Millions of Brits are banishing home gym equipment to storage in October… and taking it out again in the new year

Millions of Britons are stashing away their home gym equipment in storage ‘out of sight, out of mind’ until their health kick starts in the New Year.

Bosses at The Box Co spoke to 5,000 of its customers to find out what they were ‘packing away’ this October.

The firm found that gym gear was one of the top October items, with 15 per cent of those polled saying they had put exercise bikes, rowing machines, running machines, treadmills, ski trainers and dumbbells into storage in the past fortnight.

Dubbed ‘Sloth-tober’ by The Box Co, bosses say it’s an annual trend which will see Britons put their gym gear in and out of storage four times a year.

In January the machines and gym gear will all come out of storage again as Britons try to get fit as part of their New Year Resolutions.

Stats from the firm show that by the end of February and beginning of March, most of the equipment is stuck back in storage as Britons give up on their fitness regime.

Then, in June the gear is hauled back out of storage as Britons try to get ‘beach body ready’ for their summer hols.

But when it’s October again, the gear goes back into storage until the cycle starts over in January.

A recent survey revealed how 13 million British households have a whopping £1.5billion-worth of unused fitness equipment cluttering up their homes.

Among the ‘other uses’ of gym gear include using it as a clothes air dryer or a coat stand not as manufacturers intended.

A whopping 14 per cent of the gear had never even been used since it was bought, the study found.

Greg Brotherton, 34, of Watford, Hertfordshire, said he was ‘guilty’ of plonking gym gear – a treadmill, rowing machine and dumbbells – in storage.

The teaching assistant said: ‘I usually take out my gym gear in January, pump iron and do a bit of rowing and running until February or March.

‘Then it goes into storage and often stays there until next January, although I get it out in summer if I’m going on a lads’ holiday and need to look my best.’

A spokesman for The Box Co said: ‘Millions of Brits have already put away their exercise gear for the winter.

In January the machines and gym gear will all come out of storage again as Britons try to get fit as part of their New Year Resolutions (stock image)

‘We found that it goes in cycles, with people starting to take fitness equipment our of storage in January, put it back in February/March, then take it out again in May/June to get ‘beach body ready’ for summer.

‘Then, when summer draws to a close, the equipment goes back into storage at the end of September and beginning of October.’

The Box Co. takes the hassle out of self-storage by collecting users’ boxes of stuff from their front door.

Nicole Helera, head of operations at The Box Co, said: ‘Gym equipment doesn’t stay in storage for long, and we’re used to seeing treadmills and weights go in and out over the course of the year.

‘We’re all guilty of giving up on New Year’s resolutions within weeks, and the end of summer is another time when fitness gear is put back into storage.

‘Getting exercise bikes out of storage is as easy as filling in a form, and our users will usually have their gear back within 24 hours.’