Fitness Fashion: Modern Workout Clothing

Fitness Fasion: Workout Clothing

Fitness Fashion is more than just looking good while you’re working out. It’s about how your fitness accessories influence your performance. Your fitness fashion takes care of you, read more to learn how to take care of it. 

When trying to lose weight naturally by working out, you should consider the effect our clothing choice has on your performance. Aspects such as natural material vs. synthetics, which accessories really make the difference, the weather, and how to take care of your fitness fashion are often overlooked.

The best fitness clothes should make the wearer feel confident, dry, and comfortable. Today I’m going to deviate from my normal recommendations to go back to nature because cotton is a terrible fabric to work out in. It absorbs moisture and keeps you hot and sweaty.

Many people go to the gym in dumpy, drab cotton t-shirts and baggy sweat pants. It’s difficult to feel empowered and enthusiastic in an outfit like that. I recommend investing in fashionable fitness outfits that make you feel good about yourself when you look in the mirror and that show your arm and leg muscles so you can monitor your progress. You’ve been working hard to naturally lose weight and build muscle, show off what you’ve earned!

Most importantly, these outfits should be made with the new moisture wicking fabrics that will keep you cool and dry such as CoolMax, DriFit, and Underarmour. The tags on the outside of the clothing will state if they are "moisture wicking".

How To Keep Your Fitness Fashion In Good Condition

Moisture wicking fitness clothes aren’t cheap so it is important to take care of them so they will last. The safest way to clean your fitness clothes is by hand-washing them in lukewarm water with a gentle liquid cleanser. However, most people (myself included) do not have the time or patience for this. The next best method is to wash them using a mild detergent like Woolite (regular detergents are too harsh) in cold water in the gentle cycle of your washing machine, and hang to dry. Heat can destroy the elasticity from your fitness clothes so dryers and ironing should be avoided.

http://www.mamashealth.com/exercise/careclothes.asp

Weather Considerations

In cold weather, you will want to dress in layers and a hat to prevent heat from escaping from the top of your head.

In hot weather, it is best to exercise in the early morning to avoid the heat. IIf exercising outside later in the day, you may want to wear a cap to block the sun from your eyes.

To get fresh air and sunshine, the best place to exercise is out in nature. For optimal vitamin D levels, fair skinned people should get 10-20 minutes of sun exposure a day (without sunscreen) and dark skinned people should get significantly more. If the weather does not allow you to go outdoors, you can exercise indoors by walking around a track, the mall, going to the gym or using your own indoor exercise equipment.

Fitness Fashion: Considerations For Women Only

Sports bras are a must. The best thing to do is try them on and see if they are comfortable. I have had good success with Champion brand. Some of them have a zip-front to make putting them on easy and some have molded cups for a more figure flattering look.

Fitness Fashion: The MP3 Player As An Accessory

If you don’t have an MP3 player for your music library, you are missing out on one of the greatest perks of the 21st century. The purpose of an MP3 player is that you can put thousands of hours on your MP3 and you never have to load another CD again. I do not recommend iPod which is overrated and has limited functionality. Get the MP3 players that are tiny and portable like the SanDisk Sansa Clip.

Keep in mind that the quality of the music will be largely dependent on the quality of your headphones. Cheap $3 headphones can make your music sound like its being played on a 1892 record player but a high quality pair of headphones can make your music sound LIVE. They have sports headphones that stay on while running such as these Panasonic headphones. I highly recommend  headphones.

Heart Rate Monitor

This is an optional device to monitor your workouts, providing information on heart rate, calorie count, plus a stopwatch and countdown timer.