WINDSOR, ONT. -- Working out from home can be difficult, especially if you don’t have the proper equipment.

It appears to be a common issue for fitness enthusiasts amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

“I was going to the gym at least four days a week, playing squash and then I really didn’t do much for a few months. I wasn’t getting the exercise,” says Jeff Bourque.

As a result, Bourque wasn’t feeling well. So he began searching for an at home fitness machine, a specific elliptical.

“That would’ve been into January. From October to this time right now,” he says.

Instead, Bourque settled for a different model, which still took six weeks to arrive.

“If was two years ago, or a year and half ago, you probably could’ve walked in and grabbed one,” says Bourque.

Bourque is one of the many trying to stay fit and health from home, but struggling to find the right gear with gyms in Windsor-Essex closed since Dec. 14, due to the lockdown.

“There was delays in getting equipment for several months,” says Jeff Nesbit, who waited seven months for a step machine from a large distributor, before turning to his local fitness store.

He was able to find a Stepmill at Finer Fitness, but owner Mike Yaworsky says he continues to deal with back orders.

“Dumbbells and weight plates are a huge demand. That’s the most common,” says Yaworsky, adding spin bikes and treadmills are also popular.

“There’s only so many. The suppliers are out. They’re telling me right now pre-buys are the only way you’re going to get this product so order now and you might see it in three months,” says Yaworsky.

The shortage of products has resulted in a price increase for both Yaworsky and his customers.

“When you used to walk in and buy a dumbbell at $1.50 a pound, well now it’s $2.50 a pound and that literally happened over an eight-month period,” says Yaworsky.

Drawing on his 30 years of experience, Yaworsky says people will continue to jump between gyms and home workouts once the pandemic is over.

“People end up having a gym membership and having a little bit of stuff at home,” he says. “When those days aren’t so great and they can’t make it, they’ve got product.”

That will continue to increase demand for already scarce equipment.