Gear, not Stuff

The last few years has seen me evolving my fitness routines … "significantly", to say the least.  I have settled on a few routines, and as I've gotten past the "novice" stage, my knowledge & desire for better gear has evolved quickly (and of course, expensively!).

Mainly, my workouts now consist of: 

1. Seasonally (warm), The Pool where I do my deep-end jump-squats.  I use my 35lb Thor's Hammer kettle bell from Tribe WOD

2. Seasonally (cold), weekly Crossfit visits, where I use my Battle Bottle 64oz "supertanker" and my Polar HR monitor

3. Rucking (Home), GoRuck Plate Carrier with 45lb plate

4. Rucking (Office), GoRuck Navy GR-1 XPAC with a 30lb "long" plate

5. Extras - Brute Force sandbag, currently loaded with 20lbs of sand, and an American Ruck 30lb "paincake" (hybrid ruck-plate / kettle-bell)

Each piece of gear here went through a few rounds of iteration before I landed on the items that simply "worked" for me.  Sometimes due to increasing ability (pool workouts started with a much smaller KB), sometimes due to a lack of knowledge (didn't understand the different Ruck Plate sizes, so I had to re-order a "long" RPC and the big-bitch 45lb plate from Go Ruck).  When I ordered the PainCake, I is-read the description, thinking it was a 20lb plate.  I let my 20lb plate move on - then this 30lb plate arrived - it's 20 KILOGRAMS.  The Battle Bottle is a bit excessive - but I wanted a bottle w/ a sleeve that could hold my phone, as i run my Polar HR monitor, and track my progress.  Mostly though, figuring out the GR-1 XPAC was "The One" was a royal BITCH.  I went through four other packs, and chased a number of "samurai" packs before finding this one.  I was leery of looking too "tactical", and the 5.11 packs were covered in Molle loops and had 1,000 zipper & velcro pockets, and generally were very nicely made & affordable - but just not "me". The GoRuck "Rucker 4.0" was a beast and I LOVED the orange interior, but it was too small to function as a hybrid office pack, and the lack of a front pocket pissed me off.  The XPAC version of the GR-1 has zero exterior Molle loops, no big "GO RUCK" logo, and in the Navy color w/ tan interior it "looks" very civilized.  the lighter interior color helps when digging out gear, and this bag has a few pockets - not TOO DAMN MANY like the 5.11 - just the right configuration.  the front pocket is a bit tight to pull out my BOSE headphones case, and I wish the straps had a loop or two for a sternum strap - but if i really want to load up, I'll just use the RPC.

So, I may add another interior sandbag to the Brute, I may transition to a smaller Battle Bottle, and I need to trade my 30lb long plate for a 20 … but really … what I have here is a very solid setup, and I could't be more pleased!