8 best foam rollers to help speed up exercise recovery

If you’re looking for something powerful to really work those knots, then Pulseroll’s vibrating foam roller can help to reduce muscle tightness, increase flexibility and reduce next day soreness after your training session. Available in either red or black, this is the heaviest foam roller on our list, so it feels super sturdy and tough. With five different vibrating speeds (you just click the on/off button to adjust the tempo), you can alter the speed depending on which muscle you’re working and how deep you want to work. When fully charged, it can last up to six hours (but you do have to leave it to charge for several hours).

We actually found this foam roller the least painful to use – perhaps because the vibrations do so much of the work? So it’s less reliant on you getting your rolling technique down to a T. And at 38cm long (which is longer than the average foam roller) you can massage both your quads at the same time.

Featuring not one but two different textures, this foam roller from Lululemon has a sneaky second roller hidden underneath the outside layer. According to the brand, the exterior roller is meant to massage your arms and legs, while the interior roller is designed to release tension in your back. We love the concept but – call us lazy – we actually just found ourselves sticking primarily to the outside layer. It does also come in a mini size (£35, Lululemon.co.uk) which is particularly great for travelling or chucking in your gym bag as it’s only 25.4cm in length.

At 90cm this foam roller is by far the largest on the market – and more commonly found in physical therapy offices and gyms. But the main draw to such a long foam roller is that you can lie on it vertically – with your spine aligning the whole way along it. The high density material (lots and lots of very small circular “spikes”) means you’ll feel a lot of pressure, but it’s evenly distributed throughout the roller’s surface area. The high-density foam rollers from Meglio are slightly softer than some of the others on this list – especially in comparison to both the vibrating options and the Trigger Point foam roller (£27.99, Sportsshoes.com) – which we liked, particularly for warming up and relaxing muscles before stretching.

From the same company that introduced the fitness world to the Theragun (an at-home massage gun that uses percussive therapy to increase blood flow to your muscles, which can help to reduce tension and break apart bad knots), the Therabody wave vibration foam roller is one of the best on the market for providing a deep muscle release. The wave vibration foam roller, similar to the Pulseroll (£119.99, Pulseroll.com), has five different levels of vibration but the battery only lasts for three hours (so half the amount of time as the Pulseroll). It does, however, fairly seamlessly connect to the Therabody app, so you can control the speed on your phone, and it feels incredibly firm thanks to its innovative hypo-allergenic EVA high-density foam. The only real con? The price.

This high-density foam roller is practically identical to the Meglio 90cm – the only real difference? It’s half the size. But don’t let that put you off – at 45cm it’s still larger than most, and is great for working on smaller areas or one arm or leg at a time. Long lasting, durable, portable – it features the same high-density material, so it’s ideal for applying firmer pressure. Of course, the level of fitness is usually down to personal preference and how firm of a massage you can tolerate, but at £14.99 you really can’t go too far wrong.

If you’re after a foam roller that’s got lots of bumps and ridges to help get deeper into your muscles and feel more intense, then this Trigger point foam roller is the one for you. Firm, but too not hard so you won’t end up with dot-to-dot bruises up and down your legs, this roller scores highly for its tubular finger-like bumps and firm finger-tip ridges that emulate a hands-on deep tissue sports massage. Great for runners with particularly tight muscles (hello, hamstrings) it’s the ideal size for really focusing on one leg at a time. And, also, because it’s not too big, it doesn’t take up the whole of the downstairs cupboard.

This foam roller from Dare2b is very, very similar to the Trigger point foam roller (£27.99, Sportsshoes.com) above – size wise, and even looks wise, they’re practically indistinguishable. Even price wise they’re pretty equal. But this foam roller from Dare2b is that tad tougher thanks to its nubby, EVA foam surface (read: if you have DOMS it can be a painful and intense massage). We particularly liked using this on our backs – but we actually found it “too much” when we put all our body weight through it to roll out our quads (perhaps that says more about our sore muscles than it does this foam roller). Either way, for those looking for something super firm, this is great.

For the eco-conscious, this foam roller – marked at only £15 – is made from DeCoto foam, which is derived from renewable biobased products such as bamboo, straw and rice husks, as well as recycled resins made from recycled plastic. The packaging is also recycled, so it’s a win-win for both muscles and the planet. Fitting somewhere between the Trigger point foam roller (£27.99, Sportsshoes.com) and the Dare2b roller (£11.95, Dare2b.com), this BeElite eco foam roller from Wiggle is also on the firmer side – its rectangle and diamond-shaped pattern of ridges allows you to address knots in specific muscle groups (calves, glutes, and so on) with precision, and we found it works particularly well as a supplement to a smoother, larger roller, like the Meglio 90cm (£26.99, Mymeglio.com).