11 Best Foam Rollers For Sore-as-Hell Muscles

Working out is all fun and games until you realize that it's actually no fun and there are no games. Unless you've been playing pick-up basketball or you're trying to teach a youngin in your life a good game of catch, in which case it's some fun, no games. No matter what kind of movement you're doing or how much of it you're doing, joints get achy, muscles get sore, and you get used to a reality that includes waking up with pains you didn't have the night before.

Foam rollers aren't going to fix all of your problems, but they might help ease some of the muscley ones. Now, the large-scale research on foam rolling effects is not comprehensive, so most of the claims you'll hear about it are anecdotal. There's some evidence to show that foam rolling before a workout can help increase your range of motion, and many physical therapists and trainers will recommend foam rolling post-workout to prevent delayed-onset muscle soreness.

Even if you're not aiming for some high-level athletic performance, there's an abundance of anecdotal evidence to show that holding tight muscles on a dense foam roller (and breathing through the pain) can at least help you and an aching body relax. Whether you're training at the gym or hunched over a laptop all day or, best of all, a combination of the two, a foam roller can get your stiffened muscles to chill out right from the comfort of your living room floor. Eleven of the best ones, here.