The mobility kit, and what each thing is actually for

Support you into a position

Blocks, a wall, a chair, a strap

Add load at end range

Resistance bands, light weights

Apply pressure to tissue

Foam roller, massage ball

Tell you whether it worked

A tape measure, a phone camera, a wall

The reason to separate them is that they are not substitutes. A roller cannot support you into a position and a block cannot load a joint. Somebody who owns a roller and a mat and finds nothing changing usually owns equipment for one job and is trying to do a different one.

• Blocks (two, foam or cork) — Raise the floor. That single function solves a large proportion of the "I cannot reach the position at all" problem, which is otherwise solved by rounding the back and practising something other than what was intended. Cork is heavier, more stable and lasts; foam is lighter and cheaper and squashes. Two, not one — most uses are symmetrical.
• A strap, or a dressing gown cord — Extends your reach so you can hold a limb in a position your hands cannot get to. A purpose-made strap with loops is genuinely better than a towel for anything you hold for a while, and costs very little. This is the item people most often improvise and most often should not.
• A wall and a sturdy chair — Free, and between them they support more mobility work than everything else on this page. A wall gives you a straight reference for alignment, which is the thing you cannot supply yourself. Do not buy anything until you have run out of uses for these two.

"Band" covers two quite different products and buying the wrong one is the commonest equipment mistake in this hobby.

• Light resistance bands or loops — Thin latex loops or flat therapy bands. These add gentle resistance through a range and are what most mobility work actually calls for. A set of three or four tensions is cheap and covers nearly everything.
• Heavy pull-up or "mobility" bands — Thick, long, very strong loops, sold for assisted pull-ups and for joint distraction — anchoring the band and letting it pull a joint apart while you move. They are not stronger versions of the first kind and they are not interchangeable with them. They also store a great deal of energy, which is worth respecting: a heavy band that slips off an anchor moves fast.
• A light dumbbell or a kettlebell — Underrated here. Loading a position at the end of its range is, for a lot of people, what actually changes it — and a 4kg weight held at arm’s length does that more usefully than any band. This is where the mobility and strength worlds meet, and the crossover is the point rather than a confusion.

Foam rollers are the most-owned and least-understood item in the category. What is reliably true is that rolling a muscle feels good, reduces the sensation of tightness for a while, and is a pleasant way to start or finish a session. Claims beyond that — that it lengthens tissue, breaks down adhesions, or produces lasting change on its own — are contested, and this page is not going to settle them for you.

Treated as "something that makes a position more accessible right now, before you do the actual work", a roller earns its space. Treated as the work itself, it explains why a lot of people roll for months and find nothing has changed.

• A plain medium-density roller, about 90cm — Long enough to lie along your spine, which the short ones are not. Smooth rather than knobbled for a first one — textured rollers concentrate pressure and are harder to tolerate, not more effective.
• A single firm ball — Does the small areas a roller physically cannot reach — glutes, under the foot, around the shoulder blade. A lacrosse ball is the standard and a tennis ball is the softer version. This is the item that most reliably justifies its cost.
• What to skip — Vibrating rollers, percussion guns and multi-piece kits, at least until you have used a plain roller for six months and can say specifically what it is not doing for you.

Mobility changes slowly and imperceptibly, which means that without a record you cannot tell whether anything is working — and the commonest reason people stop is not that it failed but that they could not see that it had not.

Film the same position, from the same place, once a month. Mark a spot on the floor for the phone and a spot for you. That is the whole method, it costs nothing, and it is the only item on this page that answers the question everybody actually has.

A note on scope, consistent with the rest of this subject: nothing here prescribes positions, durations or how hard to push, because those depend on a body nobody here can see. The subject page explains why, and the companion guide on training without hurting yourself covers what to do when something is painful rather than merely uncomfortable.