Necessary items for sports and fitness

The real must-have items for sports and fitness only need to cover the three core dimensions of "protection against injury, comfort and fit, and immediate needs." All other fancy peripherals are bonus points to enhance the experience and are not strictly necessary.

When I first started working out, I would look at the online listings and buy things like compression leg sleeves, sweatbands, graduated shakers, and professional sports headphones. I spent a little over two thousand. As a result, I wore ordinary cotton socks for my first half-marathon. I developed two blisters in ten kilometers. When I limped to the finish line, none of the expensive equipment in my bag was of use. In the end, I relied on band-aids given by volunteers to make it through the whole race. To put it bluntly, all equipment that does not solve the core problem is just used to satisfy the ritual feeling of "I am serious about fitness".

The first thing that cannot be avoided is definitely protective equipment. There has been a debate in the fitness circle: Do only novices need to wear protective equipment? Many veterans who have been practicing for five or six years will say that they can stabilize the lumbar spine by relying on core strength. Wearing protective gear will make the muscles dependent. However, I asked a sports rehabilitation practitioner I am familiar with. The clinical data he gave is that when training with heavy weights, a qualified waist protector can reduce the additional stress on the lumbar spine by 32%. Even professional powerlifters will wear protective gear when pushing to the limit. To put it bluntly, this thing is not exclusive to novices. It depends on what movements you do and how much weight you lift. There is no need to carry it hard to save face. Of course, if you only do low-intensity exercises such as yoga and jogging every day, wrist and waist braces are completely redundant. Don’t buy them and leave them gathering dust at home.

Then there is functional attire, and there are no absolute standards here either. I have friends who wear old washed-out T-shirts to the gym all year round. They say they feel comfortable and don’t feel bad about it, and that’s totally fine. But if you do aerobics for more than an hour, or if the air conditioner in the gym is turned on low in winter, really don’t wear pure cotton. Last time I danced Pamela in an old T-shirt. When it got wet from sweat, I stuck it on my back. After blowing on the air conditioner for five minutes, I had a fever and lay down for two days. Then I honestly changed to quick-drying fabrics. Shoes are one of the rare "hard needs" here. Don't take it seriously. I saw a young man wearing canvas shoes playing badminton at the gym last month. When he landed, his foot twisted and his ligaments tore. It took him three months to recover. Don’t listen to the saying that “one pair of training shoes will do the job”. If you only do fixed equipment every day, that’s fine. If you run, play ball, and do deadlifts, it’s best to prepare two pairs: a cushioned model for running and jumping sports, and a hard-soled flat model for strength training. I used to wear running shoes to save 80 kilograms, but my feet were so soft that they always swayed, and I almost lost my waist. After changing to hard-soled shoes, they were not stable enough.

As for supply gadgets, there is no need to buy them blindly. Some people think that sports water bottles are an IQ tax. Isn’t it okay to drink water from disposable cups in the gym? I thought the same way before, until I had only one minute of rest between deadlift sets. I ran to get water and waited in line for half a minute. When I came back, I was exhausted, so I bought a sports water cup with a straw and put it next to me. I could drink it when I picked it up, without delaying my rhythm at all. Of course, if you are a Buddhist-style fitness person who exercises twice and rests for ten minutes, then there is absolutely no need to spend this money. Do whatever is convenient for you. The same goes for electrolyte replenishment. If you only exercise for thirty or forty minutes each time, drinking boiled water is enough. But if you run outdoors for more than 45 minutes in the summer, you really need to replenish it. In July last year, I ran 10 kilometers at night and only brought plain water. At the end of the run, my legs were so cramped that I couldn't stand up. It was only after a passing runner gave me half a bottle of electrolyte drink that I recovered.

As for those sports bracelets, yoga towels, storage bags and the like that cost hundreds of dollars, to put it bluntly, they are all things that enhance the experience. Of course, it is more convenient to have them, and it will not delay your practice at all if you don’t have them. I previously bought a sports watch worth over RMB 1,000, which claims to be able to measure blood oxygen and lactate threshold. Now I just use it to check the time, but the heart rate measurement is not as accurate as the equipment in the gym.

If you really want to calculate it, there is no uniform standard for what is needed for different sports scenes and different exercise intensities. If you only go downstairs and walk briskly for 20 minutes every day, wearing a pair of comfortable sneakers and a bottle of water is enough. You don’t have to buy a lot of quick-drying clothing and protective gear. Don’t be fooled into spending money randomly by the “Top 10 Things You Must Buy for Fitness” on the Internet. Those items that can help you avoid injuries and make your workouts more comfortable are your exclusive must-haves.