The Old Kit Bag
Pack to prepare.
One of the biggest questions we face as amateur endurance athletes is how do we find the time to work out? We have jobs. We have families. We have other social commitments all drawing on the same pool of time.
One of the ways to get your work outs in is to be prepared. One of the best ways to be prepared is to have your kit with you.
If you’re like me sometimes your day is fluid. You leave the house at the crack of dawn with no real set agenda other than fighting fires and trying to add value the best we can in the time allotted. You need to be ready to work out with no notice.
Sometimes I’ll have appointments move, cancel or reschedule in such a way that it leaves me a gap to hit the pavement or the gym. That’s why I try to be ready. I bring my kit with me each day. Specifically I carry a gym bag. It’s a smallish 20-inch duffel bag that is my essential pocketbook for workouts.
I throw it in my car in the morning and sometimes keep it in my office. Even if I have no set workout plans or venues I have my kit with me in case the opportunity arises. By having your kit with you, you don’t have to go home to get it. You’ll be ready.
What’s in my kit? Everything I need to work out and shower afterwards.
- I have a pair of running shoes, that double as gym shoes for weights workouts with socks in them.
- I have tech shorts and a tech shirt with the appropriate undergarments.
- I may optionally include bike chamois depending on what kind of training cycle I’m in.
- I’ll typically have a tech hat or a bandana to keep the sweat out of my eyes.
- I will have a towel. Towels are actually quite strategic and I keep an extra in my office.
- If I’m in a swim cycle I’ll have my suit, goggles, swim cap and earplugs as well. They don’t take up much room.
This is just about everything you need to get almost any kind of workout in. But what do I have for after the workout? Being a guy with short hair I have an advantage of minimal toiletry requirements.
- I have a pair of shower sandals because most showers in the gyms I go to are suspect and I’d rather keep my bare feet off them.
- I have a small bar of soap. I use the soap from the hotels I stay in and I just slip them back into the wrappers they come in to keep them from mucking up my bag.
- I have small shampoo bottles too, also from hotels.
- I keep an extra comb in my bag.
- I may have an extra sample-sized stick of deodorant.
- I try to have a couple of plastic bags, like the ones from the supermarket for wet clothes.
By having all this stuff in a small duffel bag with me I’m able to execute a workout at a moment’s notice.
When you use a health club or office gym there are security concerns. You don’t want to leave your valuables or wallet in a public locker room. It’s even risky to leave them in your car at the health club because thieves know you are leaving stuff in your car when you work out and they target that.
To counter this I’ll put my valuables back in the duffel in a secure compartment and bring the bag with me. If I’m lifting weights I just put the bag on the floor in the weightlifting area. If I’m in the pool I put the bag by the pool where I can keep an eye on it. I never leave anything valuable in a locker room.
In this way my little bag becomes an enabler instead of a deterrent for exercise episodes.
Once you have the bag and its content sorted out it becomes a habit and you don’t have to think about it anymore. This takes one more contingency off your task list.
So grab your bag and join me out there.
Chris