Pack it in

I confess:  I am spoiled.  I don’t have to leave home to work out because I have a spin bike and a studio with equipment for weight training and Pilates right in my house.  However, I do pack a gym bag when I go swim and I didn’t always have all this cool stuff.  Here are the things every gym bag should have (besides the obvious clothes and toiletries):

•      Extra hair ties.  I don’t know where they go, but they vanish.  Sprinkle a dozen into the bag every few months to appease the gods.

•      Snacks.  Everyone has, at one time or another, a calorie crash during a workout.  Having an emergency energy bar or gel packet or baggie of nuts and raisins can save our bacon.

•      Extra water bottle.  These vanish, too.  Maybe it’s the gym version of the dish running away with the spoon?  The hair tie ran away with the bottle?

•      Towel.  Sure, the gym probably has towels, but when the cap is not on quite tightly on the water bottle, having a towel right there is useful.  Hand towel is nice.  Bath towel is living large!

•      Flip flops.  For shower or hot tub.

•      Emergency sweatshirt.

•      Extra headphones.  Because when they don’t vanish, they break.

•   Plastic bag.  Just in case.