Materos 5ft Yoga Stick Made from Natural Bamboo - Yoga Dowel, Mobility and Exercise Stick for Workout, Stretching, Flexibility, Balance, Physical Therapy | Posture Correction | Lightweight & Sturdy

First, some context. I'm a major stick guy. I started my study and use of stick at about age 10 when I picked up a dead willow trunk and started using it as a walking stick. I'm 73 now and still own that stick; it's my oldest possession. I no longer use it for walking, but it's a treasured memory. Since that time, over a period of decades, I've not only owned many walking sticks (from collapsible carbon fiber mountaineering poles to laminated hickory staves (my current one is 51"), but gotten into Irish stick fighting, kali/escrima, and Jo staff. Being a smaller older person, I carry a walking stick (my hickory staff in my woods or a lighter 4' oak Jo staff in town) not only to help with stability (especially in Maine winters), but as a self-defense tool ... or at least one that I carry. Those sticks are my first line of defense. In the last year or so, I've added sticks to my exercise regimen as well (outside of Kali, Irish sticks or Jo staff practice). I started last year by adding a 6' Mobility Stick (one of the synthetic orange ones). I really like that stick for some exercises, especially the ones that work with the stick's flexibility (bendability). But I recently decided I wanted to add a 5' stick to my regimen. My hickory staff and Jo staves are both close to 4', not quite long enough for me for the exercises I wanted to explore. (I'm 5'9".) I could have purchased another Mobility Stick at 5'. But this stick was less than half that price, so I purchased this bamboo stick. It arrived a few days ago. It came nicely finished, very, very straight, but still slightly "raw". That's not a criticism at all. For the price I paid shipped, it came in an excellent condition. But over the next few days, I did what I did for all my new staves. Some very light sanding (using 1500 grit paper) followed by two coats of boiled linseed oil over two days, then a bit more light sanding with the 1500 paper. Result: this is a bomber stick, smooth as glass, but very, very sturdy. Light weight? Well, not exactly light. It's heavier than I expected for bamboo, but for me, that's excellent. I like the weight a lot. It's not heavy in the sense of being hard to wield, but has enough weight to add a sense of security. The rubber end caps are great. I use it mostly on a 6' x 6' gym mat in my media room, but occassionally on bare artificial wood floors. It's totally quiet (which my downstairs neighbor probably appreciates). And they add a "stop" for me when I'm spinning the staff around, or stretching it out to do arm exercises above my head or behind my back. Having that little sensory input that says, "End of stick is here" is great. I've added a whole new set of stretching exercises to my regimen with this stick. So do I recommend one of these? Emphatically yes. Fine quality and adds a lot to a stick routine. I have only one minor criticism of this stick, but the responsibility is almost certainly not on the seller or maker of this stick, but on the shipping people at Amazon. I've purchased several long (4' - 6') sticks from Amazon and they all came in appropriate boxes: long and very small diameter. But this one came in an absurdly large box -- 52" x 28" x 6" -- suitable for a large screen TV. The stick just fit diagonally from one corner to another. Come on people, you can do better than that. If you didn't have the proper sized box to ship, I'd have been fine with an email explaining that shipping would be delayed -- even if up to a week. But I felt kind of ashamed of receiving my wonderful stick in such a wasteful package. Other than that, again, this is a great stick, now one of my favorites.

Great quality

Great addition to my home gym. I’ve been able to increase my mobility with the security of this stick. I like that I can sit in stretches and train my muscle memory.

I love it. It is steady, elegant and great quality!

I love using this to do yoga and stretch. It is sturdy and you can do all kinds of different moves with it. It works well and I like the fact the material is sustainable.

A little heavier than I expected but solid material 👌 Great stuff

Of you have issues with keeping your balance while exercising or need help with stretching parts of your body such as your lower back, this is a great product. If you have issues doing squats and need to use a chair, this will help you. If you need to open up your hips and have to do leg stretching, this will help. It's a good purchase.

I love this bamboo stick and use it daily. It's terrific for stretching and other posture exercises. I do wish Amazon shipped it in a size appropriate box, such a waste of shipping material otherwise.

Nice weight. Good quality. My wife loves it.

Perfect quality

Very Good quality..pretty sturdy.

Make sure you measure the distance hand to hand..I'm 185cm and this is at least 30cm too short.