You live, breathe, eat and sleep fitness. Being at the gym is the best part of your day, and leaving it is the worst part. Much of your time is spent looking at new fitness shoes, researching supplements, and finding new gear to use at the gym. Yet, there is one often overlooked item. One that is always with you, transports your precious gym gear, and should be one of the most important things in your fitness arsenal: your gym bag!
All too often I see box goers wade through the mess that is their bag to find their keys, wallet, wrist wraps, knee sleeves all while fighting their tangled jump rope in the void that is their drawstring bag. Not only can this be frustrating, it’s not functional, and it’s definitely not fashionable. C’mon, you spend $150+ a month on a gym membership, you can invest in something a little better than a free drawstring bag (or maybe that’s why you’re using one). Guys, it’s time to upgrade your gear to something a little nicer, and I’m not saying to swap it with your duffle bag that you’ve been using as a luggage (that needs to go too). You need a bag as serious as your training.
King Kong Apparel has been making bags geared towards functional fitness with the Original King Kong bag. They were always so sought after and sold out that I never actually got my hands on one, until now with the King Kong Bag 3.0 and Giant Killer. Perfect timing because the strap on my Reebok bag had just broken. Was it worth the wait? I wish I had gotten one of these in the first place!
The “Original” King Kong bag 3.0 comes in a variety of flavors: black, camo, grey, charcoal, and red. Most of which are still out of stock; you can probably start to understand the popularity of this bag. I ended up with the Camo print, which might be too loud for people, but all of the colors look all business. Dimensions are very portable 20x12x12 (45L), which ends up being the perfect size unless you mean to carry your whole life with you, which still might actually squeeze into this bag. For me, this includes tubs of supplements, two belts, a few pairs of knee sleeves, mobility tools, a few jump ropes, tons of wrist wraps and gymnastics grips – I like to make sure that I have everything with me, just in case y’know? Everything I bring could fit into the main compartment alone, yet the amount of pockets that this bag has makes it so that everything is organized for those with even the worst cases of OCD.
On the the left side of the bag, you get two shoe compartments that double as “wet bags” for your sweaty clothes. The top one is slightly larger than the bottom, but both have ample room for even two pairs of Oly shoes. The bag is constructed with water resistant 1000D nylon throughout, so you won’t have to worry about leakages from and to any compartments in the bag. I had a shaker leak out while it was in the top shoe compartment and it didn’t even penetrate the other side. Clean up was as simple as cleaning your favorite shirt; I just took a damp cloth and some detergent and wiped it down. The best part is that it didn’t retain any of the smell from my PRGNX Flow, which is notorious for smelling awful. On top of that, I haven’t noticed any kind of weird odors from throwing my damp knee sleeves in the bag either thanks to their signature eyelets making the bag breathable.
Up front, you get two large velcro pockets; I use these for my jump ropes so they don’t get tangled up with the rest of my stuff. The center pocket is zippered and embroidered with King Kong Apparel’s logo; probably best suited for your wallet and keys. If you’re stuck with an older phone it might fit in there, but my giant iPhone 6 Plus could never. Maybe with the 4.0 bag, this center compartment could make use of more real estate and be a little taller. That’s just a minor issue because coming around to the right side of the bag you’ll find another large pocket with two mesh/elastic pockets on the side, which I end up putting my phone and VooDoo bands into but can also be used to hold bottles.
The compartment on the right side you get the “mobility pouch” which is about 3x12x12 (expands a little), I just use this one for all of my assorted hand/wrist protection. Also inside this pocket, you’ll find another zippered mesh pocket for even more organization. If you’ve got more stuff than you’ve got compartments to hold them in this bag, you probably need to re-evaluate what you’re bringing to the gym. I’m a pack rat and I have trouble filling everything up.
With all of the amenities this bag brings, the most important part of it is still the construction and attention to detail. The 1000D nylon is mil-spec and paired with the double-stitched seams, this bag feels like it would survive a warzone. Shoulder pad could be padded a little more, but works just fine keeping the heavy strap from digging into your shoulder. My Reebok bag had metal fasteners that eventually just bent to the point that they wouldn’t stay on anymore. The King Kong uses heavy plastic clasps which, according to their website are “unbreakable”; that, only time will tell. Everything about this bag is top notch and it should last you for years to come.
King Kong Apparel sells this bag for $126 shipped in the United States. It’s not a cheap piece of gear, but it’s a worthwhile investment for something that should be in your arsenal for years to come. I figure, if you use it every day, you should get your money’s worth from it. It’s time to step your bag game up and the original King Kong bag 3.0 should definitely be at the top of your list.
