To give you ideas for your New Year’s resolution, why not enhance your post-workout routine (or your pre-workout regimen) with the best foam rollers or percussive massage guns? Yes, investing in the best dumbbells, kettlebells, and medicine balls can elevate your fitness level and strengthen your muscles. But recovering from your workout using the right tools such as a percussion massager is just as important to help you get back into shape.
A percussive massager is a popular hand-held tool among high-performance athletes who need to recover quickly and keep injuries under control at home. The device’s head— which comes in different shapes — puts pressure on your body, relieving discomfort and promoting blood circulation into specific muscle groups after a rigorous workout.
To help you start the year with a bang, we’ve compiled the best percussion massagers from Theragun and other brands.
At a glance:
- Best battery life:Chirogun Percussion Massage Gun
- Best for techies:Hyperice Hypervolt Plus Bluetooth Percussion Massager
- Best overall: TimTam Power Massager
- Premium option: Theragun PRO
- Best versatile: Wahl Deep Tissue Percussion Massager
- Best all in one: TimTam PowerMassager Pro
- Easiest to use: Hangsun Handheld Neck Back Massager
- Best lightweight: Flyby Deep Tissue Massage Gun
- Best budget: Renpho Hand Held Deep Tissue Massage
- Best for home therapy: Mighty Bliss Percussion Massager
- Best for athletes: Sonic Handheld Percussion Massage Gun
Best battery life: Chirogun Percussion Massage Gun
Don’t want your percussion massager to power off too quickly in the middle of a cooldown? Worry no more as Chirogun’s percussion massage gun boasts a whopping six-hour battery life thanks to its 2,550mAH capacity battery, which can be powered up with its fast-charging 25.2V adapter. What’s even more amazing is that the tool comes bundled with 15 heads and two bonus massage balls that target specific muscle groups to promote recovery and circulation after a grueling workout.
Best for techies: Hyperice Hypervolt Plus Bluetooth Percussion Massager
Outclassing the Hypervolt, the Hypervolt Plus is 30% more powerful (and advanced) as it offers Bluetooth and HyperSmart technology to connect with the Hyperice app for personalized warmups and recovery routines. The Bluetooth-enabled Hypervolt Plus also boasts the Quiet Glide technology for a more peaceful post-workout session — ideal for tech-savvy athletes who don’t want to disturb other gym-goers.
Best overall: TimTam Power Massager
The TimTam Power Massager is the go-to recovery device for professional athletes, trainers, coaches, and physical therapists worldwide. Old or young, in pain or improving performance — this percussion massager will bring recovery for all your needs. This percussion massager packs a punch by delivering percussions at a max rate of 2,500 per minute and uses its power to deliver a smoother therapy experience. The TimTam Power Massager can alleviate your soreness in minutes; just apply to any area on the body for instant all-natural relief. This percussion massager is good for athletes, fast recovery, deep-tissue relief, and on-the-go use.
Premium option: Theragun Pro
The Theragun Pro is the most professional percussion massager worth considering. The commercial-grade massage gun was built with pro athletes in mind to provide the most advanced deep-tissue experience to effectively relieve muscle tension, soreness, and pain. The ultra-comfortable ergonomic rotating arm allows for users to get to hard-to-reach areas like your lower back more comfortably than other massagers. This fourth-generation Theragun Pro is unbelievably quiet for its power and speed. If you’re willing to pay more for a top-of-the-line percussion massager that is intricately designed, loaded with features, and backed by science, the Theragun Pro is perfect for you.
Best versatile: Wahl Deep Tissue Percussion Manager
The Wahl Deep Tissue Percussion massager provides all-around and targeted muscle relief, even deep down, from speed healing to fitness recovery or even just for active lifestyles. Its deep muscle massager head smoothly thumps your muscles and creates a relaxing all-over massage that is perfect for your entire body. Its four-finger flex massager head will softly massage your neck with finger-like nodes that will replicate the feeling of a massage from an actual human. The acupoint massage head is great for pinpointing concentrated areas of tension. Its flat disc massage head provides deep muscle massages for large surface areas, like the back.
Best all in one: TimTam PowerMassager Pro
The PowerMassager Pro is an ultra-sophisticated therapy device taking modern recovery to the next level of recovery performance. For an optimal recovery experience, the Pro has three preset deep-tissue levels and a total of five massage modes. The PowerMassager Pro features an automatic heated tip that delivers heat at the optimal temperature for targeted, deep-tissue relief. This muscle recovery gun has three speeds delivering up to 2,800 strokes per minute. With two times the battery life for improved performance, you can enjoy for up to one hour of continuous use.
Easiest to use: Hangsun Handheld Neck Back Massager
This user-friendly percussion massager by Hangsun can help soothe your aches and pains. The massager provides all the necessary force needed so that you don’t have to push it down. Once you place the massager on your muscles, it does all the work, and it’s lightweight to hold. You can massage different parts of your body from arms down to your legs. The Hangsun Handheld Neck Back Massager also has three interchangeable massage nodes and a powerful motor.
Best lightweight: Flyby Deep Tissue Massage Gun
Flyby’s Deep Tissue Massage Gun is a percussion massager you can bring anywhere you go. It has a lightweight and portable design weighing around 1.8 pounds. This massager also has Silent Tech Noise Reduction, which gives it a quiet motor. Despite its smaller size, the battery life is long-lasting with its lithium-ion battery at four hours per charge. Another great feature of this massager is that it comes with six convertible attachments. You can choose between the large ball for bigger muscles and the bullet to pinpoint certain areas.
Best budget: Renpho Hand Held Deep Tissue Massage
The Renpho Hand Held Deep Tissue Massage makes percussion massage affordable. It also provides superior performance with its powerful motor that functions at 36,00 pulses per minute. The portable cordless design makes it a very convenient rechargeable option ideal for daily use after practice or gym session. With five interchangeable heads, it provides versatile and precise relief to your body.
Best for home therapy: Mighty Bliss Percussion Massager
With one of the most powerful motors in the market, the Mighty Bliss Percussion Massager provides superior performance. Featuring up to 3,700 rpm percussion rates, you can tackle the most challenging knots and cramps in seconds. Over 2 hours of battery time per charge and cordless operation make this one of the best options. It has a lightweight design and six different massage heads for a varied massaging experience.
Best for athletes: Sonic Handheld Percussion Massage Gun
If your training program requires you to be at your best every day, the Sonic Handheld Percussion Massage Gun is the ideal choice for you. A favorite of elite athletes around the world, this model features five intensity settings. It also comes with five different massage heads to help you customize your therapy by targeting body areas and supplying comfort every time. This massager has a quiet motor and a long-lasting battery so that you can keep using it any time of the day. Fine-tune your body and help your recovery speed up by integrating a daily percussive massage into your fitness routine. Increase blood flow to sore areas, bring relief to stressed joints, and relax a strained back with this amazing option.
How to choose a massage gun
- What are massage guns good for? Massage guns with heat help increase blood flow and loosen tight muscle fibers and muscle knots while the percussive massage heads dig into the deep layers of your muscles.
- Do percussion massagers really work? In short, yes. A great percussion massage gun reduces tension, increases blood flow, breaks up scar tissue, speeds up rehab, and more. For athletes, percussion massage guns are an optimal solution for a speedy recovery and reduced muscle tension.
- Is a massage gun worth it? If you’re looking to shorten your recovery time after training sessions or loosen up some tight muscles, massage guns are definitely worth it. If the price is a concern for you and a $400 to $600 massage gun isn’t in your financial future, not to worry — the less expensive ones could be a good investment, too.
- Does Theragun break up scar tissue? The TheraGun helps increases blood and lymphatic flow, break up scar tissue, activate muscles, and reset the nervous system.
- Are vibrating massagers good for muscles? Vibration is effective in helping to improve flexibility and explosive power. Vibration therapy improves muscular strength, power development, kinesthetic awareness while decreasing muscle soreness, and increasing blood flow under the skin.
- Do massage guns help recovery? Massage guns are primarily thought of as “recovery” tools in today’s fitness culture, but you can also use them as a warmup tool. In fact, you can use them as a substitution for a foam roller.
- What should I look for in a massage gun? Some of the important points to take note of when getting a massage gun: Noise/sound level, battery life, attachment heads, weight, design, warranty, and included extras.
- Are Theraguns good? The Theragun, and other devices like it, use a tactic called percussive therapy to treat muscle soreness in everyone from professional athletes to weekend warriors.
- Does vibration break up scar tissue? After muscle injury or overuse, scar tissue forms in the body. This causes the tissue to become brittle and constrictive, sequestering nerves, limiting flexibility, reducing the range of motion, and causing pain. When activated by vibration waves at an optimal frequency of 170 Hz, the scar tissue begins to break up.
- Do massage guns help? Massage guns are typically used to ease tight muscles and temporarily increase circulation, they can be most beneficial immediately before a workout. Massage guns are great at increasing blood flow to local muscle tissues.
- How often should you use a massage gun? Treat yourself to a massage two to three times per day. Prior to workouts or physical activity, you can use your percussion massager for up to 30 seconds to “wake up” your muscles.
- What are the benefits of vibration massage? Vibration massages can increase bone density, increase muscle mass, improve circulation, reduce joint pain, reduce back pain, alleviate stress, and even boost metabolism.
- Does vibration help tight muscles? Vibration therapy can provide noticeable benefits for your spine and joints. A few minutes on a vibration platform can relieve chronic pain, allow tense muscles to relax, and calm nerves that are irritated due to compression. The powerful vibrations work on tendons, ligaments, muscles, and discs all at the same time.
- Is vibration good for your feet? Current research into the benefits of whole-body vibration has shown that vibrating the foot, or plantar, area of the body, has measurable effects on overall good health, including increased circulation and bone density.
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