The Best Place to Buy Fitness Equipment Dirt Cheap

I started buying fitness equipment for my home gym over twenty years ago. Back then, the question that I would ask myself most often before a purchase was, how much am I going to benefit from my investment? For me, benefit meant more than results, it meant using the equipment consistently once I had paid for it and taken it home.

I used to get most of my fitness information from bodybuilding magazines at that time and wanted to develop washboard abs, along with my other muscle groups. So I set out to purchase a sit-up bench to help me do just that.

Finally, there I was in the showroom of a fitness equipment store staring at a sit-up bench. The salesman was very helpful, in fact he even told me that I didn't need to purchase a sit-up bench in order to get washboard abs, but if I did, he would gladly welcome the commission from the sale.

After thinking it over for a while I handed him my credit card and he replied with a happy "yes." So I drove my $150 sit-up bench home, and I barely used it. In fact, it's in storage collecting dust as I write this post. It was because of that purchase that I made a vow to never again buy a piece of fitness equipment unless I was certain that I would use it until it broke down. Completely.

Soon after, I walked into a store that made my vow very easy to keep - that was Play It Again Sports. Play It Again, or any second-hand fitness equipment store is one of the best places to find bargains. And much of what they stock is second-hand only because someone bought it and never used it, just like I did with my sit-up bench.

photo courtesy of - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P90X

The next place to find fitness equipment dirt cheap (even cheaper than second-hand stores) is at pawn shops. But because pawn shops don't specialize in "fitness equipment" you might have to shop around to find specific items. I've been able to purchase fitness equipment that I wanted to try, but would never spend money to buy brand new at a bargain from pawn shops.

So there you go, second-hand sports stores and pawn shops are the first places to look when you are in search of budget-friendly fitness equipment. However, you will most likely have to make sacrifices when you buy second-hand fitness equipment.

The most common sacrifices that I have had to make when buying second-hand is the condition of the equipment - I've had to deal with dents, scratches, and even rust. But second-hand equipment will no doubt get the job of building muscle and burning fat done just like brand new equipment.