Gear Patrol

We know you’ve seen the commercials for toning sneakers on TV. Seriously, what guy isn’t a fan of the Reebok ads? Perhaps you’ve considered buying a pair for your girlfriend. Perhaps you’ve considered buying yourself a pair. No matter what your inclination may be, leave it up to Gear Patrol to find out what they’re…

As part of my 1/2 marathon training, I’ve enlisted the help of RunKeeper to act as my virtual coach and running companion. While tracking time is all well and good, the RunKeeper Pro App utilizes the iPhone’s GPS to measure distance, speed, and average pace. It will even give you verbal updates on each metric…

How’s that New Year’s resolution to get back in shape coming? Not easy, is it? It can seem daunting if you’re not quite sure how to go about accomplishing said goal. Luckily, Men’s Fitness has taken the guess-work out of your gym work. Starting in January, they are offering a workout plan each and every…

Being responsible, safe, and planning for contingencies aren’t always traits that we men are known for. Sometimes we just like to do, as though spontaneity were written into our genes. When it comes to running, I’m guilty of jetting out the door without taking the time to stretch or hydrate or, sometimes, even check the…

Aqua Bags Australia-based Aqua Bags has just the training tool to shake up your routine. Literally. Filled with water, the Aqua Bag is a resistance training aid that forces your body to compensate (read: stabilize) for the bag’s instability. It may seem harmless enough, but they claim it will engage muscles from your wrists down…

With the new year just around the corner (less than 24 hours away, actually), it’s time once again to refocus of a healthy lifestyle. Let’s just chalk up the past month’s transgressions to holiday fun and set about undoing the damage. To that end, we direct your attention towards SparkPeople, a free website that offers…

When it comes to running shoes, many runners latch onto a particular brand. While Dusty happens to be a Brooks man, I, on the other hand, live by ASICS. As a cost-conscious individual, I usually get my new pair of Gel Kayano’s at the end of the season on closeout. So, when the opportunity came…

There are two camps of open-water swimmers – the purists who wear nothing but a Speedo and those who swaddle themselves in neoprene. If you’re one of the masochists who prefer to swim au naturel, or are an aspiring English Channel swimmer (wetsuits not allowed) read no further. But if you’re like me and intend…

Unless you’ve been living with the mole people for the last few years, you’ve likely heard of the Perfect Pushup. We even covered both the regular and mobile units before. To briefly recap, the Perfect Pushup adds more rotation to your pushups (i.e. a dumbell bench press or punch), allowing a fuller muscle contraction and…

If you’ve been on ESPN.com in the last few months, there’s no doubt you’ve seen the ads for FRS featuring an uber-ripped Lance Armstrong. FRS (Free Radical Scavenger) is being touted as the next best thing in the supplement world. The key ingredient this time, Quercetin, is an antioxidant found in blueberries, apples, and grapes;…

The Bottle Cap Wrench by Craftsman is manliness incarnate. Drop forged in the same USA factories as Craftsman tools it carries the same unconditional guarantee as it’s brethren: If any Craftsman hand tool ever fails to provide complete satisfaction, Return it to any Sears store or other Craftsman outlet in the United States for free…

In honor of it being that time of year when many of us are returning from a holiday and a sandy beach to the doldrums of our busy lives, we bring to you The HammockSource. Whether you are lying in a hammock feeling the ocean breeze and drinking a Corona or just in your backyard…

Always a skeptic we used the gold standard of bags of pellet ice and shrink wrap as a benchmark for the Moji Knee… Moji kicked it’s ass.

I laughed, I cried, I cheered. No, I wasn’t watching an Academy Award winning film, I was participating in my first entirely kettle bell focused workout. Allow me to elaborate. I laughed when the rep from Weider told me that their Powerbell (an adjustable weight kettle bell) was more than enough to provide a rigorous total…

Those who know me best sometimes accuse me of engaging in various hobbies purely as an excuse to gear up. Though I hate to admit it, there could be some truth to this claim. Then again, we here at Gear Patrol firmly believe that if you’re going to do something, it’s worth getting properly equipped….

As I get a little older, I don’t bounce back from bumps and bruises quite like I used to. My mind still wants to go like I’m a kid, but my body inevitably pays the price. Now, with McDavid Hexpad Technology, I can still enjoy my contact sports without the fear of being gimpy the…

In case you haven’t noticed, enhanced water beverages are all the rage these days, as evidenced by their swollen selection in your corner market’s cool case. These hydration options offer a wide variety of beneficial supplements, but some come with unacceptable caloric or carb-loaded trade-offs. From that standpoint, I was glad to try out the…

Today we tackle a domain over which all men love to preside… meal time. Somewhere, somehow the expectation has develop that real men eat steak and potatoes and always go back for seconds. Our culture has been inundated with processed foods, preservatives, and all manor of things that are intended to make food cheap and…

Gear Patrol guys are always looking for the best, and fellas, that has to include the best possible diet. Single men tend to eat restaurant and processed food more than others, especially single guys in big cities, and this obviously has a downside for overall health (but small-town and/or married guys are not off the…

With our society growing ever-more health conscious in recent years, it’s become accepted that nutrition, sleep, and exercise are paramount to one’s health and well-being. A sensible and balanced diet allows our bodies the fuel and nutrients they need to run efficiently. Adequate sleep (for most, 6-9 hours) provides the downtime needed for our bodies…

When it comes to men, there’s few people that have influenced our lives as men more than good ol’ dad. He’s to thanks (sometimes, blame) for a lot of the traits that;s made you the man you are today. This year, Gear Patrol has put together a gift guide that forgoes the ties, cufflinks, and…

By Gear Patrol Reader Kirk Ward When walking into your favorite running, biking, or sporting goods store, you’re usually confronted with a variety of powders, gels, bars, etc. that promise to make you RUN FASTER, GO FURTHER, LIFT A SMALL AIRPLANE, CLIMB MT. EVEREST (cue Powerthirst YouTube clip). The claims can get confusing, so we’re…

To the athletic man amongst us: we know that you demand a lot from your body. It’s high time you took care of it with products that perform at an equally high level, created by men who also know what it’s like to take a beating and then come back for more. In this story,…

I was recently crewing an independent short film and, by day five of 14+ hour work days with greasy fast food, my stomach and digestive system staged a painful revolt (commencing at 3am, no less). I searched high and low for anything to quell this monster and, in desperation, turned to a friend who had…

The human mind never ceases to amaze. Why do we find ourselves irritated by or pleased by any particular occurrence? Moreover, how do those thing resonate in our lives outside of any particular instance? As men, we face a multitude of challenges in our lives: promotions (or lack thereof), family drama, relationship complications, financial obstacles,…

Summer is almost upon us and, if you’re anything like the men of the GP Crew, you’re gearing up for the beach, lake, golf, tennis, run, bike, swim… you get the picture. What do all these activities have in common? Sun exposure. Ever since our youth and (and even more so recently), we’ve been taught…

As fit as a many of my Gear Patrol cohorts are, I personally have a hard time squeezing in all the various fitness and health regimens they abide so well by. I tend of rely on my active lifestyle, one daily vitamin, and walking pretty much everywhere I can in New York. Recently, I came…

By Gear Patrol Reader Rikin Shah: Whether you’re looking to amp up your workouts or to take out a little aggression, every guy could use a punching bag (besides the tortured pillow on your bed). Let’s face it, not all of us have the ideal real estate to own gym equipment, let alone put up…

By Gear Patrol Reader Michael A. Salter: Men who run marathons typically fall into one of two groups: (1) very boring and serious or (2) prone to excess in life. This article is geared to those who want to get their friends to sign up for marathons and to clock decent race times. And, of…

Incorporating a fitness routine into your weekly schedule is never a bad thing. In fact, it might be the best thing you do for yourself, period. That being said, there are some pitfalls to avoid lest your workouts actually cause you harm. This is by no means an exhaustive list, however, its often the simplest…