What Is In Your Bodybuilding Gym Bag?

There are numerous personal items that willexercises such as squats, deadlifts, and barbell
increase the comfort of your workouts and boostrows (average cost of $30 to $40) and will offer
effectiveness. You are guaranteed to see at leastsolid lower back support.
one of the following items in a bodybuilding gym5) Straps. Straps are short (one and a half to two
bag. We've narrowed the list to give you whatfeet) pieces of woven cloth that wrap around the
we believe are the most effective and usefulbarbell or handle on a machine. You'll discover that
items.on exercises such as deadlifts, shrugs, rows,
1) Gloves. After your first couple of trainingpulldowns, etc, your forearm grip will be the
sessions, you'll notice that your hands will begin to'weakest link'. Straps allow you to handle more
develop blisters. The only way to prevent this isweight in these exercises. You can buy a set of
by wearing weight gloves (or alternatively, golfwrist straps for $15-$20 or make your own.
gloves). Keep in mind that your hands will adapt to6) Headbands. Also called sweatbands, headbands
wearing gloves. They will never get a chance toare another simple piece of equipment that will
toughen up and calluse over.make a big difference to your workouts. Nothing
2) Sponges. Sponges are a cheap way to protectis as irritating as getting salty sweat in your eyes.
the hands during a workout. They come inEven training in an air-conditioned bodybuilding gym
different sizes, but the 4 X6 by ½ inchdoes not make you immune to having beads of
variety will probably work best. Place a sponge insweat rolling down your forehead. Investing in a
each hand and grab the bar, dumbell, or machineheadband will prevent this problem.
handle. The sponge will protect the skin on the7) Chalk. The next time you watch a gymnastics
hands from blistering.competition, take a close look at the hands of the
3) Wraps. No matter how conscientious you areathletes. They are virtually white with chalk. The
about maintaining proper technique, your joints willbody's primary cooling mechanism is to release
still suffer a tremendous amount of stress. Manywater to the skin's surface in the form of sweat.
people find that by wrapping common "troubleWhile sweat does wonders for cooling the body, it
areas" - such as the knees, wrists, and elbows -makes gripping actions difficult. Weightlifting is like
reduces the possibility of injury to the joint.gymnastics in that a firm grip is an absolute
Wraps come in many shapes and sizes. Some arenecessity on all exercises. Chalk is cheap ($2-$3
elastic in nature and have a pre-set tension.for a six-inch block) and is extremely effective at
Others are nothing more than simple first-aidabsorbing sweat. Just check with your gym's
bandages that allow you to adjust the tension. It'spolicy on chalk before buying.
probably a good idea to experiment with wraps8) Water Bottle. The human body is about 90
on such bodybuilding exercises as squats, deadlifts,percent water. While we have water conservation
and bench presses.systems, there are times when our hydration
4) Belts. The most popular piece of weightliftinglevels will fall dangerously low. Always consume
equipment is the belt. We suggest treating beltscopious amounts of water when training. You can
like gloves - only use one if you really need to.use the gym's fountain, but that creates a lot of
Wearing a belt at all times never allows the lowerpotential germs. Buy a water bottle and keep it
back muscles to become stronger. Our advice isfilled. Rather than gulping large amounts, try
to only wear a belt for lower back protection onsipping it throughout your workout.