Fitness Fav on Friday (Gear)

Happy July 4th, everyone! :]

Tomorrow is my d-day the day I’ve spent the last almost-1.5 months studying for! If we want to get all technical, I’ve been studying for this exam since I started med school, because it pretty much encompasses everything I learned over the past two years (and much, much more ._.). I’m sincerely hoping that it goes well, and I would very much appreciate all the positive thoughts/energy/prayers anyone would like to send my way! If there were a way to cash in karma, I’d be all in for tomorrow. It’s kinda a big deal. ._. All my limbs crossed! Then I get to go home for about 5 days to remind my family/friends that I still exist, and have not in fact disappeared off the face of the planet!

On an entirely different note, July launches off a new Friday linkup over at Jen’s and this week’s topic is on our favorite fitness gear!

I whipped up a super-awesome collage on MS paint! (My specialty.)

• Apparel
  By the time I’m out of medical school, I’ll be in roughly a quarter of a million dollars worth of debt (this includes my grad school loans too). Said debt is assuming that I continue to keep my annual living expenses under $10k/year, because we are #2 (there’s no bitterness about the discrepancy between in-state and out-of-state; NONE AT ALL). Suffice to say, I love finding great deals and my workout clothes are primarily composed of free shirts that I get from volunteering, and on sale from Old Navy’s “Active” line (aka the clothes I would live in at all times if it were socially acceptable to do so). My favorite tops are their $3-5 rib-knit tanks, and my favorite bottoms are their slim boot-cut yoga pants.My favorite jacket is from Costco. :D It’s light but warm, super comfortable, flattering, has thumbholes (twas the first jacket I ever owned with thumbholes! :O ), and I am super-regretting not buying one in each of the colors they had to offer. (As far as I know, Costco doesn’t offer them anymore. I may try to snag em’ off ebay at some point.)
  

  I don’t take very many pictures of things other than food, but here’s me in said jacket! (I’m the one on the left.)

  I’ve already talked about my favorite shoes in a previous post, so in an effort to not beat a dead horse, click the link if you want to hear more about those! :]

• LiquidGrip & iTac2 (for powerlifting/pole dancing)
  I discovered the existence of the awesomeness that is LiquidGrip at my first national powerlifting competition last year. One of the things I love most about these competitions (yep, all two that I’ve been to >_> ) is that everyone is so encouraging and willing to help. One of the ladies there found out that I was there all alone–no coach, no friends…(etc.), so she offered to take pictures/videos for me so I could see how I was doing/could improve. She also gave me some LiquidGrip to try out before I did my deadlifts. Twas a glorious find. I don’t use anything (e.g. straps, gloves, belt) with any of my regular lifting, but this helped a whole lot. It’s reminiscent of the chalk I used to use back in high school gymnastics, except it’s not messy, and I pretty much never need to re-chalk. A little goes a long way, but since it’s me we’re talking about here, I only really use this for competitions or attempting-to-break-PR’s-days. ._. I suspect this would be equally as helpful for grip in pole, but I’ve mainly been using iTac2, so…I’ll report back when I’ve moved into my new apartment and my pole is no longer hiding in the basement!
  On the subject of iTac2, I use this exclusively on my thighs and/or knees when I need extra grip for tricks/holds. (It’s a little too grippy/powerful for my hands, so I’d pretty much never be able to do any spins without getting stuck and looking even less graceful than usual.) This is especially helpful because I can’t usually get to a studio anymore (two times out of the year :[ ). I love the Platinum Stage poles at Bel’s studio, but the portable one I own is, quite unfortunately, super slippery. :[ I’m not sure if it’s an issue with the weather or the humidity, but it’s never been this difficult to stay on, and as such, this makes being able to practice anything infinitely more difficult. Fortunately, iTac2 does usually help to remedy this!

• Polar FT4 HR Monitor
  This is for back when I actually used to run (3.5+ years ago?), but this heart rate monitor (and running with friends) is largely how I motivated myself to train for my first/only race/run. My goal at the time was to finish the half-marathon without dying, so in that regard, I did rather swimmingly! The Polar FT4 HR monitor is very, very simple to use. I mulled over a ton of different ones and read a good number of reviews and comparisons before I finally decided on this one. I really liked having something to keep track of how hard I was working, so to speak. I’ve only ever used it for running, because taking it to pole class didn’t work out so well. (I was scared I’d break the monitor during a caterpillar mishap [or some other such accident].) I haven’t used in the past couple years because I stopped running, the battery in the watch finally gave out, and I’ve been busy with higher education and repeatedly moving across the country (sigh). Once I unearth all the pieces necessary and fix it up, maybe it’ll get me to start running once more? At the very least, I’d like to start doing intervals again!

That’s all I’ve got! :]

What would be on your list for favorite fitness gear?

Come join in on Fitness Fav Fridays! :]