Packing Training Kit: What Earns Its Space

A garment that dries overnight can be worn every other day. One that does not has to be duplicated, and that is where luggage space actually goes.

At home a garment can take two days to dry because you own six others. On a trip you do not, so anything slow forces you to carry a spare.

This is the same property that makes synthetics worth wearing to train in the first place, explained in our performance fabric terms guide.

That is eleven items for a week, and it fits in a corner of a carry-on. Adding a fourth top only helps if the first three are slow to dry.

This is argued about more than it deserves. All three work; they differ in what they cost you.

Training kit is the one category where stuffing is genuinely defensible. A polyester tee does not crease in a way anyone notices, and it recovers in an hour on a hanger.

Five minutes, and it is what removes the need for a fourth and fifth top.

1. Fill the sink with cool water and a small amount of soap.
2. Agitate by hand for a minute; do not wring or twist.
3. Rinse twice — leftover soap is what makes fabric stiff.
4. Roll in a towel and press. This removes most of the water.
5. Hang somewhere moving air reaches, not over a radiator.

The towel step is the one people skip and the one that does the work. A pressed garment dries in a few hours; a dripping one takes all night and sometimes longer.

• Air movement beats heat. A cracked window outperforms a radiator.
• Hang wide, not folded over a rail in half.
• The bathroom is the worst room — humidity is already high.
• Air conditioning dries fast, because it dehumidifies.
• Never use a hairdryer on elastane. Heat is what kills it.

Why heat destroys stretch, rather than merely shrinking things, is covered in our gym clothes care guide.

Liquid detergent counts as a liquid, which is the thing most people find out at security rather than before.

Current rules on what can be carried are published by the TSA, and they change, so check rather than assume.

Hotel gyms vary enormously, and the kit implication is simple: assume less equipment and more mirrors than you are used to.

Dress codes travel too, and they are stricter in some countries than others. Our gym dress code guide covers what is usually enforced.

• Cotton tees. They are the reason a bag gets heavy.
• A second pair of shoes, unless the sports genuinely differ.
• Anything you have not worn in a month.
• Bulky hoodies. Wear one, do not pack one.
• A towel, in almost all cases.

The one exception worth carrying is a light packable layer, which weighs almost nothing and covers a cold gym or an early start.

The last session before a flight is the one that causes trouble, because damp synthetic kit sealed in a bag for eight hours is exactly the condition that sets odour permanently.

1. Rinse it even if you cannot wash it.
2. Press it in a towel before packing.
3. Pack it loose, never sealed in plastic.
4. Unpack it first when you get home.
5. Wash it that day, not at the weekend.

Two weeks needing the same kit as one week is the point most packing lists miss. Past about five days, laundry — not quantity — is what solves it.

1. Three tops, two bottoms covers a week if they dry overnight.
2. Wash in the sink and press in a towel. That is the whole trick.
3. Air, not heat. Never a hairdryer on elastane.
4. Leave the cotton and the second pair of shoes.
5. Never seal damp kit in a bag for a flight.