Fitness Gifts for the Lifter in Your Life

In life and in lifts, there are gifts we give in holiday spirit to those bereft of fitness equipment.

The following guide is going to help you navigate the way to the perfect gift for the lifter in your life. Whether they are a weightlifter, CrossFitter, or general fitness fan, we’ve found the best fitness gifts to give them. We’ve broken down this guide by each lifter’s specific sport, so if you know who you’re gift searching for, feel free to hop to that section. The section breakdown is as follows, Best Gift for:

• Olympic Weightlifters
• Powerlifters
• CrossFitters
• Strongman Athletes
• At-Home Lifters
• Fitness Nerd
• General Fitness Gifts

If you’re not sure which kind of lifter your lifter is, don’t sweat it. Just jump on down to the general gift suggestions towards the end for an array of gift suggestions. On that note, let’s dive in and find the gift for the lifter in your life.

Olympic Weightlifters

IronMind Sew-Easy Lifting Straps

After we reviewed the top lifting straps of the year, IronMind stood above the field for Olympic weightlifting and versatility. The flat nylon webbing straps wraps around barbell for a secure lift. These straps have a fast release for safety, as they do not fully wrap around the wrist, should the need to drop the weight arise. 

BarBend Tip: The simplicity of the lifter placing their hands through the loop and wrapping the strap around the barbell gives the lifter to the ability to release the weight as needed without inhibiting their motion.

321 STRONG Refillable Chalk Ball

Lifting large amounts of weight can lead to some pretty sweaty palms. Sweaty palms make gripping a barbell much more difficult. Chalk balls purpose is to fix that. A chalk ball is a cotton sock filled with non-toxic, fine powdered chalk that your lifter puts on their hands. The chalk keeps your lifters hands dry and increases friction with the bar during a lift. This chalk ball has a zip-top for easy refills and the chalk flows easily through the bag.

BarBend Tip: A full chalk ball will last approximately two weeks assuming your lifter is fairly active. However, lifting chalk is sold separately in blocks, so your lifter can continue to use their chalk ball even if the chalk runs out.

Powerlifters

SBD Knee Sleeves

For a broader look at the best knee sleeves available, we broke down our top knee sleeves for 2019.

SBD’s knee sleeves is our top choice for powerlifters. The 7mm high grade neoprene sleeves help support your lifters knees all the way through their lifts. There are eight accessory color options available on the base black sleeve and uses double silicone gel strips to ensure they stay in place during intense activity. Knee sleeves are helpful for stability and injury prevention by relieving pressure and swelling of the knee.

BarBend Tip: Go with regular fit instead of tight. SBD notes that their sizing chart is more accurate for smaller sizes and that an overwhelming majority of returns is due to customers needing going a size up when they went with tight.

DYNAPRO Power Resistance Bands

Maintaining proper form consistently is a surefire way to improve one’s lifts over time. Resistance band assisted training can help improve your lifter’s awareness of which muscles they’re engaging through a lift to spot weaknesses. For example, a band resisted deadlift may inform your lifter of imbalances they incur during the motion. These resistance bands come in six color options and provide a range of resistance from 5lb to 170lbs. Made of commericial grade durable rubber to prevent fraying or tears.

BarBend Tip: After your lifter receives this gift, we covered a variety of ways they can use their new resistance bands to help improve each lift they’re focusing on.

CrossFitters

Rogue Mobility Pack

Depending on the pack of choice, Rogue provides a number of foam rollers, resistance bands, and lacrosse balls aimed at aiding and increasing your CrossFitter’s mobility. Mobility is a vital aspect of a CrossFitter’s training to reduce the risk of injury and allow their bodies to stay adaptable under intense series of activities. These foam rollers and lacrosse balls are excellent for releasing tension that may be held in certain muscle groups and the resistance bands can assist warm-up and cool down stretches.

BarBend Tip: Rogue offers their foam rollers in blue and black and a variety of equipment combinations for their mobility packs. Each pack can includes bands of differing resistance. Knowing how advanced of a CrossFitter your lifter is can help inform the most balanced combo pack to gift them.

Grenade Shaker Bottle

The Grenade stands out for its capsule storage compartment under the lid. It also has a removable storage compartment in the bottom of the bottle to store protein powder or other dietary supplements. With the bottom compartment removed, the size of the bottle with its long handle lid, gives it the appearance reminiscent of a grenade. The price is in the right place for a reasonable holiday gift and all the added utilities give the bottle the feel of a higher end option.

BarBend Tip: If you don’t already know, try to find out if your CrossFitter takes vitamins, supplements, or the like in capsule form. This bottle’s specific compartment for capsules is what really makes it stick out from the crowd and if that is specifically useful to your lifter, this gift will likely feel more personal.

Strongman

Harbinger 4 Inch Nylon Weightlifting Belt

The Harbinger 4 inch weightlifting belt is a wide support strap for lower back and abdominal support. Weightlifting belts are excellent at keeping a lifter aware that they need to engage their abdominals during a lift. At 3 inches wide, this belt will sit securely across the lower torso and has a heavy stitched steel buckle for quick and easy adjustment. 

BarBend Tip: The Harbinger is thick and helps with muscle warmth but can also lead to excessive sweating. Keep this in mind when lifting shirtless as it may cause some movement of the belt.

Garage Fit Strongman Sandbag, Heavy Duty Workout Sandbags

These heavy duty weighted sandbags scale from 100lbs to 400lbs in 50lb increments. The durable bags are designed not to rip when tossed, dropped, or pushed. Exercises and workouts can be performed both indoors and outdoors with these bags. They can be emptied and refilled making them easy to transport. These bags are delivered unfilled so they can be more easily packaged as a gift. 

BarBend Tip: Inform your strongman that lifting the bags from the loop closure should be avoided. Pulling or lifting from the loop might open the bag, spilling sand, which may disrupt their workout. 

At-Home Lifters

Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar

Iron Gym’s Upper Body Workout Bar is the economy class option on the market, but still stood above the rest in our review of best pull-up bars. It delivers on functionality at a much more affordable cost than most of the competition. Any door frame between 24 and 32 inches is sufficient. The straight bar allows for basic pull-ups, chin-ups and the perpendicular hand grips allow for hammer grip pull-ups, which is a feature more unique than one might expect.

BarBend Tip: Do note that there are exposed screws on the bar that doesn’t have a grip cover. Iron Gym also offers ab straps that pair with this pull-up bar. The lower cost of this bar might make the additional purchase of the ab straps a nice way to punch up this holiday gift even further.

AmazeFan Pull-Up Bar Doorway with Ergonomic Grip

AmazeFun’s pull-up is raised high for taller lifters and has slightly curved ends to ease the pressure on the wrists. This ergonomic design might make it easier for your lifter to really target their lats when performing pull-ups. Inconspicuously at the center of the bar is a small eyelet that can support a punching bag for boxing. Plastic pads prevent the door from sustaining damage and scratches that might occur, and the bar is foldable for easier storage.

BarBend Tip: This pull-up bar is a little pricier, but the adjusted grip and orange detailing make this a great gift option for the intermediate lifter.

LuxFit Foam Roller

The aesthetically pleasing speckled foam roller is a worthy holiday gift for your lifter. Made of polypropylene with four different sizes available; 12, 18, 24, or 36 inches, this more basic option is still effective for helping to relieve soreness or ease muscle tension. This foam roller is smooth which lends itself as a great choice for a new lifter or a lifter who is less experienced with foam rolling.   

BarBend Tip: If you know particular spots of tension that your lifter struggles with, this may help inform which size would be the most appropriate gift. The larger sizes might be able to cover larger muscle groups more effectively and vice versa for the smaller sizes on smaller muscle groups.

Fitness Nerds

Dottir: My Journey to Becoming a Two-Time CrossFit Games Champion

Katrin Davidsdottir won the CrossFit Games in 2015 and 2016. She has maintained herself as one of the premiere CrossFit athletes to this day and is also the author of this memoir. In her book, Davidsdottir details her training, nutrition, and more on her way to becoming one of only two women to ever win the CrossFit Games twice.

Strongman: My Story

Eddie “The Beast” Hall is a former World’s Strongest Man, winning the competition in 2017, and is a current superstar in the sport of strongman. In 2016, he achieved the world record deadlift of 500kg (1,102lbs). Strongman: My Story tells the story of how Eddie Hall trained, focused, and laughed his way to the World’s Strongest Man title.

SPRI Exercise Dice (6-Sided) – Game for Group Fitness & Exercise Classes

These lightweight foam dice help keep workouts fun and unpredictable. On one die are various exercises such as squats and jumping jacks. On the other dice is a number of reps or duration of time. When rolled together, they display an exercise and the volume or time to perform them for. Reroll again and again for a different exercise combination almost every time. These dice great for people exercising together as rolling the dice gives workouts a fun spin compared to common pre-structured workouts.

BarBend Tip: These dice are also great for travel as they are easy to pack. A nice tool to have when exercising in smaller spaces like a hotel room.

General Fitness Gifts

Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder

Sometimes the fundamentals can make for the best gifts. Whey protein powder is one of the building blocks to most lifters dietary supplement intake. Ensuring they consume enough protein for their bodies to build the muscle they worked so hard for in the gym is something most lifters will be thankful for. Optimum Nutrition has consistently been a top provider of great tasting protein powder that mixes well. This powder has been banned substance tested and is Informed-Choice certified.

BarBend Tip: Optimum Nutrition offers 1lb bags to 5lb tubs and more. They also offer a lot of flavors to choose from. Make this gift personal by finding out your lifter’s favorite flavor.

Leather Duffel Bag 28 inch Large Travel Bag Gym Sports Overnight Weekender Bag

This full grain leather gym and travel duffel bag measures in at a little over 2ft long. It’s comprised of a large main compartment with two additional zipper pockets to hold anything from clothes to supplements to gear. The shoulder strap makes it easier to carry, but is removable if your lifter would prefer holding it by hand without the strap dragging or snagging. It’s definitely a higher end buy when looking at the price tag, and one of the more luxurious options available, but will likely last a long time into your lifter’s future.

BarBend Tip: This quality gym bag that is the pick we would suggest if your lifter is also a traveler. The leather will sustain in various kinds of weather and still look sheik outside the gym.

Wrapping Up

‘Twas the gift guide for lifters and all through the store, were shakers and rollers and bars in the doors. The gym bags were outfitted with pockets and mesh, to hold lifters’ gear whilst they perform their next set. Choosing the right gift can be a difficult job, but remember the real gift is the thought that’s involved. So for us here at BarBend helping guide you the way, keep on lifting, dear friends, and happy holidays.