These are 10 Items that can support you on your fitness journey, monitor your progress, and help you stay on the path! The more experience you have with fitness, the more you actually need to consider getting these.
You don’t need these. But these are essential to have when you are trying to make sure you have what you need to motivate yourself.
Training is hard. It can be more difficult when you don’t have the things that can support your journey. Even if you have a personal trainer.
Here is a list of essential items that can propel you towards your fitness goals.
1. Supplements
If you have been in the fitness game or even just starting out, you know you need to have supplements to accelerate your results.
Now, I’m not saying you NEED this. As a personal trainer, I would rather have you eat highly nutritious food than buying all the supplements money can buy. Again, it’s a supplement. It is not something that you completely replace your whole food meals with.
For example, if I said that you need to eat 100g protein in a day, but you can only consume 75g, an average protein shake typically has 25g to help you get that last 25g in.
If you want some extra energy boost at the gym, get some a pre-workout that can really pack a punch in the gym!
Herbalife Meal Replacement Shakes – Packed with vitamins and minerals and high in protein. It has helped my dad lose 20lbs with proper diet and minimum exercise.
FNX Recharge- Preworkout 15% off – Excellent pump and great energy!
FNX Vegan Protein Shake 15% off – Great post-workout shake for accelerated muscle recovery!
2. Headset
When you are in the gym for 30minutes-90minutes, you would want to be listening to something that will keep you focused. Lifting weights without music can be pretty boring!
Whether that is music or motivation, make sure that it can sustain your energy and keep you hyped!
I personally love listening to my personal development/motivational videos. I want to always make sure I am feeding my mind with positivity. There is so much negativity in the world, I make sure I tune that out and build myself not just physically, but most importantly, mentally.
I use Beats Solo 3 because I love the look of it for working out.
The best quality headset I have used are Bose Quiet Comfort 3.
If I don’t feel like having a headset on, I typically just use my Airpods.
3. Gym straps
Once you can start lifting heavier, gym straps would exponentially support you by getting in quality isolation workouts.
The best time to use them is on back days. The purpose of the strap is for you to wrap the strap around the barbell or any bar and isolate the back by taking your forearm out of the equation.
Even if your back can take the beating, your forearms get fatigued pretty fast. When you allow your back to take more of the weight than your forearms, you well see significant progress in your back!
Harbinger has great workout straps.
4. Water Bottle
For obvious reasons, having a water bottle will support you on your hydration and water intake needs. I cannot believe how there are so many people who don’t drink much water. As a trainer, I’ve had and still have a few clients who have a difficult time drinking even just 2 glasses!
Sometimes, people have a hard time losing weight because they lack water. Also, we sometimes mistake thirst for hunger which can lead to overeating.
HidrateSpark 3 is a fantastic water bottle that even has an app that reminds you to drink water by lighting up!
5. Gym shoes
I see many people workout in non-workout shoes. They workout in skater shoes, boots, hiking shoes, basketball shoes, and other types. Although some don’t feel the difference, the heavier you lift, the more you may need to invest in some quality gym shoes.
Without the proper shoes, you may injure yourself in the long run. Like if your weight is offset in your shoes, you can lose balance.
A few pairs you can get are:
Reebok Men’s Lifter PR Weightlifting and Gym Shoes
If you run outside of workouts, I highly suggest having running shoes as well. There are different types of shoes for a reason. For example, basketball shoes usually have high-tops so that you won’t “break” your ankles.
6. Fitness Tracker
This is something that can support you in more areas than steps. If you choose the right fitness tracker for you, you can use it for sleep, heart rate, and distance.
The thing I personally love about my apple watch Series 5 is that I can leave my phone at home and still listen to my music with my Airpods.
The other ones you can use are Fitbit, Oura ring, or if you are more into running, Garmin.
7. Weight scale
Always nice to have one at home to check your progress. Just make sure you don’t obsess over your stats, that can be really unhealthy.
I highly recommend Renpho. It is a scale that measures your body weight, muscle mass, body fat percentage, water weight, visceral fat, and many others.
Of course, it is not the most accurate measurements in the world, but it is great to have something that can measure close to what is accurate.
8. Meal prep bag with containers
Meal prepping is obviously one of the best ways to really get the results you want. Just like anything else in life, if you want things to work for you, create a system. A system of timely meals throughout the day.
It will make sure you are eating the proper amount of food your body needs to get to where you want to be. It will prevent you from overeating or under eating. Which leads me to the next necessity.
A meal prep bag can support you by making sure you have your healthy meals with you at all times. Instead of going out to eat unhealthy food, you have your meals with you!
9. Food Scale
Measuring your food is great to ensure your daily caloric needs. If you measure your food intake and make sure you get an adequate amount of protein, carbs, and fat, you will see faster changes.
10. Deadlift Belt
Eventually, when the straps can only take you so far in your deadlift game, you would want to get a deadlift belt.
Of course this is for people who are committed to getting stronger in their dead lifts. It is unnecessary
The deadlift belt may not seem like it makes much of a difference, but why do all the powerlifters, bodybuilders, and cross-fitters, use one? They must be on to something.
On a serious note, deadlifting can be dangerous without proper guidance and equipment. I have seen people in the gym without the correct form. The sad thing is, too many people won’t lower their pride and aren’t open for some feedback or some guidance.
Regardless of what your views are, deadlift belts can help you significantly if you are one of those people who have a hard time keeping your spine neutral during a lift.
If you want a great deadlift belt, I recommend making sure that it can really keep your core stable.