Organization at the Gym

I spend a lot of my time on a home improvement project trying to be efficient, trying to save steps so I can do my best work in the time we have allotted. It’s sometimes boring to clean up a small mess than to keep walking over it and kicking it around, but at the end of the day it takes less time to clean it up than it does to ignore it.

Turns out, this approach doesn’t apply to me at the gym. I am baffled every time I open my bag and/or stuff it in the locker. First problem is that everything is black: socks, earbuds case, the inside of the bag. I’m fishing through there like a cartoon character looking for stuff so I can get ready.

But it’s worse on the other end. When I’m done and I need to not only get my towel out of the bag, but I need to put the sweaty work out clothes and shoes someplace. To date, my plan has been to cover every square inch of the bench with my stuff while I try and figure out a way to get my towel out of the bag without ripping it out of the locker and adding it to the pile of stuff. It never works. Then, once I have the towel, I jam everything back in and keep the door from popping open with the lock.

Seriously, this is my life. (I might be exaggerating a little.)

Anyway, I stumbled upon a great way to store stuff in the locker—neatly—so I can gain access to the bag and close the locker door when I’m done.

Like so many things in life, it starts with the shoes.

In the lockers LA Fitness provides there is a closet bar. To organize my shoes out of the way, I turn them upside down then wedge them between the closet bar and the top of the locker. Next, I can hang my sweaty clothing articles on the bar as I peel them off.

Now, instead of a pile of gross clothes piled on top of the bag out of which I need to get stuff after showering, I can simply reach the bag and get what I need.

The system pays off again when it comes time to dress, because all I have to do is dress instead of manage my socks and stuff for the third time.

And yes, that is a combo-kit bag I use for a duffel bag. What’s more, I deservedly got a few looks while photographing my locker.

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