Seems to be a good article for people interested in updating/upgrading gym gear… What’s in Your Gym Bag?
Please post your goals (strength, conditioning, hypertrophy, strongman, etc.) before your gear!
Also, feel free to put whatever you would put in your gym bag, or anything you’re planning to add.
Goals: Hypertrophy with a side of strength
Goals:
Get stronger
Get bigger muscles
Not be in pain while achieving those two
Gym bag:
Lifting Belt
Knee Sleeves
Wrist wraps
Wrestling shoes (for the squats)
Straps
Socks
Few face masks
Water bottle
Probably a pair of sweats that I forgot to take out
I usually don’t have all of that in there at the same time but that’s pretty much all that ever goes in there.
At home:
On the road:
I don’t have a gym bag but ig my belt bag counts
Always wanted a gym bag lol only thing I ever have with me is straps on pull day.
I feel like i could have all kinds of cool stuff if o had a bag
I’m a shoe and purse chick: I have so many arbitrary backpacks it’s crazy!
Powerlifter bags be like
Guess I wasn’t on the email chain for this article. 
Back when I was going to the local commercial gym, the same gear was in the bag regardless of the training plan. In the simple, well-worn orange Columbia backpack…
Towel, because people are gross. Also because I get sweaty and try to be considerate and not-gross.
64oz Sigg stainless steel bottle with Plazma or SWF (or, back in the day, Anaconda).
Plain old single subject spiral notebook and pen.
Short nylon webbing lifting straps cut from a tow rope.
Cheapass digital watch to track rest times.
Flip video camera for the very rare training vid (or clunky “vid to screenshot for picture purposes”).
I used to regularly bring my iPod to listen to all the badass custom playlists, but eventually stopped and decided to, like, actually say hi to the people I’d keep seeing time after time. (Incidentally, Time After Time is on at least one of the playlists.)
EDIT: Forgot one thing/set of things I’d specifically add at times. Anytime I was training Mrs., I’d bring our own focus mitts and bag gloves. Zero chance we’re using the communal mitts and gloves lying around at the gym, because people are gross.
Goals: Strength
White high-top Chuck Taylors
Two resistance bands (light and medium)
Grippers
Bamboo hand towel
My Dad’s leather lifting belt
Lifting straps
Dip/pullup belt (for adding weight)
Cheap magnetic timer for rest periods
Multi-color pen for logging workouts
Palm-sized log book
Headphones (ear buds with ear wrap-around)
One and 2.5 pound plates
Goal:
Items:
Equipment my gym has that I use regularly:
Towel
Belt
Cerberus knee sleeves (squats)
Hookgrip knee sleeves (oly/metcon)
Elbow sleeves
Wrist wraps
Straps
Water bottle
Band
Spare tee shirt to leave the gym in
Strength training / powerlifting
I only take a small bag to the gym:
Towel
Knee sleeves (only on squat day)
water bottle
wallet
car keys
phone - used to be a diary and a pen but hey its 2022 and google notes !
gym fob
Belt - technically not on the bag, I carry it.
I do have another belt, different sleeves, wrist wraps and straps at home but rarely use them so they aren’t in the bag.
Goal: bigger (pecs), stronger (OHP, deadlifts, pecs) leaner (midsection)
In my bag:
No bag used here either.
Towel
Water bottle
Phone (for tunes) & earbuds
I’ve got some Inzer Power pants, which are like supportive shorts for lower body days. They limit the abuse my hips and adductors take squatting and deadlifting.
I also have some Voodoo Floss. It’s like an Ace Wrap made of rubber. If any joint hurts you just wrap it up with that stuff and by some magic it’s instantly cured.
Do these really work for you? My elbows feel awful lately
Yeah man! My elbow is a problem too. I did close grip bench, bare armed, last week and got a little pain in the “front” of my elbow/forearm and a little swelling around the pointy elbow bone. Like normal.
Then I did close grip this week with the floss wrapped around my wrist, up to my elbow. All wrapped like that, like that I could feel that I was bending my wrist back, putting weird torque on my elbow. Then I was supported enough to get the motion going correctly. I got more reps and no pain.
I guess it was kinda like wrist wraps, an elbow sleeve and a compression cuff. Only in one piece.
I’m also messing around with wrapping my upper arm for shoulder/bicep stuff so it’s versatile too.
So you wear it while you’re doing the lift? Interesting. The videos I saw, the guy put it on and did a bunch of movement, but then took it off to lift.
Either way, I’m happy to give these a try. It’s mostly on chest day and even on the “safer” lifts, like DB press, my elbows feel like trash. I usually wear sleeves, which help tremendously, but it’s still enough to be annoying.
I’ll second the floss bands. I use them for a troublesome knee and they make a world of difference. I’ve always wrapped above and below the joint, done some bodyweight or really lightly loaded movements, taken them off and then lifted. Well worth the 20 or 30 bucks I spent on them.