News Headlines

Friday, January 26, 2007

Gym

I’m thinking about getting some home gym equipment. I have a gym membership, but there is no gym in downtown Tacoma or Hilltop. So, I figured it would be nice to have some good equipment that I can use when I don’t want to drive to my gym. I’ve observed a couple of things thus far in my search. First, home gym equipment can either be really cheap in price and quality (usually they coincide). Second, really nice home gym equipment can cost what a used car costs (and sometimes more). Why is there such a disparity? What if someone wants a good setup consisting of one piece of cardio and one piece of strength equipment? And, to top it off, what if that person wants good quality at a reasonable price? I mean really, Bowflex sells two adjustable 50 pound dumbbells for approx. $300 (and without the stand!). Are you telling me that Bowflex is barely breaking even on producing this piece of equipment or that this is somehow reasonable? You would think they were trying to prevent people from working out. I also saw an adjustable dumbbell bench for $200. We’re talking about a flat bench that can swivel upward. I would be embarrassed to tell someone the price of that stuff and still try to keep a straight face. This all leads to one thing. The home gym niche is ripe for someone to come along and blow all of these ripoff artists out of the home gym waters. Are you telling me that I can spend a couple hundred bucks on crap or $5,000 for something that I would want to use? Someone can do better than this and I’m anxiously awaiting to see the results. I won’t feel sorry for the losers in this upcoming battle either. By the way, if you have any recommendations on stores or equipment, let me know.

4 comments:

Cascadia Girl said...

One word: Craigslist!!!

Honestly, especially this time of year (after the Xmas presents and new year resolutions have worn off), so many people buy that kind of equipment, use it 10 times, then it sits, then it sells.

Figure out what you want, then troll the classifieds.

Peter said...

I'll definitely have to check craigslist. I'm pretty good about working out, so hopefully it'll get more than it's fair share of work here. Thanks for the suggestion!

Anonymous said...

Hey Peter,
Just to let you know that we have at least two gyms in walking distance, that I can think of...

The downtown YMCA is pretty cool - www.tacomaymca.org/locations.php?l=2&id=19


and there is a little gym on MLK across from Johnsons chocolates (but it seems really tiny)

I also just saw a new curves gym downtown - but didn't think you'd care about that one... :-)

Enjoying your writing!
Krysta

Peter said...

I don't know, I'm kind of feeling the whole Curves vibe. It would be like Bosom Buddies with leotards.