The 7 Best Recovery Tools From REP To Take You From "Ouch" to "Ahhh"

You work hard — showing up for your routine, charging towards progressive overload, building a body that's comparable to a military tank, but a cute military tank. To help support your efforts, treat your recovery with the same respect your workout receives by adding one of the best recovery tools from REP Fitness to your training protocol.

The 7 Best Recovery Tools for Athletes

Built to help you recover so you can continue chasing your goals, these are the best recovery tools that REP Fitness offers:

• Best Recovery Tool Overall: High Density Foam Roller
• Best All-In-One Recovery Tool: 3-in-1 Foam Roller
• Best Compact Recovery Tool: Peanut Roller
• Best Portable Recovery Tool: Cork Massage Ball Set
• Best Massage Stick Recovery Tool: Massage Roller
• Best Pain Reliever for Sore Muscles After Workout: RAPIDSTRIKE Massage Gun
• Best Yoga Mat for Recovery: Premium Yoga Mat

Best Recovery Tool Overall: High Density Foam Roller

Built with a durable EVA foam, this ultra-dense foam roller will hold its shape for years to come. Roll out sore muscles, improve mobility, and give tight spots some TLC with the peak design that mimics the feel of a deep tissue massage. Across REP's entire collection of foam rollers, this is the most aggressive offering, best suited for those who have experience with this type of recovery tool.

Best All-In-One Recovery Tool: 3-in-1 Foam Roller

Three rollers with three different levels of firmness and purpose — all designed to nest neatly together for a tidy recovery space.

The outer roller is dense and wide, perfect for working large muscle groups. A ridged foam roller in the middle targets specific areas that need extra attention. And at the center, a mobility stick with nonslip handles lets you focus on aches and tight spots with your choice of intensity.

Best Compact Recovery Tool: Peanut Roller

The peanut roller is a trigger point massage ball with a (as the name suggests) peanut shape. This bite-size massage tool allows you to target hard to reach spots around your spine, hips, hamstrings, quads, and more. Measuring 5 inches long — about the length of three golf balls  — it's super compact, making it easy to toss in your gym bag, purse, or jacket pocket for recovery on the go.

Best Portable Recovery Tool: Cork Massage Ball Set

This cork massage ball set (which comes with it's own travel bag) is ready to take on tender spots, sore muscles, and knots — helping to bring relief and loosen tight, contracted muscle fibers whether you're at home or on the go.

There are three different-sized balls, so you can choose the right tool depending on your body part — or slip one (or two, or all three) into your gym bag, purse, or suitcase. Plus, the cork construction makes these massage balls firmer than traditional lacrosse balls, durable for long-lasting use, and resistant to sweat for a pressure-point massage that won't slip out of place.

Best Massage Stick Recovery Tool: Massage Roller

While foam rollers often require you to position yourself in awkward, acrobatic poses to target specific muscles, a massage stick can be more ergonomic for applying pressure to your sore spots. This massage roller features comfortable handles, high-quality bearings for a smooth rolling experience, and weighs less than a pound, making it easy to hold and easy to take on the go.

This massage stick is best used for quad, calf, glute, and hamstring work, or when you can sweet talk your friend or partner into giving you an assist, is great for working out tension in your forearms, lats, neck, shoulders, and back.

Best Pain Reliever for Sore Muscles After Workout: RAPIDSTRIKE Massage Gun

Give your body the TLC it deserves with the RAPIDSTRIKE Massage Gun, a quiet self-massage tool with four adjustable massage heads to give your sore muscles some relief after your workout's done. You won't need to play around with buttons to determine the speed, thanks to the automatic speed control that adjusts depending on how much pressure you apply.

Plug it in with the included USB-C cable and in just 90 minutes you'll have up to eight hours of massage time. Plus, thanks to its compact size, weighing only 2.3 pounds, it's easy to hold and take with you on the go (in its included carrying case).

Best Yoga Mat for Recovery: Premium Yoga Mat

Everyone can use a yoga mat. Outside of being needed for yoga practice, they're a great addition to add comfort during floor work like PNF stretching, can cushion your knees for cable crunches and half-kneeling pull-downs, and if you want to look like you're working out but just want to lie on the floor, they're great for that, too. Remember, sleep is the best recovery tool there is.

The Premium Yoga Mat is REP's most premier offering, available in cork for those who want a breathable, antimicrobial option that'll help absorb sweat. Then there's a recyclable polyurethane and natural rubber version that's durable, water-resistant, and easy to clean. Both options are 73 inches long and 27.5 inches wide, so you're have enough space for your practice, your workout, and your nap.

Benefits of Recovery Tools

Recovery tools do more than feel good, they can help you recover and improve future performance. Here are some key benefits you can expect from these devices:

REDUCED SORENESS: Massage has been shown in studies to decrease delayed onset muscle soreness. In fact, when compared to compression garments, active recovery, immersion, and cryotherapy, massage was the most powerful recovery tool, reducing soreness and perceived fatique.

IMPROVED RANGE OF MOTION: In a review of 21 studies on pre-rolling before athletic pursuits, improvements were noted in particpants flexibility and mobility. For other ways to improve mobility, check out REP's collection of bodyweight mobility tools.

SELF-MYOFASCIAL RELEASE: Massage balls, roller sticks, and foam rollers can all help to break up tight and painful soft-tissue which can relieve muscle tension and improve performance.

BETTER CIRCULATION: In a study that measured blood flow of the femoral artery (located in your thigh), foam rolling the legs was shown to increase blood flow — specifically maximal velocity and maximal volume — after foam rolling for two 45 second sets. This boost in circulation may support recovery by helping remove metabolic waste. And when used as part of a dynamic warm-up, it may also help reduce the risk of injury.

INJURY PREVENTION: By increasing range of motion, boosting circulation, and loosening up your muscles, you'll be prepped to move the way you're supposed to during your workout, training, and competitive events. With muscles that are better aligned and more responsive, you're less likely to experience muscle strains.

CORRECT ASYMMETRIES: Feeling tight or tender spots while using recovery tools can help you identify and target muscle imbalances — helping to prevent injuries, strains, and poor movement patterns.

Trainer Tip: "It's best to avoid excessive use of recovery tools right before your workout," says Ashley Boyer, ACE-CPT and master's candidate in Sports Performance and Conditioning. While light foam rolling or short bouts of percussion therapy can be helpful in a warm-up, some studies suggest that excessive or prolonged use may temporarily reduce explosive performance. "This is similar to static stretching," says Boyer. "Too much intensity or duration before lifting can slightly decrease strength and power by relaxing the muscle more than you want before high-force movements."

How to Reduce Muscle Pain After Exercise

If you're curious what the best thing for muscle recovery is, or if you're struggling to get up and down the stairs after leg day, you've come to the right place. Here are ways to improve recovery after your workout:

• High-Quality Sleep
  
• Hydration
• Carbohydrate and Protein Consumption
• Massage
• Recovery Tools
• Heat Therapy
• Choose Anti-Inflammatory, Antioxidant-Rich Foods
• Active Cool-Down

Read More: Do I Need to Cooldown After Exercising?

Takeaway

Support your strength and wellness goals with tools that help you recover from running, lifting, and anything that has your muscles asking for a little PTO. From foam rollers and massage guns, to trigger point massage balls, massage sticks, and more, REP has what you need to increase your flexibility, reduce soreness, help limit injury, and improve blood flow. So you can show up for the work feeling ready and refreshed.

FAQs

How do recovery tools help improve athletic performance?

There are a few impressive ways that recovery tools help to improve athletic performance. They can increase blood flow, which helps to prime your muscles for the work to come while also increasing your bodies ability to remove waste. Recovery tools can also increase flexibility and mobility, and decrease the feeling of soreness, so you're more able to tackle athletic goals.

What are the most effective recovery tools for athletes and runners?

Your recovery tool of choice depends on your personal preference. However, athletes and runners may benefit the most from foam rollers and massage guns. Foam rollers can help support the flexibility needed by runners and athletes, while massage guns are perfect for deep tissue work on problem areas. 

Rosie Borchert is NASM-CPT, former Nike Volleyball coach, and writer whose work has appeared on BarBend, Tonal, Netflix, ABC, and Amazon Studios. If anyone would like to hire her to play beach volleyball, snowboard, binge watch TV, or go climbing, please get in touch.

This article was reviewed by Ashley Boyer, ACE-CPT, for accuracy.