Gym Essentials to Ask for This Christmas

With the holidays approaching, now is a great time to start putting together your Christmas list, and what better items to ask for than gym equipment? It's incredibly useful, and your relatives will be impressed with your new lifestyle change. Here are some essential items I use all the time in my fitness journey that you should put on your list to Santa: 

1. Gym Clothes

I used to throw on shorts and a T-shirt for a workout, but I really enjoy getting DRESSED for the gym -- similar to getting dressed up to go to a nice restaurant. It makes me feel confident and like I belong. There are so many fitness brands that exist today that didn't five years ago. Some brands are really good, and others are far too expensive for what you receive. My favorite fitness clothing brand is YoungLA. Their items have gone up in price lately due to their surge in popularity, but most of the items I have received have been amazing. Gymshark is also a strong brand choice. Their clothing is not as well made as YoungLA, but they regularly do sitewide sales that make the purchase worth it. If you're on a budget, I would go to Amazon and search up Aurola for women and Neleus for men. 



Aurola's Amazon storefront: Amazon.com: AUROLA
Neleus's Amazon storefront: Amazon.com: NELEUS

2. Weightlifting Belt

This is the #1 item I recommend if you plan to do any form of heavy squat or deadlift. A weightlifting belt straightens your spine and reinforces your lower back and core. It encourages you to maintain proper form during a heavy lift to prevent any lower back injury. The difference between wearing one and not wearing one is night and day -- the weight felt like it was compressing my spine until I starting using a belt. This WILL be a lifesaver if you do anything heavy. 



3. Weightlifting Straps

Similar to the belt, straps will be a fantastic investment! When doing RDLs or deadlifts, straps take all of the pressure away from your fingers to that you don't have to rely on holding a ton of weight using only your hands. Straps are also useful while doing back movements such as pulldowns or rows by taking pressure off your fingers and, by extension, your biceps, that way you can isolate your back during the movements. Straps are great for PULLING movements.


4. Weightlifting Wraps

Wraps are NOT the same thing as straps, despite how many times I use the terms simultaneously. Wraps help during PUSHING movements and they keep your wrists safe. There was a time before I had wrist wraps where I was benching too much weight for my wrists to handle to the point where my wrists gave out before my chest did. I actually have chronic pain in my left wrist from a shoulder press accident, and the wraps take ALL of the pain away!


5. Pre-Workout

Pre-workout is something I've actually been trying to take less and less of lately due to my over-reliance on it over the past few years, but there's no denying that I am more in the mood to work out when I'm caffeinated! Lots of pre-workouts are either overloaded with unnecessary ingredients or have too much of one ingredient and too little of another. Gorilla Mind is my go-to pre-workout because the blend of ingredients is top-notch. RYSE is a reputable, cheap alternative and can actually be found at Walmart.


Gorilla Mind Pre-Workout: Gorilla Mode Pre-Workout | Gorilla Mind

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