When I look in my closet, I see a lot of bags that are good for one thing. I’ve got the bag that organizes all my food. The bag that holds my laptop and work-related things. And then a few gym-gear type bags.

It’s hard to find one bag that can do everything. Fit Factory Gear proposes their bag, the MobilityPack, can do just that.

About the MobilityPack

The large capacity of the MobilityPack is both its best feature and its only negative. With a 32-liter capacity, the bag can carry a lot of stuff, including objects that might be strangely sized. And it’s designed in a way that it’s easy to access your stuff from all sorts of angles without the bag coming apart (more on that later).

VIDEO: What Should I Have in My CrossFit Gym Bag?

But at the same time, the bag does not have much in the way of organizational capability. There are some smaller pockets, but if you’re looking to organize things like you would with a business- or school-type bag, then you won’t really find what you’re that here.

“The thoughtful design of this bag is its best feature. From the moment you start using it, it just feels durable.”

Originally inspired by hiking backpacks, the MobilityPack still retains some of that functionality. An inner pouch in the main compartment can be used either to hold a tablet or small laptop – or to hold a hydration bladder. If you do decide to use this pack to hike, it has all the little features you’d want to make sure your water hose is fastened down and not driving you crazy, as well.

In addition, if you plan on listening to music, the bag has an iPod compartment and a hole where you can pull your headphone cord through. There is also a compartment for anything you need to keep separate, like dirty or sweaty clothing.

RELATED: How Music Affects Your Workout

There are also multiple places on the bag where you can attach exterior items like a foam roller or a yoga mat. So in that sense, this bag is versatile when it comes to which activities and sports it can be used for.

Design Features

The thoughtful design of this bag is its best feature. From the moment you start using it, it just feels durable. The zippers are all smooth in action and don’t feel cheap. The handles are sturdy and plentiful.

In fact, there are handles on enough sides of this bag that it can be used in a variety of set-ups: as a backpack, as a duffel, or as a more vertically oriented bag to carry at your side. This versatility is nice in that wearing a backpack just isn’t always practical (especially if you’re trying to transition from gym to work and have your nice clothes on).

“With a 32-liter capacity, the bag can carry a lot of stuff, including objects that might be strangely sized.”

If you do wear this bag as a backpack, it’s quite comfortable. My husband and I are nowhere near the same size and the bag worked well for both of us. The straps and the back of the bag are well padded. The straps are also long enough that even if you have shoulder mobility issues, you’ll be able to get this bag on by yourself (none of that half-straight-jacketed, chicken-arm wave action going on).

An added bonus is that the sternum strap is adjustable for height, so if different people are using the bag or the generic placement of the sternum strap on most bags doesn’t work for you, you’ll have more freedom to get this bag fitting perfectly.

The Shoe Compartment

The shoe compartment on this bag is great. So great, in fact, that it gets its own section in this review. The reason why is that with most bags, when you try to get into the main compartment you are required to unclip the same straps that hold the shoe compartment together. So if you want to pull a lacrosse ball out, you end up having your shoes tumble everywhere.

STOCK UP: 8 Must Haves for Your Gym Bag

Not so with the MobilityPack. While the strap that holds on the shoe compartment does need to be unclipped to access some other parts of the bag, the straps are designed in a way that they don’t just slide through and let the shoes fall off. To me, this was a major upside to this bag.

My Recommendation

While I don’t think the MobilityPack is the all-around bag that Fit Factory Gear proposes it to be, it is still an incredibly useful and well-designed bag. Both my husband and I use this bag regularly and have used it in a variety of scenarios (even taking it hiking and fishing) and it has performed well. I believe based on our use of it that it will last a long time. So, if you’re looking for a durable, versatile bag, then this is one to investigate.

The MobilityPack is available for $159.00 at FitFactoryGear.com.

The post Fit Factory Gear MobilityPack (Product Review) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

No doubt many of you have experienced the same dilemma with food that I have. You don’t trust your workplace, friends, or restaurants to have the foods you need, so you diligently pack food to take with you everywhere you go. You end up with gym bags and briefcases full of food containers. Or, you end up with food mashed into your work clothes and dirty socks touching your eating utensils.

The cleverly and appropriately-named Six Pack Fitness has come up with a solution for the nutritionally obsessed athlete. A high-quality bag meant to help you transport your food, supplements, workout shakes, and more.

The bag measures 17”x9”x13.5” and weighs about five pounds. It is constructed from polyester and ballistic nylon. Truth be told, it’s pretty darn sleek looking. While it comes in four colors – blue, hot pink, grey, and black – the black is by far the most elegant and professional looking, in my opinion. The inside of the bag is lined with a reflective, cooling material to keep everything well insulated.

The bag itself consists of:

• Main front compartment with shelves for your meal containers
• Two vertical side pockets for bottles, utensils, and anything tall
• Top compartment for supplements, utensils, and other small things

While the Six Pack website says the shelves in the main compartment are “adjustable,” that isn’t the word I would use to describe them. They are removable, and they are also not attached at the bottom of the bag, so they can be compressed if you want to put a large container below them. But the shelves are sewn into the straps that suspend them in the compartment, so to me they don’t seem adjustable.

The bag comes with two gel packs, a divided supplement container, and five meal containers. The supplement container is awesome. It can be completely personalized; you can remove and rearrange the little dividers to suit your needs. The only thing I would caution against is getting too excited when you first get your bag, opening the containers willy-nilly, and flinging your little dividers all over the kitchen. (I might have done this.)

According to the Six Pack website, all the containers are BPA/PVC free, microwave safe, dishwasher safe, and leak proof. I personally never microwave anything made of any sort of plastic, so I can’t speak to how well it does in the microwave, but we’ve run these containers through the dishwasher a number of times now with no problem. Additionally, my husband has been using this bag daily and has never once mentioned any leakage issues, no matter what type of food we packed for him.

The freezer packs do need to lay flat in your freezer to be able to fit back into your bag properly. So, you might have to clean out your freezer. On the upside, they freeze surprisingly fast, so certainly if you freeze them each night when you get home from work you’ll have no problem using them again the next morning. We did manage to get a nasty paper-cut like cut from the edge of one of the freezer bags, though. So be careful if you’re packing your bag before you’ve fully ingested your morning coffee.

The one thing that bummed me out about the bag was that the vertical side pockets don’t fit two of the classic BlenderBottles. It does fit two side-by-side, but not two stacked on top of each other (for a total of four). Given the need for pre- and post-workout shakes, and sometimes BCAAs during a workout, that can add up to a lot of bottles and it would have been nice to be able to get four total in the side pocket. It’s just a little bit too short for that. It does however fit any two bottles side-by-side – whether it be the tall or short classic BlenderBottle or the new BlenderBottle SportsMixer. We just really wanted to stack the short ones.

On the upside, the vertical side pockets do have removable Velcro vertical dividers that help keep the contents organized if you’re sticking smaller things in there that you don’t want getting mashed altogether. And that is the whole point of an amazing bag like this, right? No more mashed bananas in the bottom of your gym bag?

Overall this is a great bag. It does exactly what it’s designed to do, accommodates everything from supplements to an entire day’s worth of meals, and it looks sleek enough that everybody at the gym or your office is going to ask you where you got it.

The Six Pack Bags Innovator 500 is available for $99.99 at SixPackBags.com.

Six Pack Bags is also offering a discount for Breaking Muscle readers – use coupon code 6PF15XF at checkout for 15% off.

The post Product Review: Six Pack Fitness Innovator 500 Bag appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Yurbuds have a twist and lock technology that creates a very snug fit that keeping the ear enhancers in place. This fit and lock prevents the earphones from falling out, even under the most intense workout conditions. There are 5 different styles including the Pro Series with Dry Mic technology. This additional protection allows the user to easily navigate music, as well as being water resistant on the microphone apparatus and controls.

We tested the Yurbuds Ironman Series Earphones for about 4 weeks, in a myriad of workout conditions and settings. The earphones were perfect for workouts that included; running, walking, biking, and rowing. Other workouts including weightlifting, CrossFit or kettlebells were not as conducive to this earphone technology, as the longer cord was a bit difficult to maneuver around these implements. Overall, the earphones did not fall out of the ears during any of the workouts and they were comfortable in the ear canal.

Overview

Fit: 

These earphones will stay in place through intense workouts including; running, biking, and many other vigorous activities. The earphones and special ear enhancers fit most ears. This fit is snug and has a feeling of being actually locked into the ear, due to the twist and lock technology.

Comfort:

Yurbuds are made with a special medical grade silicone. The ear enhancers are ergonomically designed fit the ear, avoiding any sensitive nerve areas around the ear canal. The silicone is soft and comfortable even for longer endurance style workouts. The shape of the actual ear enhancer is a bit like a funnel that goes into the ear canal. The cord attached to the earphones is a bit longer than other earphones that are currently on the market today. This length may be a nuisance to some users but we felt it allowed for an easier set up, wearing them with an ipod.

Sound: 

The sound quality of these earphone is good. They also cancel out some background noise which will enable the user to get better overall sound quality from the earphones. The sound quality is comparable to other similar earphones on the market with in the same price range.

Sweat & Water Resistant:

If you are a heavy sweater these earphones are excellent for staying in place and dry. The water resistant and sweat proof design alone make these sport earphones a must have for athletes.

Price:

There are different styles of Yurbuds earphones available, each with their own unique features.

$49.99

Yurbuds Inspire Pro

$59.00

Yurbuds Ironman Inspire Pro – Dry Mic

$59.99

Yurbuds are available for $29.99 to $59.99 at Yurbuds.com

The post Product Review: Yurbuds – Ironman Inspire Earphones appeared first on Breaking Muscle.