Sharing My Purchasing Filter for Training Equipment
Appreciating Item Value and Utility in Your Life
Reframing Spending Money on Health and Fitness
I want to touch on this first because I believe it’s a prevalent mental barrier in most of our minds. It’s easy to see the upfront cost of training equipment and quickly dismiss it as too much money.
At the end of the day, it’s a personal decision, and it does matter whether you’ll actually use the items or not. I’m not saying anyone is wrong based on where their limit is, and I respect how you feel about whether you would spend money on an item or not (because while items are helpful, you can get creative and still make progress without them).
What I do want to try and do is reframe how you see training items/equipment so that you can appreciate what total value they offer, to then have a better idea of whether it’s worth it to you or not.
Instead of comparing the training item/equipment to a new phone or other nice-to-have items, consider that money being spent as an investment into your physical health. Just like you would spend money for nourishing foods, supplements, medicine, and doctor visits to take care of your health; the money you spend on training items can be used to impact your health and physical abilities for the better.
I like to also think of the money I spend now to create the training environment I enjoy and will use regularly as an investment into my Physical Retirement Plan. We set aside money now so that we will have financial freedom toward the later years of our life. But what good is that financial freedom if we lose a significant part of our physical freedom by the time we get there.
Not to mention, with declining health as we age comes more money we have to spend trying to fix issues and trying to recapture some of that physical ability we have lost. Sadly, with this path comes a lot of pain and frustration.
If we can make the effort to discover and invest into building the environments around us that promote sustainable activity and training in our lives now, we can enjoy living with greater health and ability, while (accidents aside) expecting to live better for longer…and cheaper!
When you see the next training item you’re considering and the price tag, here is my purchasing filter, that I’d like to share, to help you evaluate the value of that item for your life:
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Does this purchase improve my level of quality?
Will this allow me to train a movement(s) I haven’t been able to?
Or train a movement(s) better?
Or make a movement(s) more enjoyable/likely that I will train it consistently?
*If an item allows for improvement over multiple training movements that’s a big plus!
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Does this purchase make my life easier?
I don’t mean easier as in more comfortable (training is uncomfortable to some degree). I mean easier as in quicker to set up and utilize the item to accomplish the movements I want to train. Remember, the easier it is to get started (the less friction you have to access/use something) the easier it is to use it and keep using it consistently.
Personally, I don’t like having too many settings to adjust or having to connect things via Bluetooth to use in a training session (other than connecting a heart rate device before a conditioning session).
Your tolerance for changing settings and using tech. items can be different from mine. Ultimately this filter is about clarifying whether you can actually see yourself using this regularly without frustration.
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Do I have the Money, Time, and Space to invest into this purchase right now?
Money = Do I have the funds available now? If not, wait and patiently save for it if it’s worth it (ideal not to spend money you don’t have)
Time = Do I currently have the time to learn how to use this item and use it effectively in my training sessions? If not, wait until you do. (training tech items tend to have a higher time cost)
Space = Do I have the space for this item in a way that is easily accessible and doesn’t make my training space feel crowded? If not, am I willing to get rid of something else to make room? (look up dimensions and take the tape measure out to make sure it will fit your space…don’t forget ceiling height as well)
These filter questions can help you slow down and allow your more logical side to consider the utility of the item in YOUR life. This can be helpful when the emotional side of you gets swept up in the excitement of the marketing message or is repulsed by the knee-jerk response of seeing the initial price tag.
My hope is that with the mental reframe of considering how the equipment could improve your quality of life and contribute toward your Physical Retirement Plan, plus the utility of the purchasing filter, you will have a more clear idea of what’s worth investing into for you.
And if you are interested in equipment ideas that I believe will pass the first two filters for most people check out my (updated) Starting Your Home Gym article.
Thanks for reading!
Brian