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3.6.14

Your in-the-gym style: You want it all – and love it all: chocolate and vanilla, smoothies and green juice, long walks and leisurely bike rides. When life hands you lemons, you makes lemonade, lemon ricotta pancakes and a lemon poppyseed facial to boot. So when it comes to working out, you’re no different: you love a little variety, sometimes spontaneously jumping into a class, sometimes jumping from machine to machine to create a routine that’s as unique as you are.

what you need in Your bag: You to move seamlessly from one activity to the next. Your ideal gym bag allows for spur-of-the-moment decisions to come to fruition without freaking that you don’t have the proper gear. Here’s what to pack…and what to pack it in!

11 Essentials For The Fitness Flexitarian

Compartmental gym bag

Your greatest conundrum as a fitness flexitarian is the fact that those irresistibly chic training totes just don’t cut it. When your gym bag doubles as a portable fitness facility in and of itself, you need something that delivers. Look for a multi-compartmental bag with optional straps, zippered pouches for smaller accessories, and a place to store all those extras you are invariably carrying around. We love Livewell360’s ultimate-workout Luxx bag, equipped with eleven pockets to keep your things neat and tidy, plus motivational phrases on the inside to keep you aiming high and running far. 

Flexible shoes

A pair of shoes that can go from the treadmill to a boot camp and back again, fit comfortably into the cages of a spin bike, and hold up for the long haul is hard to find. Choose a pair that can withstand any terrain, like the Cloudrunner by On. This brand out of Switzerland is doing things a little differently: supportive, lightweight, responsive, all packed into a swoon-worthy athletic shoe fit for the runway (apparently we’re not the only ones who think so – it made an appearance during Fashion Week)!

Fitness tracker

You, fitness flexitarian, know more than anyone that fitness is a lifestyle. That’s where a top-notch fitness tracker like the Fitbit One comes into play. During the day, it tracks your steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed – but doesn’t stop at your workout. By night, this nifty gadget actually helps you learn how to sleep better, tracking your sleeping patterns so you can maximize that much-needed recovery time. Plus it doubles as an alarm clock, waking you up for those early morning sweat sessions right on cue. You’ll never hit snooze again.

Lifting Gloves

Whether it’s to avoid pesky callouses or secure your pull-ups, lifting gloves are a must in our gym bags. Whether it’s from pumping iron or pushing our own body weight off the ground, our poor wrists sometimes feel the burn as well. Choose a pair of gloves with great wrist support, such as Wrist Assist‘s variety, to keep the weight off your wrists as well as your waistline. 

Contrasting Outfits

There is nothing worse than realizing you only packed running shorts for your spin class. Just trust us on that one. Try packing two outfits suitable for contrasting activities, whether you’ll be popping from one to another or simply don’t know how you’ll be feeling when you enter workout mode. Want to go for a run but planned to get your downward dog on? You’re going to need clothes that hold you in while you work it out. Pack one sports bra suitable for high intensity and one for low impact – we love Nike’s Pro Hypercool Compression bra and Under Armour UA Seamless Essential Wire-Free Sports Bra, respectively. A fitted tank and looser tee, or snug pants (we can’t get enough of Colloseum’s Maximum Speed Legging!) and a pair of shorts are always great to have on hand.

Microfiber towel

When you’re going back and forth between exercises, you need a towel that delivers. A super-absorbing microfiber towel, like the one by Sweaty Betty, not only  provides an extra cushion between you and that yoga or pilates mat, but dries quicker than that guy on the treadmill next to you…whom you may or may not be competing with in your mind. The right towel is essential for any lean, mean workout machine. 

Extra hair ties

We’re all about those little touches of luxury, wherever we go. Why settle for ho-hum hairbands? These Marc Jacobs cuties come in packs of three, so you’ll never be without. The colors and charming accents are so cute we don’t even mind sporting them around our wrists for hair-mergencies!

Filtered Water Bottle

Your eco-friendly habits don’t have to come to a halt once you step outside your home. Tote along a water bottle with a filter, like this one by aquagear, to fill up at the water fountain before you get sweating.

Light jacket

Whether you’re the outdoorsy type or like your fitness within four walls, an extra layer is always a smart choice to have on hand, especially as a fitness flexitarian. Going from one activity to the next might mean minor climate change, and keeping your body warm is essential to maximizing performance. We love the Nike Legend Poly 2.0 jacket to fend off post-sweat chills. 

Perfect tunes

As a fit flexitarian, you’re popping from one style or machine to the next in mere minutes. The right tunes are absolutely essential to help you transition. Make sure to stock your phone or iPod with high-energy songs for high energy workouts, as well as some softer songs to accompany your post-sweat stretch. Lacking motivation? Download an album you’ve been dying to hear, and promise yourself to only press “play” once you start sweating! Invest in a pair of quality, stay-put earbuds, such as our favorites by Yurbuds, and you’ll leave the gym feeling like a rockstar. 

Easy snack

While being a fitness flexitarian has many perks, one drawback is that you’re likely stumped by snack options. Light yet satisfying, nutritious yet delicious, enough but not too much. Store a couple of Quest All-Natural Bars in your gym bag – at 200 calories or less, you’ll be getting the fiber and protein necessary to power you up and tide you over without the sugar or unnecessary calories to weigh you down.

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