I am a member of a gym with about 9,000 square feet of floor space with a tons of equipment all jammed together so tightly you are bound to walk into something. If you like training with machines, you have virtually every thing you need. You are in gym heaven, I suppose. Most of the people who train here a gyms all across the country use machines. Good for them.

There is a small group of people who prefer more traditional forms of weight training and lifting as you can tell from my workout logs. There are very few machines we have any interest in all. I started bringing some of my own gear to the gym as have some others. I was the first person to bring an old school Russian-style kettlebell to the “box now quite a few people bring in theirs as well. I do believe, however, I bring the most stuff to train with at the gym and anyone who would like to use any of it is more than welcome.

Take a look at the above picture and you get the idea of what I bring. Let me run through them:

Weightlifting Shoes: I enjoy the Olympic and supplemental lifts, so these shoes help considerably with support and stability.

Bumper Plates: These are great for doing the Olympic lifts and good to drop when finished. This gym actually is quite tolerant of the noise we make. Anywhere else around here and we get kicked out.

Chalk: Officially this isn’t allowed at our place, but I am discreet and clean up the evidence when finished. I use these mostly on deadlifts and kettlebell snatches. Sometimes it is the difference whether a lift succeeds or not. Magic Dust.

Bands: I use these for a variety of things from assisted pull-ups, to assisted barbell lifts to add additional resistance. These are quite handy and come in different colors and tensions. Made by JumpStretch.

Rings: I use a pair of Elite rings for push-ups, dips pull-ups, body rows and Skin the Cat. No Iron Crosses or Muscle ups, but I do get some solid work in for the stabilizer muscles.

Kettlebells: The sizes I prefer are 20, 24 and 32 kg bells and use them for snatches, swing, cleans and presses plus several other movements.

Weighted Vest: This is handy to add additional resistance and weight to anything I do. I have done long walks, hill runs, walking up sand dunes, push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, dips and a few other movements. When you become totally gassed, it adds pressure to your chest making it even more difficult to breathe. A great tool to have.

Sandbags: The newest addition. This one weighs in at 75 lbs and I used it for cleans and presses, squats, presses, snatches. over the shoulder carriers, tossing and more. I often like to mix this in with a kettlebell session. I have another bag with a 140 lb capacity I am waiting on.

Hand Gripper Trainer from Captains of Crush. It is in the gym bag for grip work, but I could get more use out of them while sitting in the southern California traffic to strengthen my grip and relieve traffic-induced stress.

The AbMat: This was popularized by Crossfit and this allows you to do sit-ups correctly and with full range of motion without causing problems to the lower back.

Not Pictured: Jump ropes, speed and beaded; 6′ Manila ropes for kettlebell swings and rope pull-ups. On order is a 100′ length for battling ropes. A Lifeline Power Wheel is a great core training tool. From Lifeline, I also have their Power Push-up which uses a system of bands to add resistance to your push-ups.

Wish List: A Pendlay bar, a Dynamax medicine ball, strongman log, sledge hammer, tire (no place to put it now). Am I missing something? Make your suggestions in Comments.

By the end of this training week, I have three kettlebells on the back floor of my jeep and a sandbag in the back. And I complain about the price of gas?

So that is my portable, “Have Gym, Will Travel”. When I get a bigger garage, I’m set. For now, I can take any of this stuff to my gym to get the workout I want or just down the street to the park, and yes, to the beach!

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