When you start working out, your gym bag is usually fairly sparse: a water bottle and a sweat towel suffice for most sessions. But as time passes and your interest in fitness grows, this can very quickly change.
If you’re like us, your bag is likely now jam-packed with lifting straps, resistance bands, protein shakers, meal prep boxes and more, meaning you need more than an old bag for life to stash your kit. Luckily, the best gym bags offer a seamless solution to this problem.
A decent gym bag will offer ample space for storing an assortment of weightlifting paraphernalia, and plenty of pockets so you don’t have to dig around for hours to find what you want. Some even have a padded laptop sleeve so you can carry your work gear safely too. But not all gym bags have been created equal.
To help you find the right one, we’ve tested some of the top options on the market during our daily gym trips – and we don’t travel light. From this hands-on experience, we’ve selected our top 13, with options to suit every lifestyle – from commuters and budget buyers to all-the-gear heroes. So strap in and scroll down to see which gym bag fits your fitness needs and which you should invest in.
How we tested
The list of things you might be taking to the gym these days is a lot longer than it used to be. So, we crammed every bag with kit to test its utility, functionality and comfort, and then saw how easily we could access everything without having to litter the floor of the changing room. Here’s how the best bags fared.
The best gym bags for men for 2024 are:
- Best overall – Built For Athletes pro series 45L gym backpack: £199.99, Builtforathletes.com
- Best 2-in-1 – Under Armour project rock duffle backpack: £68.97, Underarmour.co.uk
- Best value – Nike brasilia 9.5 duffel bag: £39.99, Nike.com
- Best for rucking – GoRuck GR2 rucksack 26l: £360, Goruck.eu
- Best for keeping kit dry – Rains gym bag: £95, Rains.com