The Naked Running Band is the flagship product of Naked Sports Innovations, a running accessories company based in the greater Seattle area. I picked mine up in Katoomba, on the outskirts of Sydney, whilst travelling through Australia, and since then I’ve hardly taken it off.
It’s an extraordinarily adaptable product, capable of carrying as much or as little as you’d like it to. But before we dive into this review, let’s go over the main features of the Naked Running Band.
Product Overview
This product is essentially one continuous strip of fabric. Unlike many other running waist packs, it doesn’t have a clip or an adjustable belt. Instead, the Naked Running Band comes in twelve different sizes designed to fit waists from 28 to 39 inches.
The band is made from a super stretchy mesh that Naked calls its “4-way power mesh.”
It has two medium pockets on the front, a larger single pocket on the back, and some toggles to hang a race number on.
Also on the back, two elastic loops can hold a running jacket or some trekking poles.
There’s also a fob to secure your keys inside the band.
And that’s really about it. The Naked Running Band is a refreshingly simple product, and I’ve been reaching for it on just about every run. So let’s delve into what exactly makes this deceptively simple product so great.
The Good Stuff
Like I mentioned earlier, the Naked Running Band is an amazingly adaptable product. Whether I’m going out for 5k or 55k, I’d be comfortable using this product and this product alone on any run up to around five hours, assuming I’m running in fair weather conditions and with access to a couple of water resupplies en route.
To show you what I mean, let me outline three of the many possible set-ups for the Naked Running Band.
The Daily Run
The first is for a short to medium run – anything up to an hour, say. Typically I wouldn’t carry water for this, nor a running gel – but I might want my phone, in case I should get lost or injure myself, and my keys.
In this set-up, the Naked Running Band is barely noticeable around my waist, and all the stuff I’ve brought with me is very easy to access.
The Long Run
But let’s say it’s now the weekend, and I’m going for a longer run of between 20 and 25 kilometres. I’ll definitely want to bring 500ml of water with me – this soft flask (sold separately) stows nicely in the back pocket.
Nestled against the small of my back, it doesn’t bounce at all, and as I drink from it the running band keeps it nice and compressed.
Alongside my phone and keys, I’ll also want to take some nutrition. Four gels should be safe. I’ll also need an extra layer, even if the weather looks fair now. Besides, running with a jacket is good training for race day. Although this Inov-8 jacket does fold into its own pocket, I like to use the elastic loops on the back of the Naked Running Band, for a couple of reasons.
First, it keeps the jacket from getting too sweaty, and lets it breathe in the open air. Secondly, it’s a lot easier to access and stow away on the move, as I don’t need to open it up and fold it away every time I want to change.
This is everything I’d typically take with me on my weekly long run. But what if I were going further?
Race Day
If I wanted to be a little bit more prepared, one liter of water fits nicely in the front two pockets. My running jacket is stowed in the loops as before, and my phone sits in the back pocket alongside a pair of gloves and a beanie.
As for nutrition, I can easily fit six gels in the front two pockets, and another 8 in the back pocket either side of my phone. That’s 1400 calories of food.
Okay, so this might be overkill. And to be totally honest, I probably wouldn’t use the Naked Running Band as my sole storage solution on any point-to-point run or race longer than about 50k. But it’s nice to have options. If I were so inclined, I could carry everything I needed, say, to pass the mandatory kit list and one of Centurion Running’s 50 miler events.
And it really doesn’t bounce. Much.
Okay, so I’m really pushing this product to its limit with all this gear, and there is a little bit of movement. But I’ve found that once I take a few gulps from each bottle, the compression of the band holds everything in place pretty well. I like to wear it slightly lower around my hips, where it feels more secure. After 10 or 15 minutes of running, I’ve found that my body gets used to how the Naked Running Band feels, and I hardly notice it’s there at all.
The Bad Stuff
Honestly, I’m struggling to think of any downsides to this product. It’s extremely functional and really well-suited to my style of running.
One thing I did notice was that the branding on the mesh began to peel off, almost after the first run.
I wouldn’t normally care about this kind of thing, but it did strike me as odd that I hadn’t even run 20 miles in the Naked Running Band before this happened. Still, it doesn’t impact its function, so it doesn’t bother me that much.
It’s also true that it does take some getting used to. The first few runs in the Naked Running Band do feel a bit unusual, as your hips, glutes, and core are working harder to keep you centered due to the mass distributed around your midriff. But the same is true of your shoulders, neck, and back the first time you wear a hydration vest. All it takes is a few weeks of running for those muscles to adapt.
Another potential downside is the fit. The fact that this product comes in twelve different sizes isn’t surprising, because without any clips or tightening mechanism to speak of, it really relies upon you getting the fit right. For this reason, I would highly recommend trying before you buy. Stuff your wallet, phone, and anything else you can into the band whilst you’re trying it on, to best simulate what it will be like when you’re running with it.
Despite the potential awkwardness of getting the fit right, I’d hesitate to call this a problem. We’re all used to the idea that our running shoes need to fit properly, so why should we expect any different from our accessories? Naked Sports Innovations have clearly put a lot of effort into designing this product, so the fact that they want it to fit perfectly is fantastic.
Closing Thoughts
So that just about wraps things up for my review of the Naked Running Band. In conclusion, I’d have to give this product a 5 out of 5. What it does, it does exceptionally well, and it’s the one accessory I find myself reaching for on just about any run.
If you have a favourite running product or accessory that you’d like to see me review, let me know in the comments, or message me on Instagram @edscott.blog. Reviewing is a new endeavour for me, and I’d love to hear any feedback you have.
Thanks for reading, and see you next time.
Rated 5/5