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Coronavirus Sports

Hot Quarantine Commodity: Gym Equipment

Along with hand sanitizers and anti-bacterial wipes, one of the hardest things to find right now is gym equipment. Everyone is stuck at home and looking for ways to stay fit so most sports shops are sold out on items like dumbells and yoga mats. But, even larger more expensive gym equipment is impossible to come by nowadays. When the lockdown happened I started considering different options to staying fit, I even considered the possibility of shipping a Peloton bike all the way from the States but in the end, I decided to get a rower since they burn the most amount of calories compared to other gym equipment.

Before the whole Corona thing hit my gym had gotten new equipment and so wanted to sell a few of their beautiful looking WaterRowers (similar to the one on House of Cards) to make more room. Nobody was interested in them and they were just sitting there gathering dust. When the lockdown happened I got in touch with my gym thinking I was clever to have remembered the rowers, to my surprise I was too late. Other gym members had got in touch first and they ended up selling all of them. I then decided I wanted to get a Concept2 rower since they’re considered to be the best rowers you can get (you’ve probably used one at your gym). They’re pretty expensive costing anywhere between KD400-470 in the local market but I figured it would be a good long term investment since they last a lifetime. But, I couldn’t find any for sale. All the local suppliers had not only completely sold out their Concept2 inventory, but some had even sold all the rowers they had coming on their way still to Kuwait. To add to the issue, Concept2 shut down their factory in the States because of the pandemic so they’re not producing any more rowers for the time being making it even hard to find anywhere in the world. They even had to post the notice below on top of their website because of the number of inquiries they were getting:

4/3/20: We are currently out of stock of all Model Ds, all Model Es, the Dynamic RowErg, BikeErgs, SkiErgs and the SkiErg Floor Stand due to high demand and temporary production stoppage to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus. US and Canadian customers can fill out the wait list form so we can keep you informed as we get more information in this rapidly changing situation. If you need to speak to us, please contact us during regular business hours (M–F, 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m. EDT) or email [email protected]. We are doing our best to respond to after-hours inquiries within 1–2 business days. Thank you for your patience.

Luckily through a friend, I ended up finding a gym that had one lying around not being used that they wanted to get rid of. I ended up getting it and it’s now sitting right next to my TV so I can Netflix and row.

One cool thing I’ve noticed recently is some gyms now are renting out their equipment since they’re not being used. One of those gyms is Gym37, they posted on their story yesterday they had equipment for rent which is pretty smart. This is a good alternative to buying and in some cases could be your only option. You can contact them on 90911733 to enquire. Another gym that’s also renting equipment is The Burrow. They are renting out spinning bikes and rowers and their prices are as follows:

2 weeks – 100 KWD
3 weeks – 125 KWD
4 weeks – 150 KWD

You can get in touch with them on instagram @theburrowlife if you’re interested.

Finally, if you want to buy any sports equipment (or at least see what’s still available), here are some links you can check out as well:

AlNasser Sports
Explorers Base
Extreme Sports
Gym Doctor
Kuwait Watersports
ProSports
Rent a Gym
Sportsman
Sports World (Instagram)
Wawan

20 replies on “Hot Quarantine Commodity: Gym Equipment”

Oh my god, iam searching for a 4×4 rubik cube, no stock in all shops in Kuwait, still searching!!!!

Thanks Mark, I want only 4×4, my 7 year old boy knows how to solve it, he practice daily, last week he broke 2 cubes which cannot be fixed, so searching for a new, with out practice he will forget how to turn in few weeks

Sportsman are terrible. Myself along with many people placed orders, were kept hanging for days and they wouldn’t answer the phone. In the end they cancelled our orders and refunded. I’m getting my equipment from open sooq and 4sale. Much cheaper and more reliable

You need to be patient and understanding. There is a pandemic, their work hours are very short and a lot of businesses weren’t really selling online until 2 weeks ago. All the websites I listed a few weeks back are overwhelmed, out of stock and currently delivering extremely slow because lack of drivers. Ikea who is a giant even stopped accepting anymore orders because their backlog is so huge. So imagine how tough it must be for the little guys.

Renting gym equipment sounds unhygienic to me. I hope the company responsible cleans them after every use.

Renting gym equipment is unhygienic but using them at the gym is fine?
If you’re worried about corona just clean the machine before you use it.

For workout ideas check the Concept2 website, they have workouts of the day for whatever level you are.

Yeah they have tons of stuff plus there are apps that connect with the rower and also coach you. For now though I’m starting with 20mins rowing, 30 seconds intense, 30 seconds rest, repeat. Once I get my fitness level up will start experimenting with different exercises 😅

If you don’t have any equipment at all, a good alternative is video games. Nintendo Switch has a bunch of games that will keep you active, like Ring Fit Adventure (Good luck finding it), Fitness Boxing, and even Just Dance. Another option is Oculus Quest (Good luck finding it) with games such as Beat Saber and a bunch of boxing games.

Concept2 has to shut down their US factory because of Corona so they were out of stock worldwide. You’re not gonna find any new ones in Kuwait but you could potentially find a used one. Keep checking q84sale.

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