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| The brand is Magnilay. |
I now have TWO yoga mats and two yoga bags. Since I do yoga at the student union twice a week, I have a bag at work that includes two blocks, a strap, my mat, and leggings. The bag can fit a blanket, but it's really tight and hard to repack, so for now, there's no blanket. This has worked out well for me. I leave it at school most of the time, but if I am going to a yoga class somewhere else, I bring it home with me.
Then I splurged and bought a new yoga mat for home so that I could leave the other bag at school. I have a blanket, bolster, and another set of blocks at home. I could probably use a strap for home use, but I mostly just use a tie or a PT resistance band. I had a different yoga mat at home, but it was not very good quality and was constantly shedding tiny pink pebbles everywhere. So now I have a good quality mat at home and the whole set up seems seamless.
While I was buying my new mat, I bought a bag just for the mat. I take that with me to the community center when I go to my fitness classes and just throw some hand weights into a bag with my water to do those classes. This system is pretty new - I've only had the new mat for a couple of weeks - but so far this system is working for me!
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| My set up for fitness classes. It's a Manduka mat and bag. |
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Do you have an exercise bag? Were you choosy about picking it?
I have a yoga bag that I bought for $3.75 at a thrift store and I love it! So no...I was not choosy. Thankfully I liked the only option!
ReplyDeleteI mean, if I'd seen a bag for only $3.75, I might have forgotten to be choosy!
DeleteIt's so funny you should write about this as I was going to talk about my collection of yoga mats on my Fave things. I have very strong feelings about yoga mats - I have FOUR of the Manduka Black Mats. I have so many because one is my husband's (so it's not MINE but it is in the house, so I'm counting it), one was for this house when we lived in Calgary, so I didn't have to schlep it every time we came here, one was my "teaching mat" which was just kept in my minivan at all times, and one was my practice mat, which was kept at the Shala (I had a permanent space for it). But then the pandemic happened and the Shala closed, and I was teaching at home, and tl;dr I have a lot of mats. But not a single bag! I had one of those things that just velcros around the mat and is a shoulder strap for my teaching mat. So I'm not choosy about an exercise bag since I do everything at home, but I am choosy about my mats (my many mats).
ReplyDeleteBoth of my mats are Mandukas. Mine are both purple. I do have a non-Manduka travel mat, but I really do just use that for plane travel purposes.
DeleteI do workout a lot at home, but I also do go other places, so I think this system makes sense for me. If I never did yoga outside of my own home, I would definitely not have invested in a bag or second mat, but I feel like years of behavior indicates that I WILL use them both.
Since I only do yoga at home, i don't have a bag- just my mat and two blocks. I'm not as choosy about my mat as Nicole, but I did have one of those cheap ones that shredded all over the place- now I have a nicer one and it's so much better.
ReplyDeleteYes, I took the cheap one from my mom's house (it was still in the original packaging), but I just couldn't deal with the mess all the time! The more expensive one is worth it to me, I think.
DeleteWhat I do remember is porting a pretty huge bag to the tennis court along with a huge container of water.
ReplyDeleteYeah, outside sports require even more stuff (sunscreen, bug spray, towels). Gear intensive!
DeleteI have 4 yoga mats and I only ever do yoga at home. WHY AM I THE WAY I AM
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Sarah, I don't know. Figuring it out is your homework!
DeleteYou've reminded me that I was going to start yoga classes in 2025, and I haven't. Damn.
ReplyDeleteSo, no yoga mat for this girl. I do go to the gym three days a week, but I don't bring a bag of any sort; just myself and some water.
It's not too late!! We still have a whole month of 2025!!
DeleteI usually just use my foldable backpack when I need to take a bag to the gym with me, so I'm not very choosy. I also sometimes use one of the free bags I've got at races.
ReplyDeleteI've never found a backpack large enough for my mat and then I end up carrying my mat separately from a bag and I get grumpy about it, particularly when it's cold!
DeleteI do not have a yoga bag, and I don't have a gym bag. I used to take a duffel bag to workout when I showered there, but I rarely do that now. Great idea to have an extra bag, so you can leave it there. I did yoga for awhile when it was offered directly after one of my workout classes that I did in person. This is when kids were really tiny and I wasn't back at work. I did like it and I felt stronger after doing it, but different schedule - and I've not gone back.
ReplyDeleteI guess it surprises me a bit that you don't have some sort of set-up for a gym! It seems like something you'd have all sorted.
DeleteI only yoga at home so far. I had an exercise bag for the gym when I used to go to the gym. It was just a crappy bag my husband got at a trade show, and then I got a nicer duffle bag, and then Covid happened and I stopped going. I love when I've been doing something that kind of works for a while and then I have a chance to improve it all, so I am super happy about your new yoga bag.
ReplyDeleteFor years I only worked out at home, but it turns out I like community if I'm doing something for my body. But it's easier now that I live in town and there ARE classes easily accessible. This bag situation is going to make everything simpler and that something I need if I'm going to motivate myself to exercise.
DeleteYay for yoga bags! I'm all about owning multiples of things if it makes me life easier. Keeping a whole set up at work, and having another set up for home makes perfect sense to me. I don't do yoga much anymore, but I do still have a nice mat and a bag for that mat. The mat lives in the bag, even though neither goes anywhere. We used the bag to check all our fighting sticks for the advanced martial arts retreat recently though! I couldn't believe if held up with all those heavy sticks for both flights!
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a tough bag! I feel like you should shoutout the brand.
DeleteI have a yoga mat that I used to use when I took yoga classes at our community center. I have a bag for it, which is not a specific yoga bags, but works for that purpose. For the last many years, I only do yoga at home, and I don’t use a yoga mat. My hands slide on them, no matter how good they are. I have a carpeted area with a rug on top, so I don’t really need a mat. My hands occasionally want to slide on the rug even, I have slidey hands. It’s probably bad form on my part.
ReplyDeleteYours look perfect for your needs, and I remember the research you did to get just the right one. Congratulations!
Wow! I find that I'm a lot more slide-y on our rugs, particularly my feet. We don't have rug on carpet, though, just rug on wood, so I bet the double cushioning is nice!
DeleteEngie, the yoga mats and bags and blocks all look great, but WHAT IS THE BLANKET FOR?????
ReplyDeleteI use a blanket in yoga a lot, particularly when blocks are too hard and I don't want as much height as the bolster provides. Sometimes just having it under my head if I'm in a down position can be really nice. The blanket is an important prop!
DeleteI need a new Yoga mat, not a bag. (I don't take my stuff anywhere these days). I've heard so many good things about the Manduka brand. Does it stay put on carpet?
ReplyDeleteI think Manduka is the gold standard for mats. It stays put. It gets stickier over time. My new mat isn't quite as sticky as I'd like, but I know it will get better as I use it.
DeleteI don't have a bag, but I do have a super coffee-stained (idk why) mat at work that I use during some lunch hours. It's a great way to fit yoga into my day but admittedly, I'm usually working through lunch to catch up on morning notes. But the option is there!
ReplyDeleteI do sometimes go to yoga during lunch, but I rarely do it in my office. If I'm in my office, I've gotta do work! It's nice to have a space to go to where I can't check email and things.
DeleteI need to get a new Yoga mat and I'd like to get a bag as well (even though I haven't been to a Yoga class in years). I mostly do it at home in the lounge.
ReplyDeleteI do a lot of home yoga, too. That's why I needed a home set up, too!
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