discount code! I think you can get it on Cressey's site.

We have it.  Son used it on the bus ride home after he pitched every week. I would say its a good purchase.

My kid swears by it, there is evidence to show it works or it is placebo. To me it falls in the line of player preferred gloves, bats, etc. It gives them confidence and I can always sell it and make some of my coin back

Thanks all. Just picked one up for my son. Besides the feedback here, liked what I saw in the videos on Youtube.

Just seeing this now! I’m actually the marketing director for Marc Pro. If anyone has further questions about Marc Pro, I’m more than happy to answer them for you.

Hi Marc Pro Tim. It might be helpful to describe some of the additional uses for it beyond arm care.

My son had a pretty intense workout Saturday and his hamstrings were super sore. hooked him up yesterday in the morning and the evening and he feels much better.

We received the Marc Pro on Thursday, just in time for my son's start on Friday night. Threw a CG and as soon as he got home, he hooked up to the Marc Pro for a half an hour. Saturday morning there was no comments of how sore he was, like he did the previous Saturday. He has done a session every evening with the Marc Pro. He is digging it. So far it appears it is helping.  He is going to start adding the band wrap around the elbow technique to go along with the Marc Pro.

@TerribleBPthrower and @ARCEKU21, you both nailed it with Marc Pro usage. How Marc Pro works with arm care is how it helps with any muscle recovery in the body, so putting pads where it's going to be sore is the whole point. Arm care is the trendy topic so gets all the attention (as do pitchers) but muscle recovery is a systemic thing. Even though pitchers are our most common baseball customer, in my honest opinion it should be catchers.

The premise of the unit is that safe, non-fatiguing muscle contractions, facilitate fluid movement. Basically good stuff in, bad stuff out. Everyone focuses on blood flow (oxygen and nutrient distribution) to help repair damaged tissue, but most people skip the lymphatic drainage side. Removing waste is crucial to decongesting muscles, reducing overuse injury, clearing the way for continued improved blood flow, and reducing ROM concerns. The lymphatic system doesn't have a heart muscle to drive fluid through it and relies on muscle contractions to get waste out of an area. Both good in and bad out are needed to adapt the "damage" of a workout into strength.

The idea of running poles is sound: non-taxing movement to move waste. BUT kids hate it, it's not targeted at the muscles that need it most, and it's still going to be burning some ATP and glycogen stores. The idea of the Marc Pro is to supplement active recovery without the chance of turning it into a workout, removing additional stress on tendons and joints, and doing it with other activities like driving home or doing homework.

Hope that wasn't too salesy!

Tim, the big injury that always comes up is UCL injuries. Obviously as players are throwing much harder these days, we are seeing more occurrence of this.  I am feeling like the rotator cuff is starting to take a back seat to the Tommy John injury. Do you have any suggested contact pad set ups to flush out the shoulder/rotator cuff area?

When we talk about flushing, especially the whole arm, people tend to over think pad placements. Generally the biggest muscles are going to be the biggest engines in moving fluids.

So a pitcher's standard set up, regardless of concern for rotator cuff or UCL, we should be hitting up the flexor, bicep, deltoid, trap. Occasionally a deltoid placement will switch down to the scap depending on general soreness of the individual pitcher.

Because of lymph node placements, the above described set up would be equally effective in clearing waste for forearm, upper arm, and shoulder.

Tim, can you give a little description on using it for sprains and bruises? My son's trainer is a well-known golf trainer and swears by the MP. He had my son use it for a sprained ankle to keep the blood flow going and reduce swelling. He also had him use it on a pretty bad bruise from blocking a ball that hit him square on a forearm bone.

There are so many uses for these things. Sometimes I'll have one connector hooked up to a sore body part while sitting on the couch and my wife will have the other connector on one of her sore muscles at the same time. Family bonding!

Sure. The body repairs acute damage such as sprains and bruises the same way it does the micro tears of a workout. Although the degree of damage has changed, the mechanisms in play are primarily the same. The biggest difference is the amount of waste that is being generated as the body sends resources to heal the area. The fluid rushed to that area will remain as swelling unless contended with by the lymphatic system. Enter the Marc Pro. The non-fatiguing contractions rush in good stuff and whisk away the bad. If applied soon enough after the injury, swelling may never occur.

If someone ices that area, it will also reduce swelling (for a time) but in a way that delays recovery. The constriction caused by the icing will reduce incoming resources and trap waste in and around the damaged tissue.

For pad placements, general rule is upstream and downstream of the damage. Twisted ankle? Foot and calf. Swollen elbow? Forearm and bicep.

Worth it?  Heck yeah!!!

Got it for my son to help recover after pitching.  He liked it, but forget about him.  My wife and I love it for all of our age related issues. We use it on the high frequency for pain blockage on our backs or whatever else is seizing up.

Question for Marc Pro Tim... I have a bone bruise on my heel.  Where would you recommend hooking up the pads to treat that area?

Thanks in advance!

General guidelines are always largest muscle group above and below. Bone bruise will take some time to heal up, Marc Pro will have less of an effect than if it was in the muscle. Should still help to an extent.

Arch (or heel) of foot and soleus on same channel.

VERY MUCH worth it. I bouthg my now 21yo son one when he was 14. I don't think he has had a "sore arm" since after pitching. Using it for 15 minutes prior to warming up before a start also cut way down on how long and how many pitches he needed to get "hot." In addition, at one point, we started using it in between innings and he swears by that use as well.

As a high school pitching coach I bought a few cheaper options for use by the team. They also helped. However, they weren't as durable. The MarcPro I bought in 2014 is still being used on a regular basis while the cheaper versions rarely lasted the entire season. In addition, the cheaper versions work by a 9v battery rather than a rechargable one and they run through batteries at a rate that probably had me spending the savings in batteries.

To this day, I still contend that the best investment I ever made in my son as a baseball player was the MrcPro.

Maybe we should put @roothog66 on the payroll.

We've been considering partnering with a national org like USSSA, Prep Baseball etc... a place that youth players go to often and regularly. Any suggestions?

@Marc Pro Tim posted:

Maybe we should put @roothog66 on the payroll.

While you're at it.....

Have you guys thought about setting up a booth at a facility like Lakepoint for a big tournament? There are a ton of vendors there right as you walk in and when you leave. No way to avoid them.

There are so many baseball facilities and we are a very small company so coverage across facilities is expensive and difficult to accomplish. If we were to move forward with a partnership with PBR for instance, then we'd likely also have a booth at Lakepoint, at least for their largest tournaments. I personally live near USSSA Space Coast, so we'll likely be doing a bunch of events there even if we don't move ahead with a national partnership with them.

In-person demoes and the like are important but have a limited ROI. Tapping into a larger network for brand awareness is our current target.

@Marc Pro Tim posted:

We've been considering partnering with a national org like USSSA, Prep Baseball etc... a place that youth players go to often and regularly. Any suggestions?

USSSA hosts a SoCal “World Series” every year. Basically every team in Socal from 8-12u attends. They have an opening ceremony day where they have tons of vendors. You can’t miss them. The year I went the ceremony was held at BLD Jurupa Valley. Another good place is at some of the bigger USSSA Super NIT’s. Some facilities have a “shop” inside of them with demo products and stuff they sell. I’ve bought from some so maybe if you can get your product inside of a bigger facility?

For what it's worth, the pitchers I played with loved this thing.

I think it's clear that it does what it says it's going to do (stimulate and speed up recovery), the question is more just are you willing to shell out the money for it.

@Marc Pro Tim y'all have a cool product!

@tigerbaseball15 fair criticism... if that's what that was. Not the cheapest thing out there but I think we've established our value.

Cheap is relative...however given the cost of bats, high end gloves, it seems par for the course. For me I went with the monthly payment option. The ROI is difficult to calculate but it is definitely high.

@2022NYC posted:

Cheap is relative...however given the cost of bats, high end gloves, it seems par for the course. For me I went with the monthly payment option.

Agree. The cost compared to the value you get makes it on par, if not a better deal, than what we all pay for equipment. Especially compared to a $150-$200 wood bat that can snap at any given moment.

I also went with the monthly payment option. It was refreshing to see that this was an option. Makes it easier to sell the purchase and makes it affordable for many more. I think that was a great decision by the Mark Pro team.

My son has been using it constantly since we purchased it shortly after I made this post. He loves it and says it definitely has helped cut down on his recovery times. We are going to experiment this summer using it before he warms up for a start on the mound. He even told his private pitching coach (former MLBer) that he picked one up and his coach told him that was a smart move as it is a great product. Says he has some current clients who are in the big leagues that swear by it.

For anyone on the fence, I'll share what sold me. My son was playing on 13 & 14u teams at the same time for the same tournament, same coach. He was used to playing a bunch of games in a weekend. This was a February tournament in FL. Saturday was 85 with a couple thunderstorms. He caught 2 games, played MIF and pitched one inning in the others. Sunday morning a cold front rolled in and it was cold and rainy. After the first inning he walked by the fence and said his shoulder was sore. First time this has ever happened and I was panicked. The coach pulled him from the game. A close friend and a well known trainer in the golf industry pulls this contraption out of his bag and asked if he could hook him up on it. 30 minutes later the soreness was gone and he felt great. Had no problems warming up and playing in the next game. 

As 2022nyc noted above, we spend hundreds on bats, gloves, and gear. In the grand scheme (especially for a P), this should be a must have. Plus, the entire family can get use out of it. I bring it to Disney World with me. After a day of walking around my calves and feet are always sore. 15 minutes with the MP and they feel great again.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

For anyone on the fence, I'll share what sold me. My son was playing on 13 & 14u teams at the same time for the same tournament, same coach. He was used to playing a bunch of games in a weekend. This was a February tournament in FL. Saturday was 85 with a couple thunderstorms. He caught 2 games, played MIF and pitched one inning in the others. Sunday morning a cold front rolled in and it was cold and rainy. After the first inning he walked by the fence and said his shoulder was sore. First time this has ever happened and I was panicked. The coach pulled him from the game. A close friend and a well known trainer in the golf industry pulls this contraption out of his bag and asked if he could hook him up on it. 30 minutes later the soreness was gone and he felt great. Had no problems warming up and playing in the next game.

As 2022nyc noted above, we spend hundreds on bats, gloves, and gear. In the grand scheme (especially for a P), this should be a must have. Plus, the entire family can get use out of it. I bring it to Disney World with me. After a day of walking around my calves and feet are always sore. 15 minutes with the MP and they feel great again.

Disney World idea is great! Making a note to pack that in my suitcase in September!

Anyone know if you are able to take the MarcPro on a plane in a carry on? Or do you have to check it? I am hoping carry on is okay.

@ARCEKU21 I wear it while flying all the time. Legs feel great even on long flights. NiMH battery so no lithium restrictions.

Occasionally, TSA will ask what it is after scanning it through the X-Ray but have never questioned it beyond muscle stimulator.

I’ve had mine packed in a checked bag a few times with no issues.

Awesome. Thanks guys! I was hoping that was the answer. With travel to GA and FL for baseball (and WDW) coming up, wanted to be sure I could take it on the plane rather than trust it survive being thrown around with checked in luggage.

Yep. Never had an issue carrying it on. Biggest issues have been with plyoballs. They always cause a delay because they pull them out and check for explosive materials.