I need to have some equipment to do my activities
One of the things that people sometimes think about becoming active is that they need to get a whole bunch of kit and technology because that’s the image that they have of active people, running or cycling in lycra with big activity tracker watches measuring a wide range of things. This is a huge fallacy and that you need very little to start getting active. Of course, as you become more active and you are confident that you’re happy with the activities that you do, getting new equipment may be the next step but only when you know that you’ll continue that activity. Very rarely does buying the equipment act as some kind of motivation to become more active.
However, if you are a goal driven person, you may want to invest in some kind of equipment to measure your performance. Again, this doesn’t have to be expensive as your phone serves many of these functions and you could get something as simple as a pedometer if you’re walking or running. You can borrow sports equipment when you first start activities until you buy into it so the advice would be to try to get into the activity first and if you feel you will continue it, then look to see if you need added equipment.
Don’t be one of those, ‘All the gear, no idea’ type of people, when I started walking, all I needed was a comfortable pair of shoes and when I began running, I got a comfy pair of trainers and some leggings. That’s it!
Equipment can mean a few different things for different activities. It also depends on what your focus and barriers are to getting more active. If available funds is an issue, there are activities that you can do that don’t require any cost at all, such as walking, running and following online video classes such as dance and circuits. However, if you feel that to get active you have to do a certain activity and that involves equipment, such as golf, then you may to either be a little more creative or invest a bit of money. Below are some considerations on equipment;
Clothing
Different activities can require different clothing. If you’re just starting activity and are thinking about some walking or running, you don’t really need anything other than a comfy pair of shoes. As your running gets more vigorous, you may want to upgrade your clothing to more athletic types of breathable material. For some more structured activities, there may be some clothing that needs to be worn but on the whole, if you’re trying a new activity out for the first time, you should be able to wear what you want as long as it’s safe. Some sports have requirements for safety purposes, such as shin pads and gumshields but things like this can be easily purchased at low cost.
Sports Equipment
Some sports require some equipment, bats, racquets, pads/guards and various other things. Some of these are relatively cheap to purchase, some can be quite expensive. When starting a new sport, especially at a club, they will normally help you and supply equipment to borrow and/or be able to purchase at a discount price. Like other equipment, there will be a range of quality of items and a range of prices to go with them. To start with, our advice is to get a cheaper one and once you’re happy and committed, look at upgrading if you feel you need to. For more information on specific sports, follow the link below.
Wearable Technology
Modern technology has created a whole new way of monitoring our activity. We can measure our steps, heart rate, distance and many other things just from our watch. Our phones can also do a lot of this whilst just sitting in our pockets. These items tend to be expensive and if you’re just starting your activity journey, it’s quite a big investment unless you’re looking for a new watch anyway as it does also tell the time! For more information on these items and apps for running but also monitoring activity, please click the link below.
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