I’M A SKEPTIC when it comes to recovery gear. But frankly, it’s hard to ignore the hype around compression boots. They are far from a passing fad, with professional athletes like Lebron James and Rory Mcllroy citing them as regular parts of their recovery regimes for years. And now they’ve entered the mainstream, with one brand standing out amongst the rest.
NormaTec was founded in 1998 by Dr. Laura Jacobs and became a popular tool among athletes, eventually getting acquired by Hyperice in 2020. But the boots themselves have often been incredibly clunky, with ultra-thick hoses connecting the boots to a unit that drove air pressure. It’s historically made compression boots horrible for travel, and occasionally annoying for use at home.
Then, in June 2024, Hyperice—which produces recovery gear focused on different modalities such as heat, percussion, and vibration—released the NormaTec Elites, its newest and most expensive compression boot that “reduces muscle stiffness and promotes recovery.”
Hyperice Normatec Elites
Now 10% Off
| Product weight | 3.2 lbs (per boot) |
|---|---|
| Battery life | 4 hours |
| Includes | 2 boots, 1, 12-volt wall charger, and 1 drawstring bag |
| Sizes | Available in short (5’3” and under), standard (5’4” to 6’3”), and tall (6’4” and over) |
I’m not a professional athlete (heck, I wasn’t even a good high school athlete). But I was curious to learn more about the Elites and compression boots in general. So I booted up, scoured the internet for information, and ran my questions by Dr. Alyssa Burkitt, a Doctor of Physical Therapy for Bespoke Physical Therapy in San Diego, CA.
How Compression Boots Work
Most compression boots are intermittent pneumatic compression devices. These are commonly used in the medical field to prevent blood clots in individuals with conditions like deep vein thrombosis, lymphedema, and pulmonary embolism. However, athletes and trainers have found that they have practical applications for recreational athletes, gym-goers, and people who spend a lot of time on their feet.
“I explain to my patients that these boots act like an automated massage,” Burkitt says of the NormaTec Elites. “They use sequential compression—starting at your feet and moving up—which helps push fluid pooled in your legs back into circulation. They’re designed to enhance recovery by improving blood circulation, reducing muscle soreness, and decreasing swelling in the legs. They may also help flush out metabolic waste products accumulated during intense exercise.”
The $900 question on most consumers’ minds is this: do they work? In short, research has found that IPC can help reduce muscle swelling and improve cardiovascular recovery. A 2016 study compared massage to pneumatic compression for recovery and found that while both treatments provided subjective benefits, neither had any meaningful impact on recovery. This aligns with a more recent study, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning, which found compression devices reduced a subject’s perceived muscle soreness but had “negligible” effects on their physical performance.
As for Burkitt’s opinion: “While research is mixed … Some athletes report feeling fresher legs and reduced fatigue, particularly during periods of high-volume training or competition. Based on my years of clinical observation, I’ve noticed definite improvements in my patient’s recovery and performance.”
Shipping and Set-Up
My Normatec Elites (which, full disclosure, the brand sent me as sample) arrived within two days of placing the order. The package arrived with two boots, a 12-volt charger, paper instructions, and a drawstring bag.
Everything shipped with the Normatec Elites (two leg attachments, one charger, one travel bag).
In a world increasingly defined by instant gratification, you better believe I didn’t want to wait any longer than necessary to use my (free) high-end air-powered leg massagers—and I’m happy to report Normatec delivered. It took me about 10 minutes from unboxing the boots to having my gams pneumatically compressed. The Elites come fully charged, so all you need to do before using them is download the app, register your device, and unfold the boots.
Design and Features
What makes Hyperice’s newest iteration of its Normatec boots elite is not what they have, but mostly what they don’t.
The biggest difference between the Elites and the Normatec 3 Legs is the absence of a separate control panel and hose, essentially making them wireless and much more friendly to use on-the-go. (Therabody’s Jetboots accomplished this too a few years ago, but those units were still clunky to pack on the go. Normatec’s big win here is that somehow, they fit easily in the drawstring bag.) Each Elite has a small (about 5″ x 2″) control panel embedded on the upper thigh of each boot. You can control the boots using the physical panel or through the Hyperice app on your phone. (I found it easier to use the boot controls.) Although you need to charge and turn on/off each boot individually, the panels are synced, so you can use one panel to change the intensity levels or session time for both boots.
The boots arrive on your doorstep with a full battery, and when it’s time to charge the unit allows you to fuel both attachments up at the same time.
Other features I liked: ZoneBoost (also available in the Legs), which allows you to focus the compression more on a specific area, like your foot or upper thigh, during a cycle. Hyperice also says the boots are TSA-approved, so you could easily travel with them (and they should store fine in a carry-on or checked bag as they do fold up).
Using the Normatec Elites
Each boot is marked with an “R” or an “L”, so you know which leg to slip inside which boot, and then you’re ready to go. You’ll turn each boot on, select the intensity level and session time (15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes), and press start. Set up in a comfortable spot with enough room to extend your body, like a long sofa section or completely supine on your bed.
Within seconds, the boots begin filling with air, tightening around the foot before deflating in seconds-long intervals. The Elites have five air chambers: the foot, calf, knee, thigh, and upper thigh. Each one will inflate and deflate one chamber at a time, starting from the bottom and working toward the top of your leg. You can choose seven intensity levels, but my wife and I only tested levels five through seven.
Rather than inflating all at once, the five segments inflate in sequence starting with your feet.
There’s no plausible reason why I thought using the Elites would feel like an actual massage (except that one guy on Reddit said they did), so listen to me: Normatec makes compression boots, not massage boots. If you want the feeling of hands digging deep into your knots as you bliss out, simultaneously questioning all the decisions that led you to that point … keep paying your local masseuse. The Normatec boots feel more like the automated blood pressure cuff you use at a doctor’s office.
Still, the boots do feel good. After one particularly tough leg day, I sat for a 60-minute cycle and fell asleep to the monotonous drone of the air pump, which sounds like a white noise machine. And even though they don’t rival a massage, the compression did provide short-term relief to my legs after I ravaged them with 15-rep sets of Romanian deadlifts, walking lunges, and seated hamstring curls. My wife also routinely uses the boots simply because “they feel good” and help her relax.
Do the boots truly alleviate muscle soreness? That will vary from person to person. I felt some short-term relief, and my legs were noticeably less swollen after an hour in the boots post-leg day. But these boots won’t erase muscle soreness. After that particular leg day, my hamstrings remained almost unbearably sore for three days. So while my legs felt better while, and shortly after, using the Normatec’s, they didn’t actually get me back to lunging any sooner.
On the other hand, Burkitt uses her compression boots after long runs, intense weight-lifting days, and days when she’s on her feet for hours. “I notice significantly less stiffness the next morning than when I skip using them,” she tells Men’s Health. “The difference is especially noticeable in my calves and feet.”
The boots can help, says MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel C.S.C.S., if you find them relaxing, but they won’t be game-changers. In general, recovery therapies work in part because they relax you, shifting your body into a parasympathetic state. “That relaxation is highly personal,” says Samuel. “The boots aren’t game-changers, but the gentle compression can get you towards that state.”
They relaxed me enough that I did fall asleep after that one workout. And that’s never a bad thing.
Value
It’s difficult to judge the value of a nearly-thousand-dollar recovery product with mixed research. That said, the Normatec Elites are the compression boot of choice for the best athletes and performers. Plenty of people find value in the short-term relief that these boots provide. So, how do you know if they’re for you?
“For average gym-goers, compression boots might be worth the investment if you’re training four or more times per week with significant lower body volume, or if you’re doing regular endurance training,” Burkitt says. “They become more beneficial for those doing multiple intense training sessions per week or struggling with recovery between workouts.”
If you’re not sold on the boots, other ways exist to help your recovery. Burkitt, who does use compression boots in her practice, also recommends self-massage, foam rolling, and elevation, saying that 10 to 15 minutes of these techniques “can be just as effective as compression boots for many patients.”
Warranty
- Hyperice / Normatec products come with a one-year warranty for any manufacturing defects.
- Normatec control units and accessories include a one-year warranty against manufacturing defects in material and workmanship.
Final Verdict: Should You Buy the Hyperice Normatec Elites?
If you’re a fitness enthusiast who trains hard and has $900 lying around, rest assured that the Normatec Elites are a well-made, expertly designed product. They’re a breeze to use, feel good, and you can take them anywhere. And in terms of spending down on the Normatec 3s, you’re already spending upwards of $700—and the wireless functionality and easy portability here are certainly worth the extra $200.
If you’re on the fence (or not an elite athlete), try the manual techniques that Burkitt prescribed above (like foam rolling, self massages, and elevation), and revisit purchasing the Elites if you still want to level up your muscle recovery.
Hyperice Normatec Elites
Now 10% Off
| Product weight | 3.2 lbs (per boot) |
|---|---|
| Battery life | 4 hours |
| Includes | 2 boots, 1, 12-volt wall charger, and 1 drawstring bag |
| Sizes | Available in short (5’3” and under), standard (5’4” to 6’3”), and tall (6’4” and over) |
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Charles Thorp is the Fitness and Commerce Editor at Men’s Health, where he shares the best product recommendations in gym equipment, recovery tools, supplements, and more. Following an early life in athletics, Charles became a NASM-certified trainer and began writing programs alongside the most respected coaches in the world.
Since entering the world of fitness content, Charles has had the opportunity to learn from and train alongside high performance individuals from the NFL, UFC, NBA, Formula 1, CrossFit, US Olympics, and Navy SEALs. When he’s not writing about training programs or gear, he can be seen at the gym or in the wild, putting them to the test.
