Buying used exercise equipment is very much like buying a used car. There are a number of important things you need to look out for and with a little bit of luck you can find some great bargains. the truth is that many people buy fitness equipment on impulse – only to never use it while others use it for a while and then it starts gathering dust in their homes. In both cases, they would be happy just to get rid of it.

There are actually 2 “classes” of used exercise equipment. The first is commercial equipment and the second is residential equipment. Both offer great opportunities to buy both a high quality and low cost equipment.

1. Commercial Exercise Equipment
Commercial equipment is what you would commonly find in your local gym or health club. You may have noticed that the types of machines you see in your local gym looks nothing like the type of machines you see in your local fitness store. The reason for this is that gyms and health clubs have heavy usage and the equipment has to be very strong and robust with a high work rate. Since its the greatest expense for any club, they cannot afford to replace equipment every month or two.

With that being said, most clubs replace their equipment once every 18-24 months. Its partly because of the wear and tear and partly because they have to provide their users with quality equipment. If you are looking to buy used exercise equipment then you can step in and buy straight from the gym when they sell the equipment off. The main advantage is that you can buy very expensive equipment for cheap but the downside is that the equipment is often not in great shape.

This is where so-called re-manufactured fitness equipment comes in. There are a number of companies that buy the equipment over from the gyms and health clubs and they then overhaul it and make it good as new before they sell it on to you – with a guarantee.

2. Residential Exercise Equipment
This is your common living room variety and includes things like treadmills, rowing machines, steppers, incline trainers and elliptical cross trainers. You can find these in your local fitness store and these machines are freely available in shops and on the internet. Although it hasn’t got the sophistication and work rate of a commercial machine, many of the better brands are really good machines with features and functions you simply cannot find in commercial machines.

The best place to find these types of equipment is on places like eBay, Craigslist and even your local newspaper. What you are looking for is people who made an impulse buy and who wants to sell you a brand new machine for half price. There are many such deals on eBay for example but you have to be very careful and make sure you buy good quality. Its important to do some research on the product itself and make sure that its had minimal use.

Used exercise equipment is in no way inferior. In reality, even residential machines should be able to handle a decent workload and as long as you buy a good brand it should be perfectly fine for your home use.