What’s In My Gym Bag

Good morning! I think I start out all of my posts this way, but I’m absolutely stoked for today’s post. It’s been on my list of posts to write for a good long while, but I haven’t felt exactly ready to share what’s in my gym bag. Now, my bag is complete, and I’ve figured out exactly what I need to have amazing workouts and avoid that “oh shoot how did I forget that” moment.

If you are a gym goer and a have a gym bag, I think you understand what I mean by that one. It takes awhile to narrow down what you like and don’t like to keep in your bag. From equipment to food, let’s dive right in to what I’m lugging 20 minutes campus on a daily basis that make my workouts so much better.

This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure here.

The Bag

This bag look familiar?

Hopefully you’ve seen my post all about creating the perfect gym bag because I featured this as the gym bag to buy.

In that post, I’d yet to actually buy the bag, but I’ve had it for a solid six months now, and it’s all I could ask for. For $25 it does just what I need it to do: hold all of my gym essentials. Pretty basic, right?

PROS:

Love, love, love the durability of the fabric. It doesn’t easily absorb liquids, and it can be wiped off if anything gets on it. I’m not a stickler when it comes to how dirty the outside of my gym bag is because after all it’s just a gym bag.

The straps, zippers, and seams are all really high quality. I’ve had zero issues with anything breaking or seams starting to fray.

And of course I love the black and white color. I mean should you expect anything else from me? With that being said, I really like how the logo is only on one side and the rest of the bag isn’t covered in branding. For someone who likes things plain and simple, it’s perfect.

CONS:

The only con I have is the fact that there are no pockets of any kind inside or outside the bag. It would be nice to have a zippered end to throw all of my daily items in instead of them notoriously ending up at the bottom of the bag.

But that’s nothing that a few cute makeup bags can’t fix!

If you’re looking for one with pockets, this one is a step up from the basic Adidas bag. It may just be my next gym bag purchase when this one dies…

Warmup

This summer, my warmup has become one of my favorite things. I do the same routine every day, and that routine helps me get my mind where it needs to be to smash out a great session.

These mini-bands are my favorite! I use them before every pull day and leg day. I use them for glute activation before my leg workouts (duh) and before my deadlifts on my pull days. I’m a quad-dominant girl so activating those glutes prior to my workouts really helps me feel the burn.

They come in a cute little carrying pouch so they don’t end up all over your gym bag covered in protein bar crumbs. Definitely not speaking from experience on that one…

So funny story about the jump rope… I think I’ve only used it maybe twice (one of those times being while I was taking these pictures). Have y’all ever tried jump roping? IT’S HARD.

Ideally I’d be doing about 3-5 minutes of it before every workout to get my heart rate up and increase my core temperature so I’m ready for my workout, but I’ll get to that point eventually. The fact is is that I have a jump rope in my bag, probably not because I actually jump rope but to remind myself that I am lazy and guilt myself into actually using it.

Supplements

When I’m talking about supplements that I keep with me, I’m really only referring to two actual supplements and the rest is food.

So the two actual supplements I carry with me most of the time are PE Science’s High Volume and NUUN electrolyte tablets. I’ll go into more detail about both of those in my current supplements post (coming VERY soon!) but here’s a brief overview.

PE Science High Volume is a stimulant-free pre-workout. Aka there’ nothing in there that’s going to make me itchy, tingly, or prohibit me from sleeping. All it does is enhance the pump. And y’all, the pump is addicting. NUUN Hydration electrolyte tablets are just that. I pop one of them in my Trimr bottle (the pink bottle pictured) and sip on that throughout my workout. I don’t eat a lot sodium in my day-to-day diet so this helps keep those salts in my body and prevents me from getting light-headed.

Now that I’m looking at this picture, I realize how absolutely stupid that white container looks on the right… oh well.

So what’s in the white container then, Abigail?

Aside from the Quest Bar that’s seen better days, I also keep some simple carbs in my gym bag. That white container just so happens to have some animal crackers in it. Yes I still eat animal crackers like I’m six years old. But don’t hate on animal crackers. Have you had any recently? No? Well you should because they’re delicious. The Target brand is the best. Just saying.

Beauty Essentials

Now, this is definitely going to switch up just a tad when I head back to school, but for now this is what I keep with me.

All of this plays into my 10 minute post-gym routine because usually I’m running straight to class from the gym. Baby wipes and makeup remover wipes are with me 24/7. Makeup wipes are great for the face, baby wipes are perfect for the body, and they both work great to keep me smelling like I didn’t just die during a workout.

Deodorant, more specifically men’s deodorant because it works better, is with me all day, every day. I swear I own more deodorant than I need, and I keep it everywhere. In my backpack, in my gym bag, in my car, in my purse. I’m prone to forgetting it so I just avoid that “oh god I forgot to put on deodorant” panic.

I keep some lotion in the bag as well because you never know when a patch of dry skin is going to come at you. Gotta be prepared at all times.

When I head back to school, I’ll have some mascara, an eyelash curler, and an eyeliner in the bag as well.

Accessories

Here we go. I could spend paragraphs talking about this stuff, but let’s just cut to the chase.

Lifting gloves that I don’t ever use but I keep them in my bag just incase. I have very sweaty hands, so sweaty hands and heavy weights are a recipe for disaster.

I always have my glasses case with me because this girl does not wear her glasses when she works out. I can’t stand them slipping off my face, and I’m not too blind so I can get away with not wearing them. Plus, all the guys look a lot hotter when they’re a little blurry.

The green microfiber sweat towel is one of my recent additions, but it’s a lifesaver. Some people barely sweat, but not me. I look like I’ve just taken a shower whenever I get off the stair master. It’s not a pretty sight.

That makeup bag usually has my daily makeup in it, tampons, bandaids, hair bands, clips, and hand sanitizer. It keeps things a bit more organized so I don’t have all these small bits and pieces floating around my bag.

If you’re working out and don’t have a pair of bluetooth headphones, how do you do it? This is my second pair (I stepped on and broke the first pair…) and for $20 they’re pretty decent. I have them charged and ready to go every single day.

I don’t us my arm band that often, but it’s in there just incase I want to run. LOL which that will never happen but who knows, on a whim I could decide to become a runner.

Leg Day

Leg day, best day am I right? No? Okay cool.

My FitGirl ankle strap is used for glute kickbacks. They’re one of my favorite glute exercises, and if you want to build a nice backside, add them in your routine.

The Elevator Fitness bar pad is used for hip thrusts. Once you pass the 50 lb mark for hip thrusts, the bar can really start to hurt your hips so this solves all those issues. Slide it over the bar and you’re good to go for hip thrusts. Just don’t make eye contact with anyone while you’re doing your sets because that gets awkward real fast.

Most Likely Forgotten…

There’s nothing worse than getting to the gym and realizing you’ve forgotten to charge your headphones. There’s also nothing worse than getting to the gym and realizing you forgot your lock and hoping someone doesn’t steal your stuff.

I always have a lock and a portable charger in my bag at all times. Every time I’m done with the gym, I throw my headphones on the charger so that way they’re always charged.

It keeps me from having those “wow I can’t believe I really did that” moments.

Well that’s it (for now) about what I keep in my gym bag! If you read through this entire post, bless you and you’re amazing. I so didn’t mean for this post to be 1,700 words, but that’s what happens when I start talking about anything and everything related to fitness.

What do you keep in your gym bag? Do you have anything that you just can’t leave behind?

~abigail gray