Earth Day at the Gym

Welcome to my first product review. Well, I have placed reviews on some web sites. Comments on commerce sites that I felt were important to share with other would-be consumers on Snow Shack and Amazon, travel reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor, and a few book reviews on eBay and Shelfari, but nothing on my blog yet. I’m new to all this stuff.

Then I got my REI dividend and used it to purchase the Multi Towel Lite XL and Medium.



This is a fantastic towel. I bought it because it struck me what an impact gym towels must be taking on our planet. Each gym member, using 2-3 towels only once before they go in the laundry... All that water, all that bleach and detergent... Not Good. So this was to be my little part. The towel has exceeded my expectations and is a joy to use. It is really soft, packs small and light, and washes well. It holds such a tremendous amount of water that any dampness in the towel is hardly noticeable after a shower, it can be packed in the carry bag without getting stinky, and dries quickly when you hang it. The microfiber is also gentler on your hair and skin! If you need one more reason, I’ll add that it is quite attractive to wear; the thinner fabric is much more flattering than thick clumsy terry cloth. The moss green (actually called “glade”) should look nice with just about any skin tone. The XL (49.5 x 39.x inches) is more than large enough to wrap around an average body. It’s a little weird to use at first, almost grabbing the water off your body; but these towels have come a long way from the Speedo Chamois I used in the 80’s. The reaction in the locker room has been the Raised-Eyebrow-Followed-By-Slow-Nod look – so I’m hoping this will catch on.

So what about the slimy gym equipment? The medium towel (27.5 x 15.5 inches) is about the size of a standard hand towel. I understand you may not want to re-use a towel that has been on the floor or between your body and the weight bench. I alternate its use with a day of free weights and, if need be, a day with a gym towel.

Gym, camping, home, travel... ask the hotel to remove their towels from your room, you won't need anything else, and you'll be that much closer to Living Barefoot!

3 more things you can do at your gym to improve the environment:
1. bring a re-usable water bottle
2. shorten your shower
3. unplug the hairdryer