Fitness Toolkit

Reading Time: 4 minutes

image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickfarnhill/

Gear:

ASICS Men’s GT-2000 4 Running Shoe


– I have worn the same shoe for over 20 years. Every time I need a new pair of shoes I go to Sports basement or whatever shoe store. I try on at least 10 pairs of shoes from all brands and all types and I wind up choosing the Asics. They just fit and feel right. The problem is my size which is 12.5 narrow. I can usually find a pair but it is always in the ugliest possible color combination.

 

Tesla Men’s Trail Running Minimalist Barefoot Shoe BK31

 

Update:  I have a new philosophy in running and part of it is a new attitude on shoes.  I am now wearing this shoe.  See my blog post here.

ASICS Men’s Thermal XP Slim Pants

 


Asics Running Pants – I have two pairs that are exactly right and a couple of lower end ones. It gets cold in San Francisco and a man needs sweat pants. I have to admit these are exactly the pants I run in. Those are very hard to find. These do share one key feature. That is the yoke across the back. Generic technical running shirt – I get one of these from every race. I have a drawer full of them.

Kirkland Signature Men’s Outdoor Trail Sock Merino Wool Blend Assorted Pack

Socks – Kirkland wool. A lot of people swear by all kinds of technical socks, but for me the cushioning and the water repellency of wool is the best.

TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio Watch

– Love it. It does everything I want and only has one button. Works running, biking, in the pool, open water swim, treadmill, everywhere. 7 day charge on standby. Doesn’t count steps.

Armband for iPhone SE, 5, 5s, 5c with a slim case

Swimming:

Ispeed Mirror Pro Optical Swim Goggle

Iphone – goes without saying

Kanu Surf Men’s Competition Jammers Swim Suit

Analytics

EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale with Extra Large Lighted Display

Scale – Straight forward. Calibrates quickly.

Care Touch Skinfold Body Fat Caliper Set, Care Touch Measure Tape Included

Calipers –

All the body fat measurements seem kind of rough. I can compare the result from the caliper test against the Omron and see what kind of concordance I get.

Omron Fat Loss Monitor


– The jury is still out on this. I haven’t had such a great change in body fat composition that I have been able to test how accurate this is. I am hoping that my current program will give me some data.

Software

Myfitnesspal

– I tried both Myfitnesspal and Loseit for over a year and decided that Myfitnesspal was better for me. It just does more.

Stronglifts5x5 –

A simple linear progression weight lifting program to get you from beginner to intermediate.  Like Couch25k for weightlifting.

Strava –

The one feature that outdoes every other service out there is that it automatically tracks your run segments. If you happen to run a created segment it will keep a time for you and you can compare your performance on an on-going basis.

Zombiesrun –

this one is getting a little boring on season 3, but the fun of having a story interposed with your run music doesn’t really get old for me.

Excel –

No single fitness tracker gives me everything I want to analyze my healthand performance, so I download the data and open it in excel to get the graphs and averages I want.