I was kind of rolling my eyes until I got to #9. That question will haunt me until my dying day.
“So I have a post idea for you,” a friend at the gym recently said to me. (Incidentally this friend is the only person I have ever seen do the Wicked Wiper in person and he can do like 15 of them. It’s crazy. The first time we saw him do it we all burst into spontaneous applause on the weight floor which was even more awkward considering we hadn’t introduced ourselves yet and so pretty much looked like total creepers.) Anyhow, I love love love it when people start with this sentence. Mostly because it can be finished in so many awesome ways. “…what’s the deal with coconut water?” (Good q! Still need to write this one!) “…who invented push-ups?” (Don’t know but if I ever meet them I’m going to sit on their back for added resistance.) and “…why don’t you write Jillian Michaels fan fiction?” (Didn’t know that was an actual thing but I find it weird to write fiction about real living people.)
But this time my friend finished it with “I’m so sick of my earphones falling out every three seconds when I’m working out! I’ve tried every type out there and I’ve never found a pair that will stay put. And I cannot workout without my tunes!” As a sweaty Betty myself, he had my instant sympathy. I didn’t even realize that I sweated out my ears until one long run outside where my ear buds fell out so many times I looked like I had an ear-cleaning tic shoving them back every few steps forcing me to finally remove my headband and put it over the top of my ears to hold them in. (This was not nearly as awkward as when I realized why wearing gray cotton yoga pants to TurboKick is a huge mistake. It was like a Rorschach ink blot test… on my lady bits.) Anyhow, while I do like cleaning out my ears – heaven help me if I find a rogue Q-tip somewhere, it’s total eargasm time – I really don’t want to do it while I’m running.
The fitness industry has come up with myriad ways to solve this problem. First were the original headphones – you know, the kind that attached to your Sony Walkman strapped to your fanny pack? But the cheap plastic and foam never stayed put and covering your whole ear made the sweat even worse. Next were the “sport headphones” that had the plastic ear piece that wraps around the outside of your ear but, as my friend pointed out, they don’t work with his glasses. And I must have weirdly shaped ears because they never stayed put on mine either. Then came the tiny little ear buds that you stick in your ear – the better to permanently maim your hearing with! – and all the ways they can fall out, get tangled up and lose the leeeetle foam covering deep in your ear canal. I finally broke down and bought some hot pink Skullcandy ones with the interchangeable rubber tips. They were cuter but they still fell out of my ears when I got good and sweaty.
My Fave Piece of Fitness Equipment
I didn’t have a good answer for him at the time but I wanted one because, like the Gym Buddies will attest, I cannot run Tabata sprints without music. If I can hear myself sucking wind I slow down so my mp3 player is my must-have accessory. The universe heard my cries however and rained down earphones like manna. Actually: DB Logic mailed me a pair of their SPL2 earphones to try out for free. I adore them. ADORE. (And no they are not paying me for this post.) For two reasons:
1. The unique design has you place the earbuds “upside down” in your ears so that the thin cords run up over your ears. There is a little slider where they meet behind your head so you can tighten it up keeping the earphones tightly in place – seriously no slippage through a 3 mile run AND Tabatas – and keeping the wires out of your way.
2. The SLP2 technology automatically limits the sound pressure to 85 decibels in your ears thereby preserving your hearing and preventing you from being that girl 5 treadmills down who you know freaking loves Eminem because you can hear every syllable from her earphones 20 feet away. Not saying I don’t appreciate that girl when I’ve forgotten my own music – except for the day she played non-stop Katy Perry – but I just don’t want to be that girl. Picking the music for the entire gym to listen to is a big responsibility is all I’m saying.
Plus, at $34.95 they’re not much more expensive than my Skullcandy ones and they also come in lots of fun colors and with interchangeable rubber tips to get the right fit.
Fit Pros’ Fave Piece of Fitness Equipment
While I may be manic about my music during a workout, everyone seems to have their one favorite fitness tool they can’t live without and who better to ask than people who make their living in the biz? Check out my slideshow on Shape.com to see what personal trainers and fitness instructors picked as their must-have tool. You need to read it just to see what Kirez Reynolds – CrossFit trainer extraordinaire – picked. When he first posted it on Facebook I thought he was just being a smart aleck but it turns out he was serious and has the photographic evidence to prove it. Seriously, he’s amazing.
What is YOUR Fave Piece of Exercise Equipment?
Do you have to turn around and go home if you forget the chest strap to your heart rate monitor? Do you love your interval timer so much that you refuse to wear it in your cleavage Zuzana-style so that your sweat won’t ruin it? Do you pack your TRX in your travel bag first even though the TSA will flag it just to ask you if you’re into bondage? Also, what’s your solution to the earphones-falling-out issue??
I’m surprised no one said sandbag. For me the sandbag is a must have since it works the entire body, it’s versatile, and easily scalable in weight, plus it’s really cheap to make and to add more weight as you get stronger. I use it with my clients all the time and they love it as much as I do.
Ooh good call! That and the TRX are the staples of my at-home workouts!
I love, love, lurve my recumbent stationary bike.
Another good one! I’m surprised no one else thought of bikes
My favorites are these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00001P4XA/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?ref_=sr_1_1&qid=1305781763&sr=8-1 in fact they are so good, they block out all sound, so I just wear one at a time when I need to hear what is going on around me!
Very cool – thanks for the tip! Never seen them before.
I love my shiny blue swim cap. Yes I may look like a cross between a smurf and a cone-head but my hair is neither in my eyes or marinating in clorine so I’m happy. Plus it’s shiny.
This is where I confess I had no idea what swim caps were for until about a year ago, lol. I thought they were supposed to keep your hair dry.
My fave piece of equipment is those foam rollers, because it makes my body feel better after running or spin class, and it’s good for me.
I’m also pretty particular about having my complete gym-item-list, otherwise I won’t workout: ipod (I just use the apple in-ear buds, and I’m fine with them, no falling out problems, and I’m good at moderating the volume on my own), gym clothes, shoesies (flip flops and runners), fave water bottle, and shower items. Contacts, surprisingly, are optional. Thank goodness my gym provides towels, because wet ones are a pain to deal with.
FYI, NPR did a thing on coconut water:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/12/30/144440775/coconut-water-companies-sell-image-not-taste
The foam rollers are def. a fave for a lot of people!
My workout must-haves are probably my hair bands and clips. I just can’t stand sweaty strands of hair falling into and sticking to my sweaty face.Yuck!
And my water bottle! I love being hydrated, and have to sip on water every 10 minutes or so.
I have some cheap in-ear phones on my player, and they surprisingly stay put, even during tough intervals on the treadmill.
my 6 year old.
Best workout accessory ever;)
I love my GymBoss — it’s a 2-stage timer I use primarily for Tabata work, but even with no tweaking I can do 4 x 1-minute exercises with no rest.
I have a GymBoss – it’s awesome!
I love my new rebounder. I feel like a kid on it. If I walk by it, I can’t resist the urge to get on it and get in a few good jumps just for the fun of it.
I’ve been dying to try one of those!!
Hands down my yoga mat. My Manduka Black mat pro. That thing is my child!!
I have massive problems with earphones at the gym, so these SPL2 earphones sound great! However, I definitely won’t be wearing them for tabatas – I’m too busy focussing on not falling over to listen to anything!!
I kind of want that pull up band now. And a TRX. And my very own Bosu Ball (those are expensive!!).
I use the stationary recumbant bike everyday, so I guess that would have to be my fave pick. Its not exciting or new and shiny, but it gets the job done.
You can use a looped resistance band in lieu of a pull-up band if you want! We’ve done it as a pull-up assist and it works although I personally prefer the one foot on a chair trick.
My favorite piece of kit and my solution for keeping my headphones from falling out are one and the same. I use a Jabra SPORT Bluetooth headset. It stays in place really well and I don’t have a cord to get tangled in.
I just wrote a review of it – http://www.fit40sblog.com/2012/01/jabra-sport-review-and-giveaway.html
My brain!
I realized long ago that my wanting to do what I had to do for fitness was everything.
My treadmill. Without it, there is probably no way I’d get in all of the running workouts I need to prepare for races.
My treadmill. I enjoy running, but I am a cold-weather wuss. If I didn’t have my treadmill, I believe my butt would be firmly planted on the couch for 6 to 7 months!
I have always had a problem with getting ear-buds to stay in my ears. So I still wear the old-fashioned, big foam headphones. Yup, I look like a dork, but they work!
I hear ya – I too am a cold weather wuss!
Whenever I work out, I have to have this headband that I may or may not have borrowed from a friend and now refuse to return. It’s elastic with a little rubber lining to keep it in place, and while I’ve never worn it as a headband, it’s the only hair band that has been able to keep my super thick hair in a ponytail or bun without issue.
Regarding ear buds, I can’t use them when I’m working out, no matter how much I want to listen to music. I’m kind of a static machine, so whenever I’m running or moving around, they tend to shock the insides of my ears with every step. Alas!
Seriously?! I have never heard of the ear-shocking thing before! Eek!
I thought my husband and I were the only ones this happened to! I’ve solved it by holding our iPhones in our hands instead of putting them in shorts or pockets. It’s the only way I can listen to music and workout (and I need my music).
The Boy has changed headphones and *thinks* this has solved the problem for him, but we’re waiting to see.
Holy cow, he’s running UP A WATERFALL.
How? Who? What? Does he know about the whole gravity thing?!?!?!
I’m also going to say my yoga mat. I can do yoga, Pilates, strength training, and it’s my own, so I don’t have to lie in anyone else’s sweat. 🙂
Finally, I have no solution to the sweaty ear/ear bud issue. Those SPL2’s look great! I like that you can’t turn it up too loud. Take it from me, kids, a woman who used to wear her Walkman on the NYC subway turned to full volume: protect your hearing! And it’s no use arguing with me, I can’t hear what you’re saying! What?
I know, it’s just… insane and amazing all at the same time, right?? And you crack me up – pretty sure my hearing’s damaged from my teen years too!
Huh. I just took my regular old cheapie ear buds out and stuck them back in upside down with the wire over my ears like you suggested. Not only do they stay in, but the sound is actually BETTER so I could turn the radio tunes down! BRILLIANT! Thanks!
Hahah I LOVE it! It never occurred to me to just try that trick with regular earphones! I’ll remember that and I’m so glad it worked for you!
Oh man, I hope this is my new earphones-falling out solution. That drives me nuts! Totally going to have to get a pair of these.
As for what I can’t work-out without: my sweat towel! I think I must be the sweatiest person (totally feel you with the gray yoga pants, even though I do it anyways) and I hate how it feels on my face. No towel, no workout. Seriously, not even yoga.
Kettlebells! They can be a cardio sweatfest or a killer strength training session…and workouts are great for those short on time. Love ’em!
For me the most important piece of fitness equipment is my set of BodyLastic stretchy bands and attachments. The BEST door anchor I’ve seen and -lust for it- they are coming out with a full door attachment system.
I can use this for rehab, for stretching, for strength training. It packs. It weighs almost nothing.
I’m in love.
ooh. I think I need to try those headphones. I use the behind the ear ones, but they still don’t do when I’m super sweaty…
For me my fave is (bedies music which is absolutely necessary) my heartrate monitor and a medicine ball. I didn’t realise how versatile it is and how many things I use it for until last spring when football training starts up at my campus gym and they steal the medicine balls away in the mornings.. Grrr…
OH – and my freezer has a light in it. 🙂
besides not bedies…
Re: the headphones, I’ve had good luck with the wrap around the ear kind.
If I’m doing cardio at the gym on the treadmill or whatever, I will not work out without headphones. I would rather die. Other than that, I just need clothes.
This is a little weird, considering I never have it actually with me in the gym, but I think my most essential thing for working out is my computer (+ Internet connection). Looking up new things to try, new routines, watching how-to videos on moves, always gives me the motivation to go ahead and do my best in the gym. Sometimes just watching something new that I just HAVE to try, or seeing someone really fit pump out 50 burpees can get me motivated to go and see how well I can do trying to same thing, even on days when I might otherwise have just gone home and done a nose dive a bag of popcorn.
I’d give up all equipment before I’d part with my Garmin GPS watch. I’m a data junkie and love knowing every route, pace, time, distance, cadence, and heart rate for nearly every run (and bike) I’ve ever done. I enjoy the feedback and the sense of accomplishment that I get logging my workouts and tracking my progress and miles!!
Saw that Shape article! Me – have to be my Hoka running shoes because without them & my bad feet, I could not exercise period! 🙂
I always wear thru earbuds! The wire craps out that goes into the bud AND the wires are too long – how do you find the wires on this one – too long?
I’ve never had an issue with my iPod headphones falling out, but they are the only ones!
Fave piece of gym equipment? It would definitely be headphones for cardio. Cardio without music is pure torture.
My guy wants new ear buds – his always end up going through the wash. The iPod ones still work afterwards but the cord is curly forever more.
Firm support sports bra. Anything beyond mild yoga is impossible without it.
The hubs got me a pair of bluetooth headphones for Christmas. They are awesome! On long runs I can stick my iPhone in my camelback fanny pack (another fav!) and I don’t have to mess with cords getting stuck in my arms or on my super sweaty neck. Mine are by Motorola; they have 3 or 4 different “ear bud” sizes and controls on the outside so you can adjust volume, change tracks, or answer your phone while you’re sweating!
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I enjoyed reading the post you posted here…I want to play these jokes to my sisters and brothers too…LOL…