Finding Affordable Fitness Gear for Your Family

We all know how fitness is important for, and beneficial to, everyone in the family.  If joining a gym is not really your thing, then take your games closer to home!  A great alternative is to purchase your own fitness equipment so you have it at the ready.

Advantages to working out at home

Gym memberships even for one, let alone an entire family, can be extremely costly. 

However, this doesn't need to deter you from getting involved in the activities that you love, and from trying out the activities you have on your "to-do" list!  There are many benefits to bypassing the gym and getting resourceful for your family's fitness goals:

• It is easy to access what you need

• You are not dependent on the weather as to when you can exercise

• You can do it as a group or alone

• It pays for itself in no time at all

With exercise a little goes a long way.  Some experts suggest dividing your daily activity into 10-minute increments to help it fit better into your schedule.  Eventually you can lengthen your sessions, but the key is to stick with your regimen.  No matter how short your fitness sessions are throughout your day, you are still reaping the physical and all other benefits.

Finding What you Need

It is fairly easy to outfit a small home gym without spending a lot of money.  You don’t even have to have a dedicated area to work out.  You can store all of your items in one area to be used outdoors, in front of the television or even in the garage.

Here are some basic ideas of where you can find what you need so that everyone can participate each day in some form of physical activity:

• Try eBay or Amazon – You can find just about anything you want on eBay and Amazon (aff). With a thorough search, you can find some items even cheaper than you can at your local department store and in bulk for family use.  Be sure to check the ratings of the seller and read reviews so that you are making a well-informed transaction.  (Our favorite home gym so far is the Bowflex (aff) - highly recommend it!)

• Craigslist – This works well to find a deal on large pieces of fitness equipment.  Surf your local area to find a deal that does not involve costly shipping charges!

• Garage sales – Many people who want to clean out their homes sell fitness equipment for a great price.  And, you can evaluate and touch the item so that you know what you are getting before you buy.  Sometimes you can haggle a bit with the price should you feel the need to.

• Try sporting goods resale and consignment stores – Stores like Play It Again Sports buy back fitness equipment to sell to you for a discount price.  You can find treadmills, elliptical machines, bicycles, sporting equipment and more to outfit your home fitness area.  Again, you can touch and try before you buy to be sure it is what you want.

• Buy off season – Fitness equipment is hot during the spring and summer.  During winter, buy what you need at a discount price.

Here is a fun little video I came across of a father talking us through some family fitness ideas, as his children demonstrate.  Enjoy!