9 lightweight and easily packable pieces of workout gear I'm using at home now that I can travel with later

• With most gyms around the country still closed and more people spending time at home, it's a great time to update your home gym.
• As you develop a home routine, it's worth investing in equipment you can use on-the-go in the future when travel ramps back up, especially since hotel gyms may still not be safe even as hotels reopen.
• Gym equipment is often purposely heavy, which makes it tough to pack, but we found lightweight products — all weighing under five pounds — that you can work into your exercise regimen now and pack later.

As a full-time traveler now stuck in quarantine, I had never even once entertained the idea of taking my workout gear with me on my travels. My yoga mat is heavy and bulky and I'd have to be crazy to pack dumbbells in my suitcase when airlines ruthlessly fine for overweight baggage. I always figured that if I wanted to work out, I could make time to hit the hotel gym, but as you might expect, that was a rarely achieved goal.

Like many others during the pandemic with more time on my hands, I have taken on the pursuit of getting #quarantoned this summer by mass-following fitness influencers and developing a YouTube-based fitness regimen consisting of bodyweight exercises with the help of some accessories. Now that my daily routine has stuck, I've come to realize how easy it would have been to squeeze in a quick workout when I was traveling— no hotel gym necessary.

Even as hotels slowly reopen with new cleaning procedures in place, that doesn't mean it's safe to use the equipment at the gym. As Doctor Thomas A. Russo, a professor of infectious disease at the University of Buffalo, points out, "When you have that aerobic workout, you breathe harder and you have more respiratory transmission," which is especially problematic in a hotel where you don't know what parts of the country, or the world, everyone is coming from."

"If you go and there's someone in there, I would just turn around and leave," Dr. Russo advises, "You're better going outside and jogging or doing something in your room if the weather is inclement."

All the more reason why I'm investing in gear that I know will be portable for travel in the future. And by developing a routine with these lightweight products now, it will be easier to justify packing them, without stressing over how much space or weight they'll take up in my bag.

And if you're looking for on-the-go or at-home workouts that don't require you to be in the gym, you can check out our guides to the best free virtual workouts to do at home and the best workout apps.

I've rounded up some of my favorite pieces of equipment for building strength, increasing flexibility, and easing muscle tension, all of which weigh less than five pounds.

• A lightweight yoga mat: JadeYoga Voyager Mat
• A good set of mini resistance bands: OMERIL Resistance Bands
• Super bands for high-intensity full-body exercises: LEEKEY Resistance Assist Bands
• A weighted jump rope that syncs to your phone: Crossrope
• A portable kettlebell: Ludus Imperium Adjustable Kettlebell
• An effective set of massage balls: TiggerPoint Deep Tissue Massage Ball
• A lightweight yoga block for stretching your lower back: Fledo Yoga Blocks
• A mini foam roller: Trigger Point GRID Foam Roller