Sunday morning at the Bois de Boulogne, Paris’ largest park, is a sight to behold with runners, cyclists and rollerbladers all battling for space on the myriad of paths winding through the woods. It is the one morning a week where Parisian’s bow at the temple of exercise. Though not known for their dedication to maintaining the body beautiful through hard work and sweat, the city’s residents are, nonetheless, well catered for when it comes to athletic apparel and sporting equipment.

Chains Decathalon and Go Sport are two of the largest sellers of general sporting equipment. Both locales stock product for swim, gym, weight-lifting, cycling, martial arts, tennis… the list is extensive. Electronic home gym equipment – treadmills, rowing machines and elliptical trainers – are also for sale. It’s worth remembering that staff here are, by-and-large, unable to offer specific, knowledgeable advice. Those seeking very specialised or high-end equipment may want to frequent some of the more specialised stores to be found. On ave de la Grande Armée, Planet Jogging stocks everything a running enthusiast needs and staff can also provide information on fun-runs operating throughout Paris. Adidas and Nike both have dedicated stores offering fashionable outfitting for tennis enthusiasts, joggers and gym junkies while boxing enthusiasts will find the full range of clothing and accessories at Everlast. Golfers needing equipment, clothing and accessories should head to Golf Laza and Golf Plus while Golf N Swing outside Paris at Le Pecq is the sole distributor of the Tom Wishon Golf technology system and has on on-site workshop specifying in computer-aided swing analysis. American baseball and football equipment can be found at PC American Sport and Sport USA, both in the 15th arrondissement. Roller Station caters to rollerblade and rollerskating enthusiasts from three boutiques across Paris, including one near Bastille in the 3rd arrondissement.

You can find replica team clothing at most sporting good stores, including Adidas, Nike and the Paris St Germain football team flagship store on the Champs-Élysées.