Every Fitness Gadget I’ve Ever Bought: The Good
Which shiny toys bring big value in a small package
Strength and conditioning are important values to me, both professionally, for selection and job performance, and personally. As my goals, methods and resources ebbed and flowed, I spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on relatively small fitness implements to include in my program, and I have built quite the collection over the years. Some proved extremely valuable and empirically impacted my S&C journey, others were a total waste of space and money. To help you decide which tools belong in your inventory, I compiled a list of each purchase that proved worthwhile (“The Good”). These are those tools which I happily keep in my small apartment and remain in my protocol. I considered each implement’s price, size, weight, and durability, and compared these metrics to the benefit that device has, or had, on my training program.
Some context for my opinions: I’m 23-years-old, active-duty military, and in a job with no specific fitness requirements besides being under a certain weight, able to survive in the water, and capable of passing the annual physical readiness test (consisting of push-ups, a plank, and a very manageable 1.5 mile run). I am, however, trying to stay in relatively good shape to keep the door open to jobs with more strict requirements later in life. I also want a fitness base conducive to performance in rock climbing and jiu-jitsu. To those ends, I’m currently trying to achieve or maintain a 9 minute 1.5 mile run, >20 pull-ups, a 405 lbs deadlift, and a 32kg Turkish get-up.
A couple disclaimers: first, most of the product links are affiliated, which means I would earn a commission if you purchased an item after following that link. Also, bear in mind that everything listed below is a tool, nothing more, nothing less. No tool is inherently good or bad, it all depends on the job you’re trying to do. Some tools, though, cost less, are more durable, are more versatile, or more task-specific. I’ll discuss what worked for me and why, but you’ll need to think critically to decide how my take applies to your unique situation (goals, injuries, finances, space, time, climate, etc). You may read my reasoning for placing an item on my good list, and decide for the same reasons that it belongs on your bad list.
Kettlebells
Kettlebells are the ultimate fitness implement, in my opinion. One simple tool delivers power, strength endurance, work capacity, grip strength, everything. Kettlebells are as minimal as it gets, and as long as you treat them reasonably well, they’ll outlive you and your children. However, kettlebells come with a steep technical learning curve, so make sure you invest in learning to properly handle and respect the weight, or your back will pay.
Even if you don’t plan to use them regularly, I recommend you purchase one or two kettlebells now as a sort of insurance policy. Come the next Corona-like event, if you go shopping for home gym equipment after lockdowns and closures have occurred, you’ll pay a hefty premium and will wait weeks or months for supply to keep up with demand, if the trucks are even rolling at all. Take advantage of stable prices and logistics to build a modest home gym now, even if you plan on underutilizing it, so that you’re all set should home workouts become your only option.
Dip belt
Another tremendous tool. If your goal is to be very strong and/or fit for a tactical profession, weighted dips and pull-ups belong in your program. You could start off squeezing the added weight in between your legs, or hooked around your ankle or whatnot, but these gimmicky methods quickly become awkward, painful, and undoable as you increase added weight. If your gym doesn’t already have one, a dip belt is a vital (and small) tool for your kit.
Extendable (or doorway) pull-up bar + rotating handles
In addition to the kettlebells, some variation of a pull-up bar should be in every athlete’s home. Sure, having a squat rack as your focal point would be nice, but even a poor renter can have kettlebells and a pull-up bar. I recently set a new personal record of 22 strict pull-ups, an achievement facilitated by the bar in my kitchen. When you’re short on time or energy, the bar is already there for a 10–15 minute workout. Those consistent home workouts (usually max sets to 50 and 1–10–1 pyramid) built up the volume I needed to bust the plateau. Moreover, using rotating handles, instead of pulling directly on the bar, let me do hundreds of pull-ups a week without applying torque to my elbows every rep, so I could keep training without the elbow pain that’s previously held me back. Gymnastics rings also work well for that purpose.
Straps
These are slightly more controversial, but nearly every lifter acknowledges there’s a time and a place for straps. Personally, I avoid them until grip becomes the limiting factor on deadlifts, then strap up. I’m not training specifically to do deadlifts, I’m training to be strong: to be able to produce full-body tension, and to have a strong hinge. Especially considering I do other grip-specific work (including farmer’s walks for short and long distance), I have no qualms about giving up some of the grip-related benefits of deadlifts in exchange for the total-body benefits that higher weights provide.
Plus, straps aren’t just for deadlifts. You can use them to hold the bar in the clean position for front squats if you have poor wrist mobility (although, if this is your only use for straps, you can save money and just use a couple towels). Straps are also useful if gaining mass is your goal: grip will be the first point of failure during heavy shrugs, so strap up and let your traps bear the load.
Foam roller + lacrosse ball
To get big (or strong), you need to eat big, sleep big, lift smart, and recover big. For rolling out stiff muscles and IT bands, a simple lacrosse ball and small foam roller are the best value around. A Theragun is a nice-to-have if you can afford it (and if you know somebody with a ticket to BUD/S or other special ops selection, you should seriously consider gifting them one), but a lax ball is all most of us need.
Chuck Taylors
A pair of Chuck’s serve almost every activity you do in the gym. Many “athletic” shoes feature thick, compressible soles, which are unsuited for deadlifts and squats because you waste some of your power output by compressing the sole, before starting to transfer force to the ground. Moreover, dulling the connection between your feet and the floor makes your entire body less stable. The more “in touch” your feet are with the ground, the better for your nervous system. If you can’t train barefoot, at least wear a minimalist shoe like Chuck’s. Not to mention, they’re much cheaper than the fancy shoes marketed just for working out.
Fins
Although my swimming fins are currently collecting dust, they belong in the “good” list because, for a good price, they did their job. For a few years, I routinely used them to practice ditch-and-dons, which I may have needed in a selection event, and which certainly helped me become very comfortable performing tasks underwater. If you know you’ll need a certain skill, and you can acquire the tools to practice that skill without undue burden on your wallet or living space, then take yourself seriously and get them. Once you’ve got the skill down or your job requirements change, pass them along to the next candidate.
Fat Gripz
Grip strength is one of the more important, and underdeveloped, traits for tactical athletes, grapplers, and everyday people that need to carry stuff around. Fat Gripz are an easy way to create thick-handled dumbbells and barbells, which train grip strength and increase muscle recruitment throughout your body. I like to put these on my pull-up or dip bar (if I’m stuck with a fixed bar for the day), and to put them on the barbell or dumbbells when doing Romanian deadlifts or lunges. If my grip fails before the primary target (legs), I just strip the grips off real quick and continue. Keep in mind, you may be able to achieve the same effect by just wrapping a towel.
Expand-Your-Hand Bands
One of the few IronMind products that justifies itself. For a small price and minimal gym-bag space, these bands give you something to do in between sets besides scrolling your phone. They provide antagonist work against your forearm flexors, which are hard at work every time you carry or squeeze a handle. In other words, the bands work the forearm extensors, in order to prevent imbalances that lead to elbow pain and other complications.
Sliders
Absolutely not critical, but certainly a cheap, minimal, and fun tool for changing up core training or “beat down”-style conditioning. I like to use mine for body saws at the end of a workout.
Real running shoes
If your “running” shoes came from a general sporting goods store and you got them because you liked the color, chances are you’re hurting your feet every time you run in them. If you log a lot of miles, either training for something or because running is your conditioning of choice, do your feet a favor and go to a legitimate running store. Have them evaluate your gait, buy shoes based on that analysis, and only wear them for running. It’s the same philosophy as using rotating pull-up handles: if you prevent the injury in the first place, your training will go a lot further.
Three-foot section of thick rope
You can find 2” rope for sale by the foot on eBay, and it makes a cheap, robust tool for integrating grip training into a pull-up workout. If you train for a selection event or annual test that includes a rope climb, but don’t have easy or safe access to a rope for practice, hanging and doing pull-ups from a thick rope draped over a pull-up bar or rafter is a great substitute. You will still need to learn and practice the technique vis-a-vis your legs, but regular hangs will at least get your wrists used to the demand of pulling on a thick rope.
Currently, I do my dedicated pull-up workout on the free handles in my kitchen, but I keep a rope section draped over an extra doorway pull-up bar hung in my bathroom. I do a couple rope pull-ups every time I cross the threshold, just to build some non-intrusive, skill-specific work into the day.
Tactical Barbell
All the gadgets in the world won’t help you if you don’t have good technique, intelligent programming, and sufficient recovery. Books and scientific literature teach you from others’ experiences, mistakes, and knowledge, so every athlete should keep a (modest) library. The Tactical Barbell books are short, easy reads that discuss theory and programming for training with the goal of becoming advanced in many fitness domains, at the expense of being elite in any. In other words, from an athletic performance perspective, how to be well-rounded.
Teacher’s planner
If you don’t keep a log, you’re not serious about your training. There’s a lot of room for a highly personal system here, but I really like using a teacher’s lesson planner, especially when keeping track of multiple fitness domains. Since each day is broken into different “period” planning sections, I assign one section to swimming, one to running, two for strength, one for calisthenics, one for skill work, etc. That way I can easily scan across the week and see what I’ve done in that domain, and too many empty boxes make it easy to identify when I’m neglecting a particular aspect.
STAmina app
For those professionals or hobbyists who need to be comfortable holding their breath, this app is a great choice. The price is meager, and although the features won’t blow you away, you get all you need with no ads. I try to do a CO2 table every time I watch a Netflix episode, and eventually worked my way up to a four-minute breath hold using tables I made on this app.
Rings
For pull-ups, dips, push-ups, and rear-foot-elevated Bulgarian split-squats. Having an unstable platform not only makes pushing exercises more challenging, but the free rotation relieves the torsional stress that fixed bars/handles would otherwise send to your elbows and shoulders.
For everything I’ve had the chance to try, these make the “good” cut: they help me achieve my goals for the right cost, size and simplicity. What gadgets make your “good” list and why?
