Whether you’ve gone deep on biohacking this year or just want to nail down a fitness routine (any fitness routine) that will actually stick, the GQ team is here to keep you up to speed on all of the latest and greatest for your workout needs. That's why for this year's edition of the GQ Fitness Awards, we've taken a more personal route with our picks, offering up some first-person recommendations for the gear and garb our staffers and contributors turn to in their homes, on their bodies, and out on city streets and far-flung trails to stay in shape.
Over the last year, our intrepid staffers and contributors tested tons of sneakers, gym equipment, fitness tech, and recovery gear, plus a bevy of nutritional supplements to get a sense of what's worth adding to your gym bag or your makeshift weight room. All of our top recommendations are laid out for you below, including Sour Patch Kids-flavored supplements, solar-powered biking computers that charge up while you ride, and at-home cold plunge baths that will shock your system out of its half-asleep stupor. However you choose to get your heart rate up, there’s a little something for everyone.
The GQ Fitness Awards Table of Contents
In case you're looking for something specific:
- The Best Workout Apparel and Accessories
- The Best Workout Shoes
- The Best Biking Gear
- The Best Fitness Tech
- The Best Workout Recovery Tools
- The Best Fitness Nutrition
- The Best Home Gym Equipment
The Best Workout Apparel and Accessories
“When the days are warm, I spend roughly 80 percent of my life in these Goodfight shorts. Walking the dog? Without question. Grabbing lunch with a pal? Absolutely. Crushing six hours of Drag Race on a Sunday afternoon? You know it. And, crucially, when I’m hitting the weights or clocking a couple of road miles? Wouldn’t dream of doing it without ‘em. They’ve got the ease and charm of the shorts you used to whip dodgeballs around in during gym class—only leveled up with softer, sturdier mesh and a techy fabric lining engineered to keep you cool. The exterior pockets are specially vented to keep stuff from falling out, while the hidden interior pocket will hold your phone or wallet firmly in place while you’re on the go. There are handy elastic loops for securing your keys, and the flattering silhouette falls at the ideal mid-thigh length to show off all that work you’ve been putting in on leg day. Perhaps most importantly, they come in a bunch of sick colors, like a screaming hot pink, an icy cool blue, an inky black for all you fitness goths out there, and a freaky new patchwork spin designed in collaboration with 3sixteen. Not a single detail on these shorts was left overlooked—and, as a result, there’s virtually no place short of a black-tie wedding you won’t find me wearing them. Go ahead and cop three pairs and then thank me later.” —Yang-Yi Goh, GQ style editor
Stylish running shirts unfortunately tend to be hot and heavy—not Tracksmith’s gossamer thin Strata. (Your long run fit won’t hit the same if you’re peeling half of it off 20 minutes in, you know?) Thankfully, with this airy layer on your back, overheating will never be an issue.
In a world filled with racerbacks and makeshift cotton cutoffs, Rhone’s updated Swift Tank stands apart as the breeziest, most flattering sleeveless shirt for your workouts. The redesigned neckline and new bindings on the armholes accentuate your shoulders and delts in all the right ways, while the mesh, sweat-wicking fabric comes imbued with technology to combat your stink. Combined, you're looking at a tank that will last long enough to help you literally flex the gains you've been making at the gym.
Wool is perhaps the most underrated fitness fabric around, with natural sweat-wicking, thermo-regulating, and odor-resistant properties that rival even the techiest of manmade blends. And nobody knows ultrafine wools better than Ermenegildo Zegna, the 113-year-old Italian house famed for its exquisite textiles and stealth-wealth aesthetic. This breathable base layer, from Zegna’s performance-minded outdoors division, is every bit as luxurious and striking as one of the label’s tailored suits.
For a while there, running gear felt as grim as your homie's plantar fasciitis. So Nike ACG, the Swoosh's crunchy-cool sub-label, took it upon itself to enliven the genre, drenching its slinky, UV-blocking sweatshirt in a slew of icy hues. Your runner pals will be impressed with its sun-protecting prowess, but the real coup is how gloriously normal it looks off the track.
Runners love nothing more than built-in storage on their shorts. Janji, a Boston-based brand that's all about outfitting the hippest runners, made a pair of compression shorts that is so full of surprises that it took us about a month to discover there were pockets on either leg. The stretchy nylon is more than ready to move with you into your deepest squat or longest stride, and all that give comes in handy since the waistband has another [checks notes] five built-in pockets—enough to cram approximately 50 gel shots in them, if you're hoarding them on your next long-distance run.
Tennis gear has come a long way since Rene Lacoste, the wily French racquet savant, thrashed the competition in newfangled pique shirts of his own devising. Case in point: the Copenhagen-based tennis wonks at Palmes, whose laid-back preppy staples treat the sport less like canon and more like moodboard fodder. Sure, its Middle shorts are mesh-lined and fit a can’s worth of balls in each pocket, but the dialed-in fit and swishy poly fabric will help you glide like Federer when your only opponent is grocery store traffic.
The best part of Alo's sweatpants isn't the plush French terry fabric or the sleek hit of chrome by the hip: it's the dialed-in, extremely 2023 fit. That pooling, perfectly slouchy cut looks like it swaggered straight off the runway and into the locker room. Your next pair of sweats should follow their lead.
If you enjoy mountain biking or trail running, you've probably already navigated the tightrope act of attempting a tricky descent while clenching every muscle in your face to keep your sunglasses in place. Koo’s limited-edition Demos shades have a little more staying power than most: They use anti-slip inserts for more grip around your ears, and Zeiss lenses to clarify the path up ahead. They also come in a range of colors and lens options—all helpfully ranked on their website by the amount of visible light transmitted. There’s even an option to have prescription lenses clipped inside if your vision's far from 20/20.
It’s easy to forget, but the socks on your feet are equally as important as the shoes. Ten Thousand’s Training Crew Socks have an elevated design that look more high-end than your typical gym crew, but are stuffed to the gills with features that keep your dogs feeling fresh even when the workout is doubly intense: strategic zone cushioning, foot-specific contouring for added arch support, slight compression for added support, and breathable mesh to air things out. Meanwhile, Definite Articles' old-school good looks—courtesy of those handsome stripes along the cuffs—mask the fact that its socks are decked-out with cutting-edge tech, from the arch compression to the biodegradable materials that ensure your socks will break down gracefully in a landfill.
The German hosiery specialists at Falke design socks to the exacting specifications of a NASA spacesuit. They apply that same rigor to their boxers, a luxe amalgam of soft Egyptian cotton and silky-smooth viscose formulated with a proprietary sweat-preventing technology. If all that sounds a little wonky, don't stress it: They look really sexy, too.
The Best Workout Shoes
Some time in the last decade the default shoe for multi-day backcountry hiking trips went from a heavy, waterproof hiking boot to a lightweight trail-running shoe. So when I picked up Hoka’s Challenger ATR 6 for a four-day backpacking trip on the Colorado trail, I wasn’t surprised that it ate up miles in plush comfort. What did surprise me was how much I wore them for the rest of the summer, for day hikes and dog walks and scrambles on slippery rocks while fly fishing. I wouldn’t run a marathon in them, but they’re just fine for an hour-long jog on the road. I wouldn’t wear them out to dinner in Manhattan, but they looked the part grabbing beer garden pints in Boulder. There are more focused trail running shoes out there, faster road shoes, more stylish sneakers. But there was no shoe I was more excited to grab than these for outdoor excursions. —Chris Cohen, GQ deputy site editor
CrossFit and other “functional” workouts place unique demands on a shoe: you’ve got to be able to lift heavy, run hard in a straight line, and absorb all sorts of up-and-down and side-to-side plyometric moves. The undisputed leaders in the category solve this problem in a slightly different way. The Reebok Nano X3 Froning uses a bootie that has a locked-in feel, with enough built-in flexibility to crush longer runs. The Nike Metcon 9, on the other hand, is pure power. Short of a dedicated lifting shoe, you won’t find a better platform for moving a barbell.
Nike's road running shoes have consistently earned more attention than the company's trail fare, but that's been little consolation to trail runners who've been eagerly awaiting what marathoners have had for years: a carbon-plated racer. With the Ultrafly, the wait is over. Marathoners will recognize the go-fast features of Nike’s revolutionary Vaporfly, but with this new model, a flat and wide Vibram outsole enhances on-trail stability, and shallow chevron lugs add grip underfoot on any slick surfaces. Tyler Green recently proved just how fast they are with a seventh-place finish at the 2023 Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc.
Not every runner needs carbon fiber plates beneath their feet, but we're all worthy of a supershoe. That's the assertion behind the ASICS Superblast, which has all the hallmarks of a race day runner—a minimal upper and a thick, propulsive foam base atop a rockered outsole that rolls from one footfall to the next. Even though technically that outsole isn't race-legal (according to World Athletics running shoe rules), the shoe will still propel you to new PRs on your training days. The shoe doesn't just go fast, but also outlasts its thoroughbred siblings, only getting better the more miles you put on it—we recently passed the 375-mile marker on our test pair and they're still kicking.
And though Nike may have invented the “super shoe” with its ultra-bouncy foam and carbon-fiber structure, its German rivals with the stripes have proven in the world’s biggest marathons that their latest model is just as fast. If you’re training for your own personal best, it should come down to which feels best on your feet, and these Adidas Adios Pro 3 running shoes have the ultralight cushion and grippy rubber outsole to propel you over the finish line in record time.
Lastly, lots of companies claim to provide the sensation of floating mid-stride, but these New Balance FuelCell SuperComp V2 training shoes are the ones that actually deliver. Perhaps the most radical running shoe on the market, these are illegal for elite racers in most sanctioned races. Unless you're a competitive runner, that means these are still fair game for your daily laps, though.
The Best Biking Gear
“When I started cycling again last summer, after about a decade away from the sport, I pulled a trusty old friend out of the garage: a 2007 carbon-frame road bike that had once belonged to my dad. But I quickly learned that the world of bikes had changed immensely in the 15 years since that ride was the top of the line. A newly booming direct-to-consumer pipeline was shaking up the market, which was how I wound up spending a few months with a Canyon Aeroad stuffed with way more tech than its $5k price tag would suggest—top-of-the-line electronic shifting, superlight carbon wheels, and the same wind tunnel-tested aero shape you see in Canyon's Tour de France models. The brand-new fourth-gen Cannondale SuperSix Evo, meanwhile, was a righteously good-handling road bike that, joyfully, made descending feel like I'd been dropped out of a plane.
It was perhaps the biggest shift in modern cycling discourse, though, that led me to my last bike: the industry-wide embrace of bikes meant to excel on surfaces beyond smooth pavement. The BlackHeart Allroad Ti is designed, as its name suggests, to hold up on every last kind of road—you just swap in a new wheelset depending on where you're going. It doesn't hurt, either, that the minimally-branded titanium frame stands out in a sea of logos. As BlackHeart founder Zach Lambert told me, objects like his dad's vintage Rolex served as inspiration for a frame that'll look as cool 50 years from now as it does today. In theory, an all-road bike would make the roadie-specific models I tested obsolete. But each was fun enough to ride to merit a place in a three-bike garage. Until, of course, I find a fourth…” —Sam Schube, GQ sports director
This year Garmin took its top-of-the-line cycling computer and packed the same features—GPS wayfinding, power and heart-rate data, virtual coaching, stamina updates to let you know how much further you can push yourself—into a package roughly half the size. In cycling, where every sliver of weight and air resistance matters, that’s an enormous upgrade. Oh, and this time around, the solar-powered Edge 840 charges in direct sunlight during daytime rides to keep your battery juiced up even when it's away from an outlet.
On really hot days, you want a bike helmet that disappears. POC's does that—but looks distinctive enough to not fade all the way into the background. The aerodynamic design also helps reduce drag and comes mightily ventilated for letting your sweaty mop dry itself off.
The pro cyclist’s painted-on lycra look is a form-follows-function thing—it’s essential for on-bike comfort. Unfortunately, most pro kits are not so stylish: They’re rolling billboards for European grocery stores and flooring companies. It’s a dilemma for the weekend warrior, which Australian upstart MAAP solves with high-performing cycling clothes printed with rad patterns and handsome blocks of color.
The Best Fitness Tech
Over the past half-decade, my old Garmin watch has gotten me to (and through) four marathons and uncountable runs, hikes, bike rides, and more. With its reliable GPS, heart rate monitor, and tracking for distance, time, pace, and so many other metrics, I've had no reason to complain, but this year, Garmin's release of the Forerunner 265 convinced me it was time for my watch's retirement. The 265 (and its slightly more powerful sibling, the 965) are the only watches in the Garmin line with bright, colorful, always-on AMOLED faces, which alone might be enough to win over some runners, but it was the amount of practical power that turned me from my Luddism.
What I'm referencing there is Garmin's most recent Elevate V4 sensor, which records your breathing rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and blood oxygenation; intelligent satellite connectivity that balances accuracy and battery life; and, sure, nice-to-haves like a touchscreen and colorful reports documenting my fitness, recovery, and “Training Readiness.” To me, the Forerunner 265 is the most well-rounded running watch in Garmin's current lineup, considering that for an extra $150, the Forerunner 965's additional training functions feel a little too specific to be worth the investment. And whenever I quit running marathons, I know the 265 has me covered for skiing, paddle boarding, biking, swimming, HIIT workouts, and so much more. —Tanner Bowden, Field Mag managing editor
Last year, we sung the praises of Withings' Body Cardio scale, which breaks up your weight into actionable, segmented stats (muscle, fat, and water mass percentages, e.g.) that go far beyond a single cut-and-dried measurement on your morning weigh-in. The Body Comp takes things a step further with readings on your electrodermal activity score and visceral fat, all synced to an app. Next up: a pull-out attachment that gets even more granular with its stats, body part by body part (but you'll have to wait a little longer for that update to officially land on shelves).
It's easy to wonder how Shokz' OpenFit can possibly provide workout-quality audio without entering or even covering the ear canal—until you try them. The sweatproof, passive-fit headphones use directional audio to pump sound into your ears at a quality that rivals the best earbuds, without sacrificing ambient awareness of what's going on around you. They do it with a wraparound design that our testers can confirm is secure enough to handle the bouncing of a track workout and so comfortable you might forget you're even wearing them.
But if you're an Apple loyalist, the second generation of the AirPods Pro are more than apt at tackling your hardest workout. They're backed by an IPX4 rating for water resistance ("water" here can also loosely refer to your salty, sticky perspiration) so don't worry about them going on the fritz just because you're drenched in sweat. With the Pros 2, users were blessed with an extra-small sized silicone tip to offer a wider range of fits for your highly specific ears. That means there's even less of a chance of the AirPods popping out mid-burpee. Oh, and that active noise cancellation is a godsend for tuning out all the horrific grunting in the weight room.
The Best Workout Recovery Tools
“I spend half the year on the road, not in my own bed, and I never know if where I’m going to sleep will be completely blacked out. That’s essential for the body’s natural circadian rhythm—and sleep is the most important part of recovery, both from workouts and just from life. So, I started with the flimsy masks you get on a flight, but eventually upgraded to this Saatva number. It’s silk—better for your skin—and has a comforting weight to it. Sometimes it slips off in the middle of the night, but that’s fine with me: Morning sunlight is just as important for those natural rhythms, after all.” —Joe Holder, GQ wellness columnist
Therabody's latest handheld mini is even better than the OG model, coming in with a 20% smaller body and a 30% lighter weight for navigating around hard-to-reach areas like your aching trap muscles. It’s a perfectly sized percussion therapy device to drop into any gym or overnight bag. Not only are its three speeds powerful enough to work out those knots like any full-size device, it’s also ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in your palm. And now, with Bluetooth capability, you can adjust the speed of your Mini 2 specifically to your liking, as well as utilize any number of wellness routines stored in the apps library.
Athletes tend to sleep hot post-workout, which is tough because that’s the time when it's most crucial to get some shut-eye and recovery. Other cooling sleep systems exist to help you stay chill as a cucumber mid-slumber, but this one is a more integrated, customizable version than other units. A cooling unit (or two, if you're shopping for a couple) attaches to a mesh mattress pad which you can control via remote control. And if your bedmate sleeps at a different temperature entirely, their side can be set to a deeper chill or a slightly warmed-up feel that will prevent either party from throwing off the covers at night.
Massage chairs have the unfortunate feel of a particularly hamfisted person shiatsu-ing all the wrong places in your back, no matter how much you squirm to get in the right position. But with a wearable back wrap, things get a lot more targeted. Hyperice's new Venom 2 delivers just the right combination of heat and vibration distributed across a large crossection of your mid-to-lower back, whether you’re hoping to stay limber between two-a-day workouts or just looking for relief after a long day of WFH.
Professional and Olympic athletes, along with hundreds of sports teams, have incorporated Firefly’s wireless recovery strips into their cooldown routines because these extremely portable devices have been shown to help increase circulation and blood flow, while reducing muscle soreness. Usually worn around the knee, they work by sending small electrical pulses to stimulate the peroneal nerve in your legs by creating a slight foot "flutter" which triggers your blood to start pumping. Each unit can be reused up to 30 hours, and can be put into action anytime, so you can jumpstart your recovery and reduce muscle soreness whenever you've just logged a particularly punishing workout.
Cold plunge therapy is more than just physical therapy: It’s a quick dopamine rush and stress reducer that tons of people are diving into. Cold tubs are also usually big and bulky, but the team at Plunge devised a sleek way to try it out at home with its 67-inch cold tub that has an external chilling unit which allows you to dial down the temperature of your water to a bone-chilling 39 degrees. A new model called the All-In launches very soon, featuring a built-in cooling unit—no more bulky external parts—to allow you to maximize your cold therapy gains while taking up less space.
The Best Fitness Nutrition
When I first began going to the gym in earnest in the late aughts, there was one supplement in particular that seemed to be the source of endless debate: creatine. Was it the key to unlocking athletic excellence or a one-lane highway to kidney failure? How much water do you need to consume in a day when taking it? Should you cycle it? If you stop taking it, will all your muscles suddenly deflate?
Thankfully, countless studies over the years have debunked many of these purported myths and shown what we’ve known since creatine first began to gain relevance in the ‘90s, after various gold medalists at the Barcelona Olympics touted the benefits the supplement had on their performance. In the simplest terms, creatine is an amino acid that your body naturally produces, though not necessarily enough to provide any notable athletic improvements. But when you consume three to five additional grams, that creatine is converted and stored in your muscles, which in turn provides energy needed for your most explosive workouts. It’s why sprinters and powerlifters, in particular, were so drawn to the supplement in the first place. But studies have also shown that in addition to aiding in energy output, creatine monohydrate can also help assist muscle recovery, making it the rare supplement that provides benefits before, during, and after your most grueling workouts.
Thanks, in part, to an influx of fitness influencers on TikTok singing its praises and a shortage of the product last year, creatine suddenly seems to be the most talked about supplement on the market right now, with a bevy of companies pumping out energy drinks or pre-workouts or confusing hybrid products that all contain it. You can ignore most of those. What you really want is a simple, pure creatine monohydrate powder. My favorite for well over a decade now is Optimum Nutrition’s Micronized Creatine Powder. It’s unflavored and mixes well, so I most often drop a teaspoon of it into my protein shake after the gym. Simple, but oh so effective. —Mick Rouse, GQ global research director
Whey protein is the lynchpin of the supplement world, which is why you shouldn’t have to overthink any aspect of what protein powder you’re buying. Dymatize’s beloved ISO100 is affordable, readily available online or at your local health store, comes in a slew of great flavors (we swear by the Fruity Pebbles option), low on sugar, and mixes smoothly. Plus it’s a hydrolyzed formula, which means it’s easier for your body to absorb and digest while also cutting down on fats and carbs.
Who says supplements can’t be fun? Ghost has made a name for itself over the years with product flavors straight out your childhood—Oreos, Warheads, Bubblicious, Cinnabon, etc. But their Sour Patch Kids-flavored pre-workout is the brightest standout, with a formulation that’ll leave you feeling pumped but not jittery.
There are a lot of gels—alternatively known as “goo”—on the market right now that promise a quick boost of energy. What we like most about Chargel’s offerings is that they’re caffeine-free, boasting 45 grams of carbohydrates that will give your body the boost it actually needs during your most grueling treks. And unlike most other energy gels, they’re resealable. Our pro-tip? Refrigerate them before consuming.
The Best Home Gym Equipment
I wasn’t expecting to go all-in with any smart gym concept, especially if it required spending big bucks on a still unproven product. But with the Speediance Gym Pal—a sleek and compact home gym unit that looks more like a laptop desk than a bulky weight room replacement—I’m now recalculating if I really need to ever leave the house again to workout. Using the machine is as easy as pulling it out of the box and plugging it in (well, plus some Allen wrench assembly) before you start your biceps-blasting workouts.
And because the Gym Pal’s not mounted to any walls, you can use it wherever there’s an electrical outlet. On chest day, I kept my weak bench press to myself in the dining room. But on leg day, I ventured out to the patio for an al fresco workout, knocking out sets of squats and lunges in the morning sunshine. Its easily attachable accessories—including a straight bar, cable handles, and rope—made transitioning between various workouts feel pretty seamless. The app is pretty nice, too: Using Gym Pal app’s customize option, I pre-programmed four weeks of personal workouts in about 20 minutes (and it gives you plenty of leeway for adjusting weight levels and rest times if you miscalculate your numbers).
If you need to lift heavy weights or still plan to hit the gym regularly, any smart home system is probably not your thing. But if your goal is to work out more in your own space, this app comes with dozens of built-in workouts—from full-body ones to targeted exercises to HIIT, at all levels—to help you do so. The Gym Pal also clocks in around half the price of many of its peers in the home gym space, and each pull and press feels sufficiently smooth enough to convince me that I've made a good investment. —Jeff Tomko, freelance fitness writer
Working out at home has plenty going for it. You’ll never have to twiddle your thumbs while someone bench presses in the squat rack, or receive unsolicited input on your form. But unless you want your living room to look like the Y, you’re going to have to find a more compact option than a full set of dumbbells and kettlebells. TRX’s new triangular YBell can be used as a dumbbell, kettlebell, or a pushup stand and allows for a whole range of dynamic movements and more traditional lifts by simply changing your grip. Its non-slip coating also ensures that you can work up a sweat and still swing it without worrying about sending it through your living room window.
Nothing beats a good speed rope if you’re looking to take your conditioning to the next level, and the ergonomic aluminum handles on Boxraw’s Sokudo speed rope offer the ideal combination of form and comfort that will have you skipping like Ali himself in no time.
The biggest cardinal sin of any treadmill is a belt that's not long enough to complete your stride, especially if you're long-limbed. That's not an issue with Technogym's second launch, an inclining treadmill with an extra long 68-inch belt that's specifically catered to helping you complete HIIT exercises like pushing and floor work in between running intervals. The Run takes the best of its predecessor's selling points (like the ultra-sleek design, the adaptive running surface, and the excellent baked-in workout programs) and makes it even more quiet if you're stepping at night, and even faster at up to 15 miles per hour. Is it wildly expensive at over 10 grand? Certainly. But there's a reason running enthusiasts drool over the Technogym, and if you intend to hop on this with regularity, that cost-per-use will steadily decline just like the angles on this machine.
At-home exercise machines which sync to an app where super fit people shout at you to push through your next set from an AMOLED screen are dime a dozen these days. But If you’re looking to get a solid cardio workout without waking up your downstairs neighbor or blowing out your knees, there's the Climbr 2. Vertical climbing offers a full body workout, and unlike rowers and exercise bikes, the Climbr is quiet and takes up relatively little floor space. It’s also adjustable for a range of sizes, offers strength and recovery instruction as well as workouts, and boasts a baked-in speaker which doesn’t sound like your walkman headphones did in 1998.
CONTRIBUTORS:
Tanner Bowden, Tyler Chin, Chris Cohen, Yang-Yi Goh, Avidan Grossman, Joe Holder, Lori Keong, Mick Rouse, Sam Schube, James Stout, Jeff Tomko
EDITORS:
Chris Cohen and Lori Keong