Asevery race I signed up forin 2020got canceled, I thought my daily running routine might disappear. But I own two Lab puppies, I value the state of my chew-mark-free home, andI’ve learned my lesson: a tired dog is a good dog. So I run most days—sometimes a few miles, sometimes much more—through the sandy arroyos of my backyard in northernNew Mexico. This occasionallyleads to cramps, but while a weird kink in my hamstring once may have earned me a rest day, try explaining an exercise-free morning to a puppy.
Nowevery time I feel a tight IT band coming on, the($9)saves my life—and the longevity of my chair legs.
My partner, Will, and Iare both long-distance runners, andwe own four to sixfoam rollers between us. We have soft ones, firm ones, and ones with ridges. Our fanciest roller features “pressure points,” lime green ribs, and costs around $35. But the real beauty of the LuxFit isits simplicity. This thing has no bells or whistles, not even an intricate color scheme—it’s plain black. But it’sthe roller we reach for most.
The cylindermeasuresin at a foot long and six inches wide, and it weighs next to nothing. Its dense EPPfoam was made to smooth away aches and pains, and that’s exactly what it does. The roller is hard enough to apply some serious pressure to your problem spots, but not so hard that a rolling session becomes unbearable. (Don’t be fooled by the “extra firm” in the name; I’d rate this a medium softness on the scale of a fluffy pillow to a rock.)It also comes with a three-year warranty, but even after two and a halfyears of near daily rolls, ours is almost as goodas new.
The LuxFit is also helpfulfor relieving back pain that crops up in the course of daily life. I find it’sthe perfect way to undo the hours I spend slouched over my keyboard during the workday. Sometimes I don’t even roll it around: I just place it horizontally on the yoga mat beneathmy upper spineand let it stretch out my tense shoulders and neck. Will, who’s a small-scale farmer, uses it before bed to massage his muscles after long days hunched over weeds and seeds.On more than one occasion, we’ve bickered about who gets to use it first in the eveningorsnapped at each other to hurry up and hand it over.
This humble foam roller has become a household favorite,transportedfrom the living room to the bedroom to the kitchen throughout the week to beput to work.We pick it up as soon as we get back from the trails,and it slowly smoothsout any knots and tightness we picked up along the way.