If you’re a serious lifter, you’ve got a bag that you carry into the gym when you train that contains things that you need when you’re training. Some things are obvious like your training shoes or your belt needs to be in there. Other things that might need to be in the gym bag will be dependent on the facility in which you train. If you’re in your own garage gym you don’t have a gym bag because it’s all out there in the garage. But if you’re going to a gym to train everyday, you’re going to have some stuff int he gym bag besides your belt and your shoes that will depend on the circumstances at the gym.

If the gym allows you to use chalk but doesn’t provide the chalk, then you’re going to have to take your chalk with you. Get a cool whip tub and put a block of chalk in the cool whip tub. You get to the gym, you take it out, you do your hands with it, you put the lid back on it, and you put it back in the gym bag. This calms the staff at the gym down because they don’t want have to clean up after you. Don’t make a mess with anything in your gym bag that pisses everybody off. And that’s why that if the gym is run by a staff that won’t let you use chalk in the gym then you can’t train there because you have to use chalk. But if they do that it’s probably because somebody made a giant mess one time and the manager said “I’m done with this. Get these meat heads out of here.” So don’t make a mess with anything you take with you.

Whatelse is going to be in your gym bag? You’re probably going to at some point have need for a pair of knee wraps. So those will need to be in there. Knee wraps are basically to keep everything tight underneath them when you squat. Could be that rubber knee sleeves are in the gym bag. And depending on your circumstances you may prefer to use the rubber knee sleeves to keep your knees warm and a little bit of compression while you train. Those will be in the gym bag.

Athletic tape becomes important if you’re doing your power cleans or power snatches like you’re supposed to be. You’re going to want to tape your thumbs to protect your thumb during the hook grip with athletic tape. So you’re going to have a roll of athletic tape in the bag. And if you scrape your shins you can clean them off and then put some tape over the top of the sore, so you don’t continually bash it open with the knurl on the bar during a pull.

Some people like to use smelling salts before a heavy set. Kind of wakes you up. Mark Rippetoe has seen people carry around a bottle of Parson sudsy ammonia in the gym bag. I think you have to be crazy to do this, but regardless of how you feel about it, don’t spill it in the gym. Whatever you do don’t mess up the gym. It’s not your gym. You’re just borrowing it for a little while.

I wouldn’t advise you to take baby powder with you although it’s probably still permitted at powerlifting meets in various federations. It is impossible to not make a mess with baby powder on the floor of a gym. And if you put baby powder on the floor of the gym, the floor is now slick, and the last floor on Earth you want to be slick is the gym floor. Don’t do baby powder. If you’re going to go to a power meet and they let you do it, put some on your thighs in the warm up room, and go out and do that. But don’t do it in the gym. Just learn better habits, then dragging the bar up the skin of your thighs. That’s not the way to pull anyway.

Wrist wraps are another thing that you will a lot of times find in a in a serious lifter’s gym bag. A lot of people like to wrap their wrists for heavy benches. Mark Rippetoe never has done that because for some reason, it makes him feel like his grip is less secure if he puts a tight wrist wrap on. But a lot of people like to do that so that might be useful, and if your wrist is injured and you can figure out a way to do it, you might want to use them for power cleans.

And the last thing that you ought to probably have in your gym bag is a change of clothes. You can’t control everybody else’s behavior and if somebody dumps a cup of coffee on you, you’re going to want another shirt and another pair of sweats. And if you’re sweaty and your shirt’s wet, you’re going to want change it before you go home or go get something to eat after you train. So you’re probably going to want to change your clothes in the gym bag. Extra pair of socks is always a good idea.

And these kind of little mundane things that you may not have thought about, will eventually occur to you, and as a result the gym bag actually accumulates overtime. Things get added as you find them necessary. And if you find them necessary, put them in there. But the gym bag is very important and nobody seriously trains without a gym bag because you’ve got to have your own personal equipment with you all the time. Not just the belt and the shoes. All these other little minor things need to be taken into consideration. And get a decent gym bag. Don’t get a don’t get a burlap W sack or a grocery bag or anything like that. Mark Rippetoe has seen people carry stuff in plastic Walmart bags and one thinks the following: “How are you afford to train if you don’t have 30 bucks buy a gym bag?” You don’t need a fancy leather custom made gym bag. You need something sturdy, something made of a heavy material that can hold all this items already discussed in the gym bag. The gym bag should not look like it’s vomiting its contents into the gym. Get a big enough bag to carry your stuff. But get one and think about what you’re going to put in it.

Bibliographic references:

• Starting Strength. (2025). Rip’s Gym Bag Essentials [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/58TAHhkUYRM?si=47GMhy6lE_6t8Cp-
• Rippetoe M. (2011). Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd Edition. The Aasgaard Company.