Top gifts for your fitness-loving friends and family members

Weighted vests have built-in weights or weights that can be added and removed. They offer several health benefits. Wearing a weighted vest increases the intensity of your workout, leading to higher calorie expenditure; challenges muscles, promoting strength gains; enhances aerobic conditioning; strengthens bones; and improves endurance. The vests range in quality and can be priced from $25 and up.

While plenty of people have dozens of sports bottles filling their kitchen cabinets, not everyone has splurged on a quality container that keeps their water or sports drink cold and is easy to carry while working out. Choose a bottle that ticks all the boxes. It should be leak-proof, well-insulated, durable, easy to clean, not too big or small, and have a cap that makes hydration in motion easy. Bottles made of BPA-free plastic and stainless steel are your best bets and can be purchased for less than $10 and up.

Compression boots are hollow fabric sleeves that cover the leg from foot to thigh. The boots use intermittent, pneumatic compression to help improve blood flow and lymphatic drainage in the legs. Air chambers in the boots fill with air intermittently during this process. While they can be a bit costly, the boots enhance recovery, improve circulation, and reduce soreness and fatigue. According to one young runner who uses them regularly, the boots, which range in price, size, portability, compression level and adjustability, help her muscles relax and recover more efficiently.

Resistance bands are versatile, affordable and portable. They can easily be used at home or on the road and offer several health benefits, including the possibility of a full-body workout. Basic resistance band workouts can tone every muscle group in just 20 minutes a day, three times a week, and strengthen muscles and joints, improve functional strength and flexibility, and enhance muscle activation. They are also great for injury recovery. Bands can be purchased in a variety of sizes and resistances, and some are straight, in a loop or have handles at both ends.

People who love fitness should also appreciate the benefits of easy recovery activities. Regularly using a foam roller is an excellent way to increase flexibility and blood flow and decrease muscle pain and inflammation. The best part of foam rolling — performed by positioning the part of your body you want to target on top of a roller placed on the floor and moving the targeted area along the roller — is that you can do it on your own at home, and it can feel as good as a professional massage when done correctly. The rollers come in various prices, lengths and diameters, and some are carved with divots or raised nodules.