Training for any sport or fitness pursuit requires a mixture of time, dedication, and money. While some sports require expensive equipment, that doesn’t mean that you need to break the bank to stay fit.
In fact, there is an amazing amount of exercise that you can do for very little money. Running may be the most obvious low-expense activity, but that still requires good shoes to keep you in good condition. There is a huge amount of exercise you can get just using your own body weight and items you already have around the house.
There are a lot of free resources for workout programs, such as One Hundred Pushups, where you can find exercises that don’t require any equipment at all. Some martial arts types, like Tai Chi Chuan, don’t require any equipment at all until you start studying weapon forms – and that’s many years into your training. In my martial arts training (specifically Kung Fu) I’ve done hundreds of exercises that require no equipment other than my own body, and many more that require only a few inexpensive items.
When to Buy
So when should you buy equipment? When it helps you accomplish something specific, and the cost of the equipment is less than the value of the goal that it helps you achieve. Deciding the value of your goal may be tough, but I think the decision is much easier when the cost is very low.
Some examples of equipment with high value to cost ratio: