Is anyone else’s Facebook feed covered with advertisements for fitness gear, or is it just ours? The market seems to be flooded with brand new tech, gear and gadgets everytime we look at our phone or switch the television on!

So, we felt inspired to write a blog to help you siphon through the adverts and find the best prices on fitness gear with our nifty little tricks.

1. Do your research

We all know that it’s easy to get swayed by adverts when you don’t know what it is that YOU are actually looking for. Our best advice is to do indepth research that goes beyond asking Siri “I want to buy a treadmill.”

Think about the type of workout that you want to do, your budget, and most importantly don’t impulse buy because the worse thing would be to regret your purchase in just three days time.

Sites such as Fitness Review give a good overview of the pros and cons of different gear, and once you have decided on the specific brand of fitness gear that is right for you, you can use Compare Fitness Gear to compare the prices between stores, and find voucher codes to make sure that you get the best price.

2. Don’t be afraid to buy second-hand

That leads up nicely into our next point of purchasing second-hand. We recently heard from a family who had purchased three pieces of home equipment and having not used them for six months wanted a quick sale. In the end, they decided to use a local Facebook sellers group which is a fantastic place to search for gear in your neighbourhood. Look for a local page where you can go and inspect the equipment yourself, essentially giving you an option to try before you buy.

3. Do you REALLY need the latest model?

So you’re looking for a Fitbit, or other piece of tracking gear, now ask yourself do you really (and we mean REALLY) need the top of the range all-singing-all-dancing model or are you simply looking to keep a track of your exercise, eating and sleeping patterns.

Fitness gear gets updates quicker than you can say “work through the burn” and so you’ll find that gear launched three months ago or more does everything that you need it to but is now half of the original price.  

4. Use your grocery shopping to pay for it

We know that the formula for fitness is regular workouts and healthy eating but little did you expect that even shopping for your food could help you achieve your goals. Many supermarkets, such as Sainsburys and Tesco, allow you to use your clubcard points for fitness gear purchases.

We’re particularly fond of the Sainsburys Nectar Card scheme which you can freely spend as discount in Argos, who just so happen to have a huge collection of fitness equipment. Handy that.

5. Variety is the Spice of Life

And this old saying stands true when purchasing your ideal fitness gear; just because you got your dumbells from Powerhouse Fitness doesn’t mean that you can’t shop around for your kettle bells to find the best price online. So many of us have fallen through this hole, once we buy equipment from one store all of a sudden we tend to forget that other stores exist, each with different discounts and promotions.

6. Find the ‘actual’ cost

We all know that kitting out your home gym, or even just purchasing a small piece of fitness gear can be expensive, and so to counterbalance this many companies offer payments through installments. This is particularly true for large equipment pieces such as treadmills and cross trainers. Be warned though, that by the time you’ve finished paying-off the installments you’ve normally paid a ‘premium’ for the privilege of being to able to pay with installments; it may actually end up costing you more than buying outright!

The other thing to watch out for is that pesky delivery fee, we’ve found some great deals online for fitness gear only to be blown away by the delivery cost. Sometimes it’s time to dust off that calculator and make sure that you know the ‘actual’ cost of the equipment you’re purchasing.

That’s it!

By following our top six tips we know that not only will you find the perfect fitness gear for your needs, you’ll also find the perfect price for your wallet.

We leave you with only a few more wise words of wisdom,”make sure to read the fine print.” In general, most fitness gear stores have excellent return policies for their equipment, but we definitely recommend reading them thoroughly. Remember, don’t be afraid to ask questions so that you’re not disappointed when your equipment arrives.

We’d love to hear from you if you have your own money saving ways when purchasing fitness gear or perhaps you even have your own tail of purchasing woe which you’d like to share?! We’re all ears!