With Christmas around the corner as a great excuse to buy some fun fitness stuff, we thought we’d share some of our favourite items across a range of categories! We could have gone on forever with this one but we’ve kept it to a few of our favourite items! Feel free to add some of your own in the comments!
GYM EQUIPMENT
Big Budget - Concept 2 Bike.
We recently got a Concept 2 bike and it’s the best bit of kit that we own. We also have an airbike and find this one so much more useful for a range of workouts. Set the dampener to a low setting and you can easily pedal and work (I bought a cheap £20 desk from Amazon that slots over the top) or shove it to the max and crank out a tough sprint workout. It can also be set up to work with Zwift if that’s your jam!
Medium Budget - Kettlebell or sandbag.
Both are great bits of kit and won’t break the budget. You can do so much with a sandbag and it’s the perfect addition for OCR training but a kettlebell is also easy to move around and a good one to take away with you if you’re on the move.
Small Budget - Pack of resistance bands.
There’s not too much you can get with a small budget but a pack of resistance bands is a great addition to your gym kit. From mobility work to strength sessions, you can do so much with them without breaking the bank. There are plenty of free resistance band workouts online you can find too if you need some guidance.
GOOD READS
The Comeback Quotient - Matt Fitzgerald.
Anything by Matt Fitzgerald is a great read and his latest book is very topical for making a recovery from injury, COVID or just the general hecticness of 2021. It’s full of stories of different athletes and their comebacks and it’s a very interesting read!
Other Great Books We’d Recommend:
Learning To Breathe Fire - J.C. Herz
Iron War - Matt Fitzgerald
Good To Go - Christie Aschwanden
The Champion’s Mind - Jim Afremow
ACTIVE RECOVERY
We love a bit of active recovery so thought we’d suggest some of our favourites.
Paddleboard. We recently bought a blow-up paddleboard and we have been really impressed with the quality of it. We got ours from AquaPlanet and it’s been great. It means you can plan out your own adventures and make a day of it rather than paying £20 for an hour!
Bouldering Membership. Bouldering is a great form of active recovery, especially for OCR folks! You can normally get a good monthly deal with a climbing gym and then you can go as much as you like.
ROMWOD Membership. If you’re also terrible at remembering to do your mobility then following along to ROMWOD is an easy way to take the hard work out of it. Each day you get a new workout or you can filter by movements that you might be doing in your workout and use it for a warmup/cooldown. You can also get a 7-day free trial to see if it’s for you.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
AllTrails or OS Map Membership
Both AllTrails and OS Maps offer different benefits for those who love getting out into the great outdoors for hikes or trail runs. If you’re looking for an easy way to pick up previous routes and to search for routes in certain areas, AllTrails is for you. If however you’d prefer a more detailed look at an area and more of a focus on the roads, routes, trails and important places in an area then OS maps is worth checking out.
Strava Subscription
If you’re serious about running or know someone who is then you’re going to want to pay for a Strava subscription as many of the cool features are now only available for paid members. If you want to be able to plot routes, compete on segments and get a full breakdown on your data metrics then the paid version is for you!
Wild Guides
We love the Wild Guide books and think they make excellent gifts. There’s a whole range in the series from Wild swims, different areas of the UK and Wild Running. They’re full of great routes and pretty pictures to inspire your next adventure!
TEAM GRIT
Ok, ok, we couldn’t finish our guide without letting you know about what we have on offer!
Apparel. You can find our full range of apparel items here. From t-shirts to hoodies and our #Merrygritmas festive vests, we’ve got a bit of something for everyone.
Training Plans. Feel free to check out our range of training plans here. If you’ve got a friend who is tackling a race next year then why not keep them on track with an 8 or 16-week training plan?
Coaching / OCR Group. If you are looking to get a partner, friend or loved one some coaching or training then reach out. We can set up a voucher for 3 or 6 months for our monthly group plan or set up some next steps for our 1:1 coaching so you can offer it as a great gift to kickstart their fitness in the new year!