The Verge’s fitness gift guide: the best gifts for athletes and active people – The Verge
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Help your loved ones stay healthy and happy with gifts suitable for all budgets
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There’s nothing quite like a global pandemic to remind you how true that old cliché is: at the end of the day, health really is wealth. During these past two years, however, emotional wellness has become just as important as physical health, making gifts that focus on our mental wellbeing just as meaningful as those that impact our physical one. Luckily, our gift guide features a range of ideas that should appeal to both, many of which were solicited from The Verge staff and can still arrive on time even if the holidays are nearly here.
Below, you’ll find an under-desk elliptical for the friend who finds making time to go to the gym challenging, as well as the latest Apple Watch, the third-gen Oura Ring, and a pair of sunglasses that let you ditch your earbuds at home. We’ve also included gift cards for popular therapy and meditation services — perfect for those of us who waited until the last minute to start shopping — along with gifts that should also work well with any budget. Take a look and see what great stuff you can get to help your family and friends stay healthy and happy.
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Price Range
Journaling has great mental health benefits, making a notebook an excellent gift. This particular one stands out because of its vibrant design and the quote on its cover, which reframes failure as a merely lesson to be learned. It’s an encouraging, practical gift for anybody you know who is about to start working on a new goal or is going through a rough patch.
Price: $14
Em & Friends
With TriggerPoint’s Grid Foam Roller, you can give your muscles a deep tissue massage, helping them recover after a strenuous workout. It’s designed to specifically target muscles in your upper and lower back, upper and lower legs, and hips. You can also choose from a variety of subtle and vibrant colors, including pink, orange, black, and mint.
Price: $30
Amazon
Target
REI
Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch is a fun way to get some exercise in, combining a workout with an exciting adventure game that will have you doing everything from jogging to yoga.
Price: $59
Amazon
Walmart
Best Buy
Loved ones who are trying to keep tabs on their health will appreciate receiving the best smartwatch on the market. The latest Apple wearable also features a larger display, faster charging, and IP6X dust resistance. The screen even comes with a new miniature keyboard, and the watch itself comes in a wide variety of colors and configurations starting at $399.
Price: $399+
Amazon
Apple
Target
Weighted blankets aren’t just cozy — they’re great presents that can help alleviate stress while keeping your loved ones warm. These cotton blankets from Luna come in a variety of colors, ranging from light grey to lavender. Just keep in mind that, depending on which size you buy, the cotton blankets can weigh anywhere between five and 15 pounds.
Price: $70 to $94
Amazon
Luna
VanMoof’s latest, pedal-assisted e-bike is both better and cheaper than prior models, and it sports a sleek and elevated design that doesn’t scream “e-bike” at first glance. It can also hit a top speed of 20 miles per hour with its four-speed electronic gear shifter, helping make it one of the best e-bikes you can buy.
Price: $2,298
Vanmoof
Your giftee can embrace mindfulness and your creativity with this introductory guide to Zentangle, a meditative self-help art therapy practice. Instructor and artist Beckah Krahula’s book is divided into six chapters, each containing seven daily exercises and projects designed to guide you through drawing beautiful designs and various patterns.
Price: $13
Amazon
Walmart
Your loved ones can work out while working with this compact, under-desk elliptical. It’s perfect for those who don’t have the time to visit the gym, with eight levels of resitance and handles for transporting it from room to room. It also ships fully assembled and comes in two colors: gray and pink.
Price: $125 to $140
Amazon
Walmart
Kohls
Combining comfort and performance, this hoodie is perfect for warming up, cooling down, or simply relaxing in style. This hoodie is made from a technical mix of recycled fabrics, giving a high-performance and effortlessly cozy fit and feel. The all-new lace guards hold the drawstring laces in place, allowing you to move or relax without distraction.
Price: $150
On Running (Women’s)
On Running (Men’s)
Beginners and yoga enthusiasts alike will appreciate Manduka’s travel-friendly yoga mat. While it may not be as comfy as loftier pads, the eKO SuperLite is built to be lightweight and portable, weighing just two pounds and measuring a mere 1.5 millimeters thick. The natural rubber mat is also available in either blue or purple or in 79-inch configuration for an extra $5.
Price: $45
Amazon
Manduka
If your loved one is deeply embedded in the Samsung ecosystem, the Galaxy Watch 4 is the smartwatch to get. Built upon Google’s new Wear OS 3 platform, the attractive wearable offers improved third-party app support, a responsive interface, and an array of advanced sensors, allowing it to support 95 different kinds of workout tracking.
Price: $250
Amazon
Walmart
Best Buy
Those who are living in areas where it’s unhealthy to drink tap water — or are just environmentally friendly — may appreciate this gift. Much like its pitchers, Brita’s stainless-steel water bottles filter out contaminants, making it easy to meet your daily water intake and ditch single-use bottles. The 20oz container also features double-walled insulation, helping keep your water cool for a full 24 hours.
Price: $16 to $40
Amazon
Brita
Target
Even if you don’t own a Peloton bike or treadmill, the company still offers thousands of streamable fitness classes for $13 a month. Each falls under one of 10 different workout types, ranging from strength training and stretching to meditation and dance.
Price: $13
Peloton
The Bose Frames Tempo aren’t the most attractive pair of sunglasses, but what they lack in style they make up for in convenience. The Bluetooth-equipped, USB-C shades feature speakers built directly into the frame, which allows you to kick out the jams on your hike while simultaneously staying in tune with the world around you.
Price: $219
Amazon
Walmart
Best Buy
Calm is a popular app designed for better sleep and meditation. Each gift card grants you a year of Calm Premium, providing unlimited access to the app’s content library, where you’ll be able to enjoy guided meditations covering sleep, stress, gratitude, and other topics, as well as ambient music and masterclasses with mindfulness experts.
Price: $70
Calm
The Theragun Mini is a powerful yet quiet massager that offers relief for your muscles wherever you go, given it’s small enough to carry around. It comes in two colors — black and red — and is a great gift for those who are either very active or simply in need of some R&R.
Price: $175
Amazon
Target
Best Buy
For many, therapy is a pathway to self improvement that can prove invaluable. A Talkspace gift card makes it possible for your loved ones to get the help they may need, albeit remotely, either through live video sessions with a licensed therapist or via unlimited messaging.
Price: $79+
Talkspace
Peloton’s indoor bicycles were all the rage during the early days of the pandemic, and they remain popular for good reason. The Peloton Bike offers an intense cardio workout from the comfort of your home, where you can access both live and on-demand classes on a 22-inch, Wi-Fi-enabled touchscreen. These classes also come with opportunities to compete with others, making it a fun fitness gift for those willing to splurge.
Price: $1,495
Peloton
Author and public speaker James Clear is an expert on habit formation. His bestselling book, Atomic Habits, offers simple strategies based on ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to form and break habits, whether you want to lose weight, quit smoking, wake up earlier, meditate, or change any other habit in your life.
Price: $12 to $24
Amazon
Target
Bookshop.org
The AeroGarden Harvest Elite offers a fun and easy way to grow your own vegetables and herbs indoors. The hydroponics system is also a great introduction to gardening, a relaxing hobby that supports a healthy lifestyle. Each LED-equipped AeroGarden is simple to maintain and can help you grow up to six plants at a time, with added perks like a “vacation mode” giving you a little piece of mind should you step away for a long weekend.
Price: $110
Amazon
Walmart
If your loved ones are into golfing and have a sense of humor, consider gifting them a set of golf balls emblazoned with a cartoonish photo of either them, their pet, or whatever picture they’ll find meaningful. You can buy anywhere between three and 12 generic or Pro V1 balls, all available in various prices starting at $18.
Price: $18+
Etsy
When we said Sony’s WH-1000XM4 were a triumph in our review, we meant it. The noise-canceling earbuds boast excellent sound quality, long-lasting battery life, and, unlike their predecessors, IPX4 water and sweat resistance. The latter feature is particularly impactful while working out at the gym or running in the rain, two activites that could easily lead to the demise of lesser earbuds.
Price: $248
Amazon
Target
Best Buy
You can use this versatile set of lacrosse balls for a wide variety of activities, ranging from cross-training and lacrosse to juggling and targeted message work. The balls also come in a variety of colors, including white, blue, pink, green, and red.
Price: $22 to $26
Amazon
Champion Sports
Biking with earbuds in can be dangerous, especially if you’re using a noise-canceling model designed to drown out sound. Open-ear headphones are a great solution, however, with the AfterShokz Aeropex being some of the best you can get. The bone-conduction headphones offer decent sound quality and eight hours of playback, not to mention a waterproof exterior for when your ride gets a little wet.
Price: $130
Amazon
Best Buy
B&H Photo
A ClassPass gift card grants your giftee access to thousands of gyms, salons, spas, and fitness studios across the globe. A monthly subscription makes it easy for them to try an assortment of workout types, ranging from yoga and boxing to pilates, while also ensuring they can get take advantage of relaxation techniques like meditation and massage.
Price: $15+
ClassPass
This lightweight, four-foot ballet barre makes it easy to practice dancing anywhere, whether it be at home, the park, a gym, or anywhere else you feel comfortable. While ballet students will love it, it’s also a great gift for anybody trying to learn to dance and wanting to improve their posture and flexibility without hitting a dedicated studio once a week.
Price: $76
Amazon
You can get your strength training in from home with these durable, adjustable dumbbells from Powerblock. The compact steel set is designed to replace eight pairs of traditional dumbbells, allowing you to add weight to each hand in three-pound increments in just a few seconds.
Price: $170
Amazon
PowerBlock
Despite the widespread availability of vaccines, everybody still needs a face mask (or two) if they intend to go out in public. Cotton masks and their N95 counterpart can be kind of boring, however, so your friends and family will likely appreciate Madewell’s beautifully designed face masks, each of which sports a seasonal print, three-layered construction, a filter, and an adjustable elastic strap.
Price: $11
Madewell
The understated Oura Smart ring is a sleep and recovery tracker whose fans include everyone from Prince Harry to Kim Kardashian West. We dubbed the latest model an excellent health tracker in our review, while praising its comfort level, the quantified meditation sessions, and its ability to measure daytime heart rate alongside other health-related metrics.
Price: $299
Oura
