Affordable Home Fitness Equipment

Sports and Hobbies
1
We have a hobby room that comes with the apartment we are moving into (about 11 sq. meters) and I would like to set-up a treadmill and a cross trainer to start with along with some large mirrors

I have checked some websites like

www.fitness4all.ch

www.sport-tiedje.ch

www.sportscheck.ch

(based on recommendations from Top-preise.ch)

I realized I do want to checkout the equipment before buying them. So do any of you know brick-and-mortar home-gym equipment stores in Zurich that are also affordable / might have a discount on 2011 models.

I have also tried the sport-xxx, jumbo and coop bau and hobby and it seems the choices are very very limited.

All recommendations for a price sensitive shopper would be much appreciated.

2
That sort of stuff is mega expensive here.

No cheaper than elsewhere but with a well stocked show-room is in Zurich:

Fitness Shop MB

Zweierstrasse 99

8036 Zurich, Switzerland

044 463 11 63

fszh.ch‎

No affiliation, but I did buy some kettlebells from there recently.

3
I didn't find much in CH, so went to decathlon in France for my treadmill They also have stores in Germany. But you would need access to a car, as they will not deliver to CH.

The recumbent bike that hubby wanted was no available in CH, and only by special order in FR. So I ordered it from UK, which even with shipping worked out cheaper :-)

4
Have a look on local.ch for sports equipment shops. It's the Swiss equivalent to a Yellow pages

5
I would go in another direction. With any level of budget (below professional-fitness club level), you will not be happy with the equipment and it will be out on the sidewalk in a few months.

So, save your money and look more in the direction of body weight exercise programs (and maybe a few toys such as the kettle bells, heavy elastics, a couple of Swiss balls etc).

Yes, put up the mirrors, you can get cheap ones in lots of stores such as Ikea etc. They can help with form. Then invest in 2-4 good quality floor mats. Hornbach and some of the other building stores sell heavy duty rubber mats (60x80 cm) that are used under washing machines. They are good to use with the kettle bells to keep them from denting or marking the floor. Not very expensive.

There are a couple of very good programs selling on the Internet at less than CHF 100 that will either kill you or give you a great body in very little time. There is also lots of free info and videos on YouTube.

6
For a bg purchase like this I would seriously consider looking in Germany and importing. Even after paying for the carriage and the import duty it's likely to end up cheaper.

Another option would be to look for second hand stuff, e.g. from a profession gym who wants to upgrade (can't suggest where to find a source through).

7
An example of one body weight program at $47

http://www.bodyweightburn.com/oddexercise/

If you want to know more about the person do a Google on Adam Steer. He has a lot of free material as well.

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear....1.86NCLS--kQc

8
Thanks for all the responses. I learnt after the post that the website Sport-Tiedje has a large store near hardbrücke. I have seen a manequin riding a bike in that store before but thought it was a gym.

The address is

Sport-Tiedje Schweiz GmbH

Hohlstr. 190

CH-8004 Zürich

Tel: +41 (0) 43 - 322 22 77

I will keep all the tips above in mind but for the moment sticking to the X-trainer+treadmill for the moment.

The carpet / ikea mirrors etc are all useful tip.

Also once the shopping is complete, I will post back to the forum for any future buyer how the process went!

9
And let us know in a year (or six months) whether you are still actually using it!

10
You will see the answer in the FOR SALE section.

11
I finally started using the Concept 2 I bought in 2002 about a year ago, but only when I started doing Crossfit. Home gym comprises a jump rope, 16kg kettlebell, medicine ball, some rubber bands, a couple of foam rollers, some thin matting on the floor to protect it rather than me. Oh yes and an olybar, 100kg of bumper plates and a squat rack.

12
There is one more website for a wide variety of sports equipment.

http://www.sport-thieme.ch/

13
I second the body weight / functional training advice as a very important part of effective training programs.

A quick, cheap and easy gear idea is to make your own sandbag for strength training. Here's a simple how-to guide I wrote.

There are many sandbag training videos and programs out there and you can incorporate it in workouts with the treadmill, bike, etc. Ketllebells and a TRX are great additions as well.

It's awesome to make a commitment to better health and fitness and any start is better than no start. Speaking from many years of experience and work as a fitness professional, I'll just offer that one's odds of sticking to a program and reaching their goals are much higher through a good mix of high intensity (with proper technique) workouts, strength training, cardio and variation than going for one or two cardio machines and some dumbbells and repeating the same or similar workouts each day. So, don't wait too long before introducing some simple bodyweight exercises and functional training (again, with basic equipment) as well as varied, fun workouts (e.g. 5 Rounds of 2 minutes hard running on the treadmill or outside, 8 sandbag deadlifts and 10 bodyweight squats). It's all about stacking the odds in your favor so you'll consistently *want* to train and then to train wisely through proper technique and programming (workout design).

14
Great post.....I could not agree more.

I have done a lot of exercises with body weight only.

Choose the right program and you will get lean and fit very fast.

I have made several post about "Insanity, P90X and Maxworkout which all are good programs and they all require none or only little equipment like dumbbells and a pull up bar.

Google is your friend so check them out.

15
Yeah.....so true.

Another great post

If I wasn't writing on my mobile I would rep this one too......

16
I can highly recommend them - excellent customer service. Recently bought a spin bike from them - there's a thread on here somewhere about my experience. 10 days later, bike still getting lots of use

17
One more address for kettle bells.

http://www.kettlebellsonline.ch/

18
I can recommend Shark Fitness in Wettingen.

Also, what sort of ventilation does your hobbyroom have?

We just converted a room in our house to a fitness room. Fortunately it has a window.

19
On a serious note: You will find tons of never used 2nd hand stuff on ricardo and elsewhere. Getting a man with a van to move it is probably cheaper than the lowest new prices - and Swiss people tend to buy top of the line machines... so you could probably end up with a serious machine for amateur money. I simply never had enough space for it, but I have seen Technogym and similar brands for decent money there.

20
If you are going to order from them, access the site via http://hillseekerfitness.com/content...ls-switzerland for a discount.