Ultimate Gift Guide for the Fitness Freak in Your Life
The gym rat. The CrossFit enthusiast. The martial artist. The Tough Mudder competitor. The marathon runner. The cyclist. We all have at least one or two fitness freaks we count as close friends. I should know – for many of my friends, I am that freak.
If you have a loved one who falls into this category, and you’re looking to find them the perfect gift this holiday season, I have good news for you – we’re actually surprisingly easy to shop for. If it makes us sweat, or helps us recover, it’s a winner.
These 10 items will make any fitness freak on your shopping list happy this holiday season, and added bonus: They won’t break the bank!
10.) Earbuds / Headphones
Speaking of music related gifts, how many pairs of earbuds do you typically go through in a year? I’m betting it’s more than one. Whether they break or get lost, those tiny in-ear headphones end up needing to be replaced more often than we’d like. This makes them a perfect gift for the fitness fanatic in your life, because if they’re listening to tunes while working out, they’re probably going to need replacement earbuds sooner rather than later.
9.) Music
Nobody works out in silence, although if your fitness freak has a membership at a big box gym they may prefer such an arrangement to whatever the gym has chosen as a playlist.
An iTunes gift card or gift subscription to Spotify Premium would quite literally be music to your gym rat’s ears.
8.) Clothing (But Not Sneakers)
T-shirts, muscle shirts, tank tops, shorts, yoga pants — the athletic clothing industry has enough options to make your head spin. Get your fitness freak something with a workout related phrase on it, or, if they have Jedi tendencies, get ‘em something that shows they work out using the power of The Force.
Side Note: Steer clear of the sneaker section. Sneakers are an incredibly specialized, and personal, item for fitness fanatics, so it’s best to let them choose their own.
7.) Workout Log Book
If your fitness freak is a weightlifter, chances are they have a notebook where they log all their workouts. The thing about notebooks is they always come to an end, which means you will need a new one at some point.
The best aspect of this gift is that you can get really creative with it. Some places sell personalized workout logbooks, some sell very official looking ones, but hey, if you have a weightlifting pop music fan in your life, you can get ‘em a Taylor Swift notebook and call it a workout log book!
6.) Protein Shaker
Pretty much everyone who works out uses a protein shaker on a daily basis – sometimes as often as three times per day. Do you know what that means? They need to replace that protein shaker often. Making it a great, inexpensive gift.
As a bonus, you can get creative with this, as shakers now come with everything from comic book superheroes, to pro wrestlers, to sci-fi movie legends on them.
Replace your friend’s boring, clear, shaker with something that represents their personality.
5.) Gloves / Wrist Wraps
Unless your fitness freak is at a gym where they use chalk, it’s a safe bet that weightlifting gloves are in their gym bag. Now, you’ll have to know their hand size, but this can be handled by sneaking a look at the gloves he or she currently wears, or by doing a solid guess based on your own hand size.
Wrist wraps are another solid gift, especially for people who are fans of leg day.
Weightlifting gloves that include wrist wraps (as seen in the above photo) are a potential two birds with one stone gift idea.
4.) Speed Rope
Not everyone who works out uses a jump rope, but they should. Your CrossFit buddies definitely use a jump rope, and need a really good speed rope for double unders. Hook ‘em up with one, and make sure they no longer have to pick one out from the gym’s collection.
Pro tip: The thinner the rope, the better!
3.) Protein Gift Certificate
If you have a friend who is a fitness fanatic, you’ve probably noticed the large containers of protein that take up a significant amount of space on their kitchen counter. Even if you have no idea what each of the different powders do, your fitness freak does, and they go through a lot of protein over the course of a year. A gift certificate to their supplement store of choice — be it Vitamin Shoppe, GNC, or some other place — will always be appreciated, and used almost immediately.
2.) A Massage
Working out can lead to rock hard pecs, chiseled abs and kick ass calves, but it can also lead to some soreness. Because of this, every athlete appreciates a good rub down once in a while. And you know what? We’re far less likely to actually treat ourselves to a massage, making it a fantastic gift.
1.) Foam Roller
The one thing every athlete needs: a foam roller!
Sometimes — and we won’t get into how often this happens — we find ourselves in a time crunch after a workout and don’t properly “roll out” our muscles before hitting the showers and heading home. Having a foam roller of our own would mean having the ability to roll out those muscles on our own time.
With a foam roller you’d be giving the gift of soreness relief, and who doesn’t love that?
Did we miss any awesome fitness freak gift ideas? Let us know what you’re getting the fitness freak in your life this holiday season in the comments below!
