Choosing a Christmas gift for a fitness buff seems daunting, especially if you're a couch potato whose idea of exercise is to send someone else to the Krispy Kreme doughnut store. After all, bikers already have a bike and weight-lifters have weights, right?
Even if you do make your way to the alien world of a sporting goods store, what do you look for?
We asked some of the people who have been profiled in The Sun's Health and Fitness section this year what they would like to find under their trees on Christmas morning. Santa doesn't have to be lugging barbells down the chimney; many of their wishes can be granted with a gift certificate.
Ron Herbst, coordinator of Helix Health's Back to Golf program in Lutherville: Gift certificate for a personal-trainer session.
Mary Lou DiNardo, Baltimore public relations executive, named one of the 10 fittest women by Living Fit magazine: Gift certificate for a personal-trainer session. Or ultra-light carbon-fiber snowshoes, which runners use for training. Or skates.
Kim Smith, Towson medical social worker, who biked 350 miles over four days for charity: Personal-trainer session. And since it's Christmas, she asks, can the trainer be a really good-looking one?
What to look for
If you are going to get a gift certificate for a session with a trainer, how do you make sure it is someone qualified?
Lew Lyon, director of the Good Health Center at Good Samaritan Hospital, says the first question to ask is whether the trainer is certified. National organizations that certify trainers include the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the International Dance and Exercise Association (IDEA) and the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). An academic degree is not necessary, but a master's degree in exercise physiology certainly indicates the person is qualified.
Also, ask whether the trainer ever has worked with someone of the gender and age range of the person you have in mind. "If you ask them, 'Do you work with anyone over 55?' and they say, 'No,' then that raises some issues," says Lyon.
And about that good-looking trainer? Well, the trainer's own fit bod is no guarantee. "Just because they walk the walk doesn't mean they know how to teach it," says Lyon.
A reputable fitness center usually can provide the name of a knowledgeable trainer, and rates vary from $20 to $40 an hour. It might cost more for Herbst, though, who said he would really love for someone to give him that workout program but on a beach in Hawaii.
Lori Berdeguez, Annapolis school production specialist and ballet student: "A day at a health spa, complete with a massage."
Kelly Gonteski, Towson occupational therapist who completed a 350-mile, four-day bike ride for charity: A weekend at a spa, with aerobics, biking, a massage and a healthy eating atmosphere.
Demetria Harvin, Frederick cancer-research technician and champion weight-lifter: A trip to a fitness beach, perhaps Muscle Beach in Venice, Calif. Or, she says: a 310-pound barbell set and a good weight bench with wide uprights.
What to look for
A weight set - although not necessarily 300 pounds - makes a great gift. Jan Dellinger of York Barbell Co. in Pennsylvania says he sells a 40-pound adjustable dumbbell set that includes 5-pound and 2-pound plates for $25.95.
Weights come in two varieties: cast-iron dumbbells, such as the hand weights preferred by runners, or bars that can have plates attached to change the weight. When buying the latter, look for a speed lock, the mechanism that keeps the weight from sliding off the bar. A wrenchless collar is an acceptable locking mechanism, too, but, unlike the speed lock, you can't readily tell if it's tightened.
For a weight bench, suggests Dellinger, "you kind of have to decide, am I going to be serious or am I going to be dabbling?" For dabblers, check out yard sales. The serious weightlifter will want a bench with at least 2 inches of padding, and the board inside the padding should be 5/8 of an inch thick. Look for adjustable uprights, extra-tightened welds, and ask what kind of guarantee comes on the welded parts. Avoid buying a bench that doesn't offer a guarantee.
Martha Copeland, Frederick synchronized swimmer: gift membership to a gym. "All the equipment that I need is in the gym, and it's all Nautilus equipment, so it's not practical to have it in the home."
Richard Tamberrino, a Lutherville soccer and lacrosse official: A $2,000 Universal gym - uh, reality check, please - OK, he'll settle for a pair of polypropylene gloves for winter biking and high-end Gore-Tex biking suit with reflective stripes. (Guess those referees just can't resist stripes.)
Dr. Bill Howard, director of Union Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine Center, Baltimore: Concept II rowing machine, which costs around $800 and exercises the heart, lungs, legs and arms. "It's beyond the Cadillac of rowing machines; it's the Rolls-Royce of rowing machines." There are even Concept II contests, where participants row the machine against a clock.
Morris Warren, owner of Aberco-Warren Chemical Co. in Bowie and active in developing railroad beds into bike trails: a "wind trainer," a device that fits on the back of a bike to lift the back wheel into the air so the rider can work out indoors.
Joe Harmon, computer data analyst in Howard County and part-time model: mountain bike, to "get out and get so much exercise in fall and winter."
What to look for
There are basically three types of bikes, explains Martin Artes, president of Horizon Cycles. The old-style 10-speeds (now 18-speeds) have the dropped handle bars and skinny tires. A mountain bike has a smaller wheel, with the trademark knobby tires, and comes in two varieties: light mountain bikes for recreational riding and extremely durable ones for rugged terrain, some of which even include suspension forks.
The final type of bike is a hybrid, with the upright handlebars of a mountain bike but the road-racing wheels, although slightly wider, of a 10-speed. It's faster and quicker than a mountain bike, and not as heavy.
Entry-level bikes start at around $200, with the most aggressive mountain bikes retailing for as much as $2,000.
Before buying a gift bike, says Artes, determine what the recipient will use it for. "If all you want to do is ride on the North Central Railroad Trail with your kids, then a hybrid is probably what you want."
If the trail is a wide dirt road, where you can see far enough ahead to take action to avoid any obstacles, he says, then a recreation-type mountain bike or hybrid will suffice.
But if the trails are a single track where the rider can't see far in front, "where whatever comes at you, you have to deal with immediately, including ride over it," then a heavy-duty mountain bike is needed. For riding over obstacles, a suspension fork is a fantastic feature, but it will add $350 to $450 to the cost.
Leo Rhee, an Ellicott City youth minister and tae kwon do champ: gift certificate to the General Nutrition Center. And, he says, you can't go wrong with exercise clothes. "I'm always in need of warm-up suits. You rotate them around because you're sweating in them, and sometimes I just don't get the laundry done."
Rick Guinto, Carroll County broadcast engineer and lacrosse player: new pair of running shoes, a gift welcome to most athletes, who wear them out a little faster than do those who just make trips to the Krispy Kreme doughnut store.
Pub Date: 11/22/98