Our Top Gym / Home Gym Accessory Must-Haves
We're living in some weird times right now, and one thing that helps keep us sane is our workout routine. Working out gives us something to look forward to, pumps us up with endorphins, pushes us to learn to push ourselves, and improves our mood.
As one of our favorite fitness influencers Ally Besse always says, you're just one workout away from a better mood (or maybe everyone says this, but she's a great reminder of it!)
We listed below our top gym accessories that help us stay motivated and inspired when working out.
An Environmentally-Friendly Bottle for Top Hydration
Hydroflask is my top pick, as my first (and only one) has lasted 2+ years and has been on planes, trains, roadtrips and every trip to the gym. However, if you're looking for a bigger or more lightweight version, check out these other recommendations at Big Bottle Co and Hydrojug. The image below is of Big Bottle Co. and they have some awesome collections with frosted colors!
Water is life, and is absolutely critical to getting in a good workout and recovery. 🌊🌊 Stay hydrated friends! 🌊🌊
Comfortable Headphones 🎧
Listening to music is one of my favorite things about working out! Music can be an awesome motivator to push your limits when lifting weights. It can also be a great mental anchor or distraction when you're doing cardio. I'm a big fan of comfortable headphones that fit over my ear while working out. They're also great because they're bold and obvious, so people know they need to really signal you if they want to talk (so they're super helpful if you prefer to do your own thing and keep chit chatting to a minimum at the gym).
My personal favorites are included below; they're very affordable compared to other over the ear headphones on the market. 🎧
Bands
Bands are great for at home workouts, but when the gyms open back up, bring them with you! They are very versatile to movements and are helpful to take your lifts to the next step (as Bret Contreras' website explains, you can use them "during hip extension exercises such as squats, bridges, hip thrusts, leg presses, and reverse hypers to add a hip abduction component and place double duty on the glutes.")
Other forms of bands can be found online that are more flexible for fully body work, arm work, extra resistance or assistance (e.g., in pull ups), but I prefer the thicker bands predominately for glute work. (see Amazon for options).
Foam Roller
Warming up and cooling down properly is critical to progress in the gym. Foam rollers are one of the most effective and versatile tools to utilize! Most gyms will have a ton of foam rollers in the stretching area, but you can (and should!) keep a foam roller at home as well. Check out YouTube for instructional videos on how to use a foam roller to get out knots and warm up different parts of your body before diving into a workout.
Let us know in the comments if you have a favorite gym accessory we missed.
YOUR BODY IS AMAZING. TREAT IT WITH RESPECT!