2016 Fitness Buff Gift Guide

If the Tyrannosaurus rex was alive today, we would probably be much less likely to want to make fun of them. Fortunately, they are all dead. This hilarious shirt bravely compares you to the mighty T Rex.

This is another brilliant shirt that gets laughs at the T Rex's expense. Like any good workout buff, the T Rex is willing to stop at nothing in his quest to achieve greatness.

If you're up for a challenge on your feet, an agility ladder promises to provide that punishment. This 20 foot long ladder easily collapses down into a small bundle for its included carrying case. With 15 inch gaps, this ladder will improve your foot placement and timing.

For those of us who spend most of our days at a desk, the monotony can get maddening. These grip strength trainers help to relieve tension and build strength during the day. They are also great if moving around and fiddling helps you to focus.

I bought one of these towers for my home gym about a while ago, and I have been impressed with its versatility. Though it does take some work to assemble, I have now moved it multiple times between houses successfully. At 100 bucks, it is an incredibly cheap investment considering how many different exercises that it supports. For example, it's hard to find a good dip bar or pull up bar for that price, and yet this does so much more.

I hate push-ups. I also know that they are hard to beat for strength training. These push-ups stands protect the wrists by putting the weight on your palm at a much better angle while allowing rotation. I find that these make doing push-ups much more tolerable, and therefore I do them much more frequently than I did before I bought these.

Whether you are looking for a pull up bar for home or on the road, this system will mount in a doorframe in under a minute. I'm suggesting this model because it has good cushioning and also offers dip bars in the same system.

Similar to my attitude about push-ups, I find pull-ups very frustrating. As with many fitness activities, it is very difficult to build up endurance because it is so hard to get over the hurdle of doing the first few. By using a pull up assist, you can train your body to get stronger and to do more repetitions with a little bit of assistance. Using this training aid will dramatically improve your ability to do more pull up repetitions without its assistance.

If you're looking to take your push-ups to the next level, then a rip deck is an excellent choice. This device allows you to set the distance between your hands while offering the same benefits of push-up stands that rotate.

I really enjoy core strength training, and sit ups are my exercise of choice. I don't have time to do 1,000 sit ups every morning, so I use a declined sit up bench to increase the resistance along with weights on my chest. By clipping in the legs, a bench involves more of your body in the exercise, and it focuses the training on your core. Even if you already have an inclined weight bench, you will still want one of these for sit ups.

Weight vests have come a long way in recent years. From the awkward vests that tended to rust from years ago, this modern vest has a number of small flexible weights that move with your body. The model I'm recommending here is designed to be breathable and is modeled after armored vests. If you like to run with a weight vest, this one is highly reflective and includes a pocket for your phone.

Even though it looks kind of goofy, this handheld bell is highly functional for runners who like running in parks and on sidewalks. This bell works and sounds just like a bicycle bell, but it is designed for runners. If you don't want to have a conversation with every pedestrian or person with a stroller, this allows you to politely ring the bell and smile as you go by instead.

There are a lot of different fitness trackers on the market. For example, I preferred Garmin, and my wife prefers FitBit. The top few brands all make excellent products, but the other products on the market tend to be quite ineffective. I have been highly impressed with my Garmin vivoactive, and I use it all the time. It includes a GPS to track your progress, and it can track many sports. As an added bonus, this watch connects to your phone to give you updates from your apps, and it can even be used on the golf course like a rangefinder. Unlike many fitness trackers, it also works great as a watch.

When searching through all of the available models on the market, this is the smart watch fitness tracker that I chose for myself recently. This watch can monitor your heart rate both during exercise and around-the-clock. The batteries last for days, and I love how smoothly it connects to my phone for notifications on my wrist. It also looks great as a watch. My main use for this watch is to track my swimming. It is very impressive because it is able to track and count my every stroke and then sync with the web for me to track over time. I also love that on the golf course it gives me the distance to the pin at any course. Whether you cycle, run, swim, golf, row, or ski, this fitness tracker is my top pick.

If you are looking for something subtle and perhaps without a screen, the Fitbit Flex can go anywhere that you go including in the pool or ocean. This wristband will also buzz on your wrist providing notification from your phone, and it can automatically detect your exercise to sync with the app.

If I could afford this watch, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Fortunately, it also tracks heartbeats. What this fitness watch offers over all the other models is that it is not only one of the most advanced fitness trackers in the world, but it also looks like a great, traditional watch. With customizable watch faces, it seamlessly shifts from looking great in a suit to tracking your game on the golf course to counting strokes in the swimming pool.

A weight bench is one of the easiest additions you can make to a home gym to give you more versatility. With multiple positions ranging from flat to a chair, you can use this bench to work your core strength and upper body strength. Built for use in your home gym, it's easy to use and easy to keep clean as well. If your guy has weights but no weight bench, this is a great gift choice.

When I first started looking for a weight set, I didn't realize how bulky and heavy a full weight set would be. When I started looking at how much it would cost to pick up a full set of dumbbells, it was going to weigh more than 800 pounds and cost me $1000. Fortunately, I found these adjustable PowerBlock dumbbells that are significantly cheaper and more convenient. They work by an adjustable pin that you insert to lock in the desired amount of weight. Each of these dumbbells can be changed from 5 pounds to 50 pounds in a matter of seconds. Impressively, the company also sells expansion packs that can increase each dumbbell in increments up to 70 or 90 pounds. With the expansion packs, this pair of weights can replace 2500 pounds of dumbbells.