Creating the Perfect Gym Bag

Happy New Year! I can’t believe winter break is over and done with, and classes have started back up. This semester I’m taking it a little easier, and making my health a main priority. With only two computing in my course load this semester, I have a lot more time to fit in going to the gym. With it being the start of the new year, I’m sure a lot of you are working on making your health a priority.

*this post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure.

Developing and constantly striving to live a healthy lifestyle has completely changed my life. I’ve talked a lot about my fitness and health journeys here on the blog, and I’m excited for you to start your very own! Today I’m partnering with Amazon Prime Student to show you how you can create the perfect gym back full of gym essentials! These are products I incorporate into my everyday fitness routine, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

All of the products featured in today’s post are available on Amazon, and with Amazon Prime Student, you’ll even get free two day shipping!

Step 1: The Gym Bag

Okay this one isn’t 100% necessary, but if you don’t want to lug your backpack to the gym or you have no room in your backpack already, a gym bag is perfect.

Some of the gym bags I found were MASSIVE. Like sorry, I don’t need to take my whole pantry, a blender, and three changes of clothes with me to they gym. All I need is my water bottle, a snack, a change of clothes, and some makeup wipes.

Upon scouring Amazon for the perfect gym bag, I stumbled upon this one from Adidas. It’s in my Amazon cart right now because it’s the perfect size. Plus it comes in so many fun colors! Or, if black is more of your thing, they also offer it in all black. At $25, it’s affordable, making it perfect for college students.

Step 2: Hydration

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Y’all I cannot tell you how much working out sucks when you’re dehydrated. Yes it’s important to keep sipping on water throughout a workout, but it’s even more important to drink water during those other 23 hours when you’re not at the gym.

Throw a bottle or two into your gym bag. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re not dying of thirst during your workout.

Don’t like water? Trust me, I get that. Water gets boring sometimes, and it’s even more boring when you’re use to drinking sodas and sugar-filled beverages every day. If you’re not a big fan of drinking water, try adding some of the following to your water bottle!

• Fresh-cut fruit like lemons, cucumbers, strawberries, oranges, etc.
• Zero-calorie water flavoring (don’t overdo it – a few drops go a long way)
• Flavored sparkling water (perfect substitute for soda without all that sugar)

While I don’t like flavored water while I’m working out, I’ll fill an extra bottle, throw a few lemon slices in, and toss that in my gym bag for post workout.

Step 3: Snacks

Pre and post workout nutrition is very important. You’re not going to function properly during a workout if your body isn’t ready to go. Snacks are important to keep in that cute new gym bag because you never know when you’ll get hungry!

Pre Workout

Pre-workout snacks can vary a lot. But you’re going to want to focus on getting some carbs in your system. Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy because they’re easy to convert. If I’m working out in the morning, I’ll typically have a bowl of oatmeal. If it’s later in the day, I may have a slice of toast with a little bit of jelly. Those aren’t really “gym bag ready,” but you can also never go wrong with some fruit!

Post Workout

I always enjoy a nice protein shake and banana after a workout. I’ve really been loving the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard in Extreme Milk Chocolate. But, if you don’t have protein powder, don’t worry! I always toss in some piece of fruit for post-workout because they’re easy, delicious, nutritious, and self-contained. A few things I like to keep in my bag for post-workout snacks are:

• Fruit (bananas, oranges, apples)
• Protein bars (Nature Valley makes a great Protein version of their granola bars!)
• Greek yogurt (if I’m able to keep it cold)

Step 4: Extras & Accessories

Aside from the essentials like food and water, there are definitely other things I notoriously keep in my gym bag (mostly because I’m prone to forgetting them…)

Some people (definitely not me) are able to workout with out headphones, and I’m pretty sure that’s only like 2% of the population. If you’re able to get your hands on a pair of wireless bluetooth headphones, you’ll thank yourself later. I always have these in my bag, and I also carry a portable charger so I’m never left with uncharged headphones.

If you’re sticking to wired headphones, or you don’t want to constantly be holding your phone (say you’re running or something), then an armband is perfect for you. I always have one in my bag just in case because I never know when I’ll want to run a marathon or something.

After the gym, I typically don’t smell all that great, and I really don’t have time to shower. So, a quick wipe down with baby wipes/makeup wipes and a reapplication of deodorant is a lifesaver. Having a pack of baby wipes, makeup wipes, and a stick of deodorant in your bag will save you. Trust me.

Okay, finally never don’t have an extra pair of socks in your gym bag. There’s nothing worse than getting to the gym and being super hype for a workout only to realize you forgot socks. Bummer. Keeping an extra pair always on you will keep this from happening to you 🙂

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My family has used Amazon Prime for years, and when I headed to college and found out that I could have Amazon Prime Student for just half the price, I said “sign me up!” This is going to sound silly, but it was one of my first steps to become more independent from my parents. Free two-day shipping, unlimited streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with Prime Video, and so much more. Why would I pass that up?

When you first sign up for Amazon Prime Student, your first six months are free! (and what college student doesn’t like free?) After that, you’ll only be charged $49 annually. That’s 50% off the regular Amazon Prime Membership and includes so many cool benefits like

• Unlimited listening to original audio series with Audible. Hello endless TED talks!
• Unlimited reading on any device with Prime Reading.
• Free game content every month, exclusive discounts, plus endless possibilities with Twitch Prime

For more info, click here.

~abigail gray

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.