I salute the master of the no-slip hair clip! Do you think that wire leads to a battery pack?
What is the one thing you absolutely cannot workout without? Working out as long as I have and in as many different situations as I have (and losing as many brain cells as I have), I have forgotten pretty much every conceivable item. Yes that includes underwear. But I have learned that almost always there is a way to work around what you’re lacking.
No sports bra? Your regular one or even your cami with the built-in shelf bra (which honestly is only a “bra” for 12-year old girls and is a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen for the rest of us) will do in a pinch.
No heart rate monitor? Take your pulse the old fashioned way on your neck. (Just don’t press so hard you pass out.)
No shoes? My friend Leah once famously did a TurboKick class in her socks rather than miss her workout. My husband has run a mile in his work shoes. And just last month I lifted weights in my snow boots due to my keys making an impromptu trip to work with my husband.
No deodorant? Make some by making a paste with your spit and some diaper rash cream. Yeah, I actually tried that once. I can’t say that it didn’t work though – my armpits definitely didn’t smell like sweat! Not that Desitin is preferrable to b.o.
But there is one thing I simply cannot exercise without: a hair tie. I can’t stand having hair on my neck and in my face. I’ll use bobby pins, head bands and flower clips as well but always in conjunction with a rubber band. Gym Buddy Krista once asked me if I was into Kabbalah because she thought the red ponytail holder that I always wore on my left wrist was a red Kabbalah string. Being as attached to hair ties as I am, I’ve tried them all and they’ve all been okay but then the other day Gym Buddy Allison showed up with these:
These do not fall out or slip at all! You know those cute ponytails where you pouf it up a little bit at the crown but they never stay without booby-trapping them with 100 bobby pins because the hair band doesn’t hold tight enough? My poufy pony lasted all day today! (I cannot believe I just wrote that.) No bobbies, no slipping!
They may look like the jelly bracelets of your youth but these Scuni “evolution” bands are actually the cutest tightest don’t-get-stretched-outiest hair ties you have ever used! And they come in clear in case you don’t like looking as Rainbow Brite as I do! I can’t believe I’m this excited about a rubber band but there you go. It’s the little things in life.
What’s the one thing you can’t workout without? Have you ever done a crazy “fix” because you forgot something important? How do you keep your hair out of your face?
Written with love by Charlotte Hilton Andersen for The Great Fitness Experiment (c) 2011. If you enjoyed this, please check out my new book for more of my crazy antics and uncomfortable over-shares!