Used Gear
Shoes - Adidas Power Perfect II. These beat my adipowers hands down.
Belt - Pioneer Cut belt. 1/2" adjustable buckle would be ideal. Convenience of a lever is let down by lack of adjustability and girth. Also, I have to stick to 10mm because 13mm belts have led to rib issues.
Knee Sleeves - SBD. Worth every penny. Placebo or not, my knees always feel warmed up when wearing these.
Chalk - Rogue gymnastics chalk block. Easy to apply and less mess.
Tape - Average Broz lifting tape. This tape is great for hook grip, it prevents slipping and has eliminated any pain or excessive callousing.
Unused Gear
Wrist wraps - SBD. Good quality, but I have never seen any benefit from them.
Straps - Rogue Straps. I stopped using straps once Jordan started coaching me. He is a fan of building grip strength and after a short adjustment phase I understand why.
Any good belt recommendations for the UK? I have a 4in 10mm double prong one that I picked up off Amazon (canāt remember the brandā¦ scorpion logo on it??). Although pretty inexpensive it was my first belt and convinced me of the necessity for one so may look to upgrade soon. Probably not a lever though as I seem to fit different holes quite frequently
The rest of my gear while weāre at it;
Adipowers - still not too sure about these and sometimes revert to my Powerlift 3s.
Adidas Havoc (martial arts shoe) - flat shoe for pulls. Pulling in heels makes my left shoulder hurt for some reason. Would happily pull in socks if not in a public gym
Rehband blue 7mm knee sleeves - although squatting without these doesnāt seem to bother my knees too much I quite like how they seem to help me feel the knee position
Rogue black and white stiff wrist wraps
Strengthshop lifting straps - bog-standard, only use on high rep pulling, need to use chalk with these still.
Block of chalk, goes everywhere but comes off the bar easier than liquid chalk
Few fractional plates that add up to make a 1.25kg increment, not necessarily that useful in a commercial gym I know
Shoes - wrestling shoes for deadlifting and adipowers for everything else
Belt - 3" dominion single prong for deadlifting, 13mm inzer lever for everything else
SBD knee sleeves
Titan THP wrist wraps
Rogue wrist straps for supplemental pulls
The gym bag is finally starting to die. The shoe section zipper broke and we donāt want nice Adidas Power Perfect 2.0s falling out of the bagā¦ It has done me well over the last 20 odd years when I bought it at a samples and seconds sale for Nike products in the late 1990s back in Aus.
Any suggestions as to a moderately priced, not too large gym bag? It is to hold:
one weight training belt
one pair of aforementioned Adidas shoes
one pair flat shoes (take up bugger all room as they are barefoot shoes)
one drawstring bag for chalk ball, wrist straps, and wrist wraps
one shaker bottle (for those pre-peri-intra workout nutrition gains - I get hungry while training, sue me)
one set of clothes (undies, shorts, t-shirt, socks)
one padlock (for the odd time I go to the wifeās gym close to home which needs padlocks on the lockers) Bags easily available in the UK would be ideal (because screw import taxes and shipping charges).
I donāt want it to be too big, which admittedly my current bag is a bit too big. No idea what the litre volume measurement isā¦ It feels bigger than 30L but dunnoā¦
Then again, I might be an old school chump and use a couple of safety pins to close up the shoe section and just use it until I actually die firstā¦ My son and wife will be yelling at me āWhy dad/hubby? Why the crappy old bag? Still?!ā And I will chuckle while wearing my shorts with tears up the sides along the stitching in them and t-shirts with holes in the armpits and press 2+ wheels each side, bench 3+ wheels, squat 4 wheels, and deadlift 5 wheels (with circa 35 inch waist - gotta stay sub 40). One can aspire and dreamā¦
