I am often in the position of trying to encourage people to become more active for their health's sake. One of the things I always tell them is to find something you like to do, if you don't like it there is no way you're going to stick to the program. If you choose an activity, like cycling, get decent equipment. It will make the activity enjoyable and you're more likely to stick to it. If the equipment sucks, you'll quit because using it won't be fun. I also point out that if the better quality equipment doesn't do the trick of getting them to continue with exercise, at least they'll get some money back when they sell it, as opposed to a POS which has no resale value.