What to Wear for Working Out

• Tweet
• Pin It

Guest post by Pauly Singh.

When you train there are many important factors that will all contribute to it either going well, or going not so well. Among these crucial factors is what you wear, and while you might not give it much thought normally, this actually can have an profound impact on the quality of your training. Here we will look at what to wear, and some of the considerations you need to take into account.

Your Top Half

First of all, it’s important to ensure that you avoid wearing anything too baggy as this can get in the way and can in the worst case scenario be quite dangerous. This is because it can get caught in machinery or can slow you down. For this reason most people will wear vests and this will have the added advantage of being able to keep you cool and let your armpits breath to avoid unattractive damp patches that can also lead to sweat rashes. When choosing the material for these said vests you may want to consider investing in a proper running vest which you can get from running shops. These are made of a breathable material that will prevent you from getting too hot and at the same time they will usually be comfortable even while running. Failing this you should look for something like spandex or neoprene. In general you should aim to avoid cotton, and the reason for this is that these can be a) too hot and b) prone to rubbing against your nipples and thus causing them to bleed or just be very painful – and that can put a stop to your running.

However there are cases when people will come to the gym wear large thick woolly jumpers. What’s going on here? Well in this case the chances are that the person is interested in burning more fat and increasing their heart rate – which they can often achieve by wearing something very hot as it becomes almost like a sauna. It’s kind of disgusting and can be very heavy, but it’s up to you.

For women of course a sports bra is a very good idea for any kind of extended CV and this will help of course to prevent pain in the breasts from stopping you working out.

Your Bottom Half

For your bottom half you need to wear either tight running trousers or small shorts. Jeans are forbidden in the majority of gyms, and while jogging bottoms are permitted these are heavy and baggy in most cases meaning that they will make running more difficult and again can cause you to trip over or to get caught in the machinery. It’s best to avoid these if possible.

Proper running shorts or trousers are useful because they are not only light and breathable, but also because they can again prevent sweating around the thighs and rubbing that can lead to chaffing and very painful burns. Again it’s a shame to be forced to stop training for any of these reasons so you are much better off wearing specialist bottom halves to avoid this happening.

Your Trainers

Wearing the right trainers is also important and contrary to popular belief you are better off wearing trainers that have either very small heels or none at all, and that likewise have very thin soles. This is because such trainers will more closely mimic the way we would have run in the wild (before trainers) and the way we evolved to run. Lastly, make sure that you wear good trainer socks and that you fill then with talcum powder which can again prevent sweating and chaffing.

Pauly Singh likes to wear a tee and shorts to gym. He comes across many people who manage to embarrass themselves in the gym. Pauly writes on fitness topics for his website http://www.ellipticalreviews.net.