Back in high school, there was a coach from a rival basketball team with a peculiar signature “look.” Whenever he coached, he would always droop a white towel—one that was meant for players to wipe sweat from their faces at timeouts—over his shoulder. Mind you, this was during the days when coaches actually wore suits so this particular “accessory” always stood out.

To grab another memory from my prep years, our PE teacher in weight training required us to bring our own towel to class. This was mandated so we could use it to place on equipment while performing reps and to also deflect our own perspiration while exercising.

I think both of these influences—although the latter one more so—had an impact on me after I graduated from high school. Why so? Because since the nearly 20 years since I left Mead High School, I have always brought with me a towel to the gym that I constantly droop over my shoulder while I work out.

I always bring a towel with me to the gym to use while exercising

However, to be fair, the towels I use aren’t the athletic ones the high school basketball coach would use. Rather, my towels are pretty much whatever I can get my hands on. Some are hand drying towels, some are car wash towels, and others are promo items I picked up from events. So you might ask the following question: Do they do the trick?

My response would be, what trick? If you meant do they keep me cool and keep sweat at bay, I would say kind of. While they do help whisk away sweat while doing cardio, my weight lifting routine doesn’t leave me soaked and thus a towel isn’t absolutely necessary for that purpose.

Instead, I use a towel at each gym session for two other more obscure reasons. The first is that it helps me mark my territory. I can indicate that I am using a piece of equipment by sprawling the towel on whatever I am using. But when you use the gym at 3:30 a.m. like I do, let’s just say marking your territory isn’t always necessary when you are often the only one using the facility.

The more prominent reason for my dedicated towel use is what my wife terms “my OCD.” I simply like the comfort and familiarity of a towel drooped over my shoulder or in my hand at all times. I guess you can liken it to how a toddler becomes attached to a blanket. After exercising that way for 25 years, it has grown on me. I feel out of place and awkward when I don’t have a towel at the gym. If I somehow forgot to bring a towel with me, I will turn around and go home to retrieve one if I haven’t arrived at the gym yet.

So at the end of the day, I am very similar to the high school basketball coach. At one time we probably had functional reasons for our respective towels, but eventually they became more of a personal comfort than a practical necessity. Don’t Blink.