If you’re looking for gift ideas for weightlifters, you’ve probably realized that a lot of weightlifting gear is a matter of personal preference. Every lifter has their own routine in the gym and may use specific equipment to achieve their goals, as well as having discovered what brands and products work best for them. This can make it difficult to come up with gift ideas for weightlifters. After all, you want to get the lifter in your life something they’ll appreciate and enjoy.
We’re here to help, with a carefully selected list of the best gifts for weightlifters. These are all items that any weightlifter will enjoy and can get use out of. As an added bonus, all of these items are $30 or less!
Gifts For Weightlifters: The List
1. LifterGifts Weight Plate Christmas Ornament
Lifting-themed Christmas ornaments are hard to find, so the weightlifter you're buying for probably doesn't already have one. This ornament is designed to look exactly like a weight plate from the gym. It'll make a great conversation piece and is a fun, unique way for a lifter to show off their passion for exercise.
The weight plate ornament is available in a variety of colors and can also be personalized with a name or short phrase. You can find the weight plate Christmas ornament here on our site.
2. Youphoria Microfiber Quick Dry Towel
They say if you aren’t sweating you aren’t trying, and let’s face facts: everyone sweats in the gym. Therefore, a towel is an underrated--but very necessary--piece of gear. Most weightlifters just grab an old towel from the bathroom and take it to the gym. But there are better options out there.
This microfiber towel is consistently top-rated for use in the gym due to its high absorbency and quick-drying nature. Microfiber is also an incredibly soft material. Most gym goers wouldn’t think to buy one of these, but this towel is a great gift idea for a weightlifter. They’re available starting at $10.
3. Clout Fitness Barbell Collars
If you’re buying a gift for a weightlifter with a home gym, you need to buy them a set of plastic barbell collars. Most weightlifting sets come with a pair of metal clamps which are notoriously difficult to get on and off the bar, especially at the end of an intense workout session. These plastic collars slide easily onto the bar and lock down to hold the weight plates securely in place, with none of the struggle of the metal squeeze clamps. It’s hard to appreciate until you’ve struggled with the squeeze clamps, but these plastic clamps are a dramatic quality of life improvement for lifting.
Even a weightlifter who doesn’t have a home gym would appreciate having a pair of these barbell collars to throw in their gym bag and use at the gym. They’re available for $11 here.
4. Dead Wedge Deadlift Assist
Deadlifting is a key part of many weightlifting programs. It’s a fantastic workout, but has one problem in that it can be difficult to get the bar loaded with weight plates before the lift. Some gyms have metal stands for this purpose, but they aren’t always available. Even worse, they’re only an option for certain types of deadlifts and won’t work in all cases. That’s where the Dead Wedge comes in. The small doorstop-shaped design will fit in a gym bag and makes it easy to load plates onto the bar.
The Dead Wedge makes a great weightlifter gift because it’s one of those items that solves an every-workout annoyance. As a bonus, it’s only $11!
5. Olympic Fractional Plate Set
If the weightlifter you’re buying a gift for is serious about their lifting, they’re probably at the point of needing to increase their lifting weight by small increments to safely and effectively continue to make progress. Because the smallest weight plate available in most gyms is a 2.5 lb plate, it’s usually only possible to increase the barbell weight by 5 lbs at a time. This can be a large jump to make once a lifter is pushing the limits of their strength.
This set of fractional plates allows a weightlifter to add as little as half a pound of weight to the bar at a time, which can make the difference between being able to move up in weight or not. A complete set is available for $30.
6. Camelbak Eddy Water Bottle
One gift every athlete--weightlifters and otherwise--can use is a good water bottle. This Camelbak Eddy bottle has a bite valve, which means that it doesn’t have a cap to unscrew but also won’t spill if it gets knocked over. Let’s be honest...it’s basically a baby bottle for adults. But it’s great, and perfect for lifters. Trust us, when you’re out of breath after a difficult set of squats, you’re probably going to fumble and drop the cap for your water bottle, which means you have to bend over and pick it up….and if you were pushing hard enough on that last set, bending over and picking up the cap could spell disaster.
Seriously though, it’s hard to go wrong with a good Camelbak water bottle, and these are a great deal at $15.
7. AmazonBasics Foam Roller
You might imagine that a foam roller isn’t something that a tough weightlifter would be interested in. But surprisingly, many weightlifters are into yoga and stretching, and if they aren’t, they should be--it can aid in flexibility and speed up recovery time after lifting. In particular, a foam roller can do wonders for sore muscles and is the kind of thing that most people appreciate once they try it.
There are many different sizes and shapes of foam rollers for different purposes, but this AmazonBasics model is a good starting point and costs less than $20.
8. TheraCane Massager
Yes, this looks like something you’d find in a nursing home. No, it’s not on this list as a joke. The TheraCane is amazing. Forget gifts for weightlifters--if you’re a human with normal human aches and pains, you’d love the TheraCane. It’s a candy cane-shaped massaging tool that you can use to rub knots out of your back and other muscles. As nice as a back rub is, there isn’t always another person around. And in some cases, it’s easier to do it yourself since you can get the instant feedback of knowing whether what you’re doing is working.
The TheraCane fluctuates in price a bit, but is usually right around $30. And it’s a steal at that price.
9. LifterGifts Squat Rack Pencil Holder
Two things are true: One, every weightlifter has a life outside of the gym. Two, they sometimes wish they didn’t. If the weightlifter you’re buying for works at a desk, they’d appreciate this 3D-printed pencil/pen holder. It looks like a squat rack and is a fun little reminder of one of the cornerstones of the gym. The rack has a relatively understated design, but any lifter will instantly recognize it as a squat rack, so it serves as a nice conversation piece for the office.
You can buy the squat rack pencil holder here on our site.