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Today’s high-tech percussive therapy tools can help you recover as hard as you train. Here’s our pick of the best massage guns to boost your post-workout recovery…
Any athlete or coach worth their salt will tell you good recovery is critical to achieving peak fitness. But you don’t have to be a world-beating elite to reap the benefits of smart post-workout rituals.
If you’re pushing your body to the limits, your muscles will let you know about it. If you’re doing that regularly you’ll need to develop a tried-and tested recovery routine. One option would be to shell out £50 a week for a sports massage. Another would be to spend hours balancing on a foam roller.
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On the other hand, percussive therapy tools, such as the best sports massage guns, offer a convenient alternative for teasing out your tight bits, delivering rapid DIY treatments that are like sports rub-downs from the comfort of your own home.
Related: Good Vibrations: 5 Benefits Of Using A Theragun
Best Sports Massage Guns
Men’s Fitness Best Buy
Theragun Elite
BUY IT NOW:
$399 / £375, theragun.com
Features: 4/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Restorative power: 4.5/5
OVERALL: 4.5/5
This latest generation Theragun Elite is the smartest massage gun we’ve used. Its pummelling head has a 16mm amplitude that gets deep into muscles and sees off knots and tight spots with 40 percussions per second and up to 40lb of force.
With older models it wasn’t easy to know when you were using them right, but the new Elite now comes with an OLED screen, a force sensor, and syncs to a smartphone app that tells you if you’re applying the right pressure. It also serves up real-time move-by-move app guides for everything from easing tight hamstrings to unstiffening shoulders.
And while older Theraguns made it sound like you were taking a pneumatic drill to your quads, the Elite is much, much quieter. It’s more customisable, too: it comes with five built-in speeds, but you can also use the app to set the percussions per minute anywhere within the 1750-2400 range.
You get 120-minute massage time on a single charge and just two minutes’ attention to each muscle group can help stifle post-workout soreness.
Men’s Fitness Recommended
HyperIce HyperVolt 2 Pro
BUY IT NOW:
$399 / £379, hyperice.com
Features: 3.5/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Restorative power: 4/5
OVERALL: 4/5
The quietest percussive massage gun going, the HyperVolt 2 Pro is heavier than the Theragun Elite but still easy enough to wield effectively.
Its 90-watt high-torque motor hits speeds up to 3,200 RPM, and five interchangeable heads cover everything from working the bulk of your quads to the smaller, more sensitive muscles.
You can sync to the Hyperice app for automated speed control, and the three-hour battery life beats most.
Pulseroll Pro Massage Gun
BUY IT NOW:
$236 / £224.99, pulseroll.com
Features: 4/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Restorative power: 4/5
OVERALL: 4/5
With quiet-noise technology and four-hour battery life, Pulseroll’s massage gun is super lightweight, making it easily stowed in your gym bag or backpack (although it does come with its own carrying case).
Six attaching massage heads make it easy to target any sore point.
Compex Fixx 1.0 Massager
BUY IT NOW:
$310 / £249.99, compex.com
Features: 3/5
Ease of use: 3.5/5
Restorative power: 3.5/5
OVERALL: 3.5/5
Compex’s first ever deep-tissue massage gun doesn’t pack the app and coaching smarts of Theragun’s top models, but this simplified tool does come with three speeds – 25, 33 and 46 strokes per second – for tending to different muscles, and three different arm positions that help you reach the trickier body parts.
You also get 90 minutes of massage time on a single charge.
Theragun mini
BUY IT NOW:
$199 / £174, theragun.com
Features: 3/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Restorative power: 3/5
OVERALL: 4/5
At 650g, the mini is a more portable – and wallet-friendly – option that’s better suited to being stuck in a gym bag, taken to finish lines or even the office.
That 12mm amplitude pummelling head won’t go quite as deep into your muscles as the bigger models but you still get 150 minutes of massage time, three preset speeds, and it means you get onto your recovery quickly, no matter where you are.
Related: Best Fitness Products To Help You Get Back Into Exercise
Words: Kieran Alger