Simple workout tips that may make gym life easier…

Working out is a struggle for most people. And life has a great way of making things even more annoying through small hassles that hit us daily. In keeping with this thought, here are some things you can do to make your time at the gym or working out that much easier.

Feed your locker key through your shoelace

Most gym users utilise the lockers at their gym at least every so often if not every workout. Unfortunately, many clothes designed for exercising in are woefully lacking in secure pockets to keep a locker key in (a major oversight if anyone in the exercise apparel business happens to read this).  As a result, often you need to find somewhere to store a single key or carry it with you all over the gym and hope you don’t lose it.

One method I use to ensure I don’t lose my key is to utilise my shoelaces. Most keys have a hole in them designed for a keyring to feed through. When getting changed I take my locker key and feed a shoelace through the keyring hole and double knot the laces. This ensures that it won’t get lost and I will always know where it is.

Match your shoes to your workout

When exercising, your shoes are one of the most vital pieces of kit you own. Choosing the right shoes is essential in avoiding training injury or long term overuse injuries. What is especially essential is matching the shoes you wear to the workout you are going to do. For example, it is not a great idea to wear shoes with little/no cushioning to go for a 20-kilometre training run (unless you are into the barefoot running deal but that is a whole other story).

Expert advice is always useful when choosing shoes especially if you are choosing them for a specific purpose. If you are mainly lifting weights then I would tend to go for a shoe with less cushioning so that you feel the floor a little more when squatting and deadlifting.

While if you were mostly running or jumping then cushioning is essential as mentioned above. Get solid advice, and purchase accordingly even if it means buying different pairs for different training sessions. It will be worth it in the long run and your shoes will last longer too.

Keep spare headphones in the car

There are few things more frustrating (in my opinion anyway) than arriving at the gym and realising you have left your headphones at home. I find music is one sure fire way to keep up the intensity of my workout without realising how tough it is! Luckily I now have a gym in my own garage so I do not have this issue. However, I used to be a member of a commercial gym and the music they played was pretty dreadful in my opinion.

This generally resulted in me being miserable through my workout or at least annoyed. A great way to ensure you don’t get a good workout done. As a result, I used to keep headphones in the car.

Most people have a spare set of headphones lying around the house. I know that I have 2-3 old sets which I no longer use but have not thrown away. This is especially true these days with every new phone you buy coming with a set of new headphones (well iPhones do anyway). Use this to your advantage and keep a spare pair in the glovebox of the car.

These are just a few small tips to make life a little easier for you at the gym. Please let us know if you have any gym hacks to make life easier – we’d love to hear them.
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