Thoughts on men wearing spandex / lycra running tights

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Okay....fine, let's work with this:

If he's wearing some running tights and a compression top with long sleeves, then he's wearing sports apparel, it serves a purpose and it's really 2 pieces: a top & a bottom. That's fine. It may appear as a solid body suit, but it's not. I'm figuring it's made by Nike, 2XU, UnderArmour, Addidas, etc. Good to go!

If, however, the guy is going to a dance supply place and ordering a full body unitard, likely intended for a woman but labelled unisex, that has no support and is just made of lightweight material.....then your boy is a freak trying to pass his perversion off as an athletic thing.

You know what my problem is...amongst many things....I like wearing my lycra stuff and I wish it was even more mainstream accepted. Thanks to cycling, swimming, running and other sports, it's slowly being more so integrated into the mainstream of men's sports appael....BUT freakshows and perverts are ruining it.

 

[katkoay]

yeah... it's a 2 piece and he gets them from sports shops. He loves 2 brands in particular, i.e. Arena and Diadora. I wouldn't call him a freak because he is serious about jogging to keep himself fit. He jogs > 8km almost daily and does crunch and push-ups after jogs. A middle age guy like him needs to work out to stay healthy. And I'm following his advice.

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

yeah... it's a 2 piece and he gets them from sports shops. He loves 2 brands in particular, i.e. Arena and Diadora. I wouldn't call him a freak because he is serious about jogging to keep himself fit. He jogs > 8km almost daily and does crunch and push-ups after jogs. A middle age guy like him needs to work out to stay healthy. And I'm following his advice.

I wouldn't call him a freak either!!!!!

 

[paulrc]

my suit that i wear is tights and shirt but don't wear the shirt any more have a cycling shirt now ezy to carry stuff when i go for a ride

 

[notn2spam]

What about these?

Hello all. Just joined this site, and was looking for some feedback.

I purchased some Adidas TechFit Powerweb apparel as shown in the attached photos, and was wondering if they'd be ok for the gym--particularly the compression shorts. I'm an avid gym goer (11 years now), am in my 30s, and have 6-8% body fat so I am in pretty good shape.

So what do you think? Go or no go? FWIW, these are mostly polyester (with 23% spandex) so they're not tight around the "bulge area" as some of the shorts seen in earlier pics within this thread (post #28 - "bicycle team in red" comes to mind).

Thanks for your opinions!

 

[paulrc]

Hello all. Just joined this site, and was looking for some feedback.

I purchased some Adidas TechFit Powerweb apparel as shown in the attached photos, and was wondering if they'd be ok for the gym--particularly the compression shorts. I'm an avid gym goer (11 years now), am in my 30s, and have 6-8% body fat so I am in pretty good shape.

So what do you think? Go or no go? FWIW, these are mostly polyester (with 23% spandex) so they're not tight around the "bulge area" as some of the shorts seen in earlier pics within this thread (post #28 - "bicycle team in red" comes to mind).

Thanks for your opinions!

they look good i would wear them but its up to you and how you feel wearing them

 

[i_love_muscle]

Compression wear is fantastic. I wear it, and I'm certainly not 6-8%BF, so I say GO FOR IT

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Please....let me help!

It's simple. BUY THEM. Make sure you buy from a place where you can return them (or if in a store, try them on). Everything looks good in advertising pics, but you never know until you try 'em on.

Put them on and take a good look. Do the lines flatter you? Is the pattern sporty? Does your wife, fiance' or girlfriend gravitate towards you?? It's pretty simple; if it looks good, you're set to rock!

On the other hand...if you can see the outline of the veins running in your schlong, the "helmet" or any genital definition, you may want to reconsider this garment as being a practical addition to your wardrobe.

The color black is your best friend and a good liner goes a long way towards maintaining reasonable discretion in presentation. When you run or jump, you shouldn't feel anything moving around. Pair it with a solid sporty muscle-shirt and you should notice a more cut, slender, built appearance. After a couple weeks, you won't want to go back to regular shorts.

OUTCOME:

10% of woman will think to themselves "ughh....why do men wear lycra?"
50% of woman won't notice or care if they did
30% of woman really like it and you'll feel like eye-candy
10% of woman will think of you when they diddle

20% of men will think you're weird or suspect you're fruity
50% of men won't notice or care
29% of men will wish they had the body to pull it off
1% of men will think of you when they 'bate :action11:

Okay, I'm just pulling these stats from nowhere, but it's sorta based on my experience. The one thing I am certain of is that more and more often I'm seeing guys regularly wearing it.

 

[acroyear]

As for you thinking my butt looks big, opinions are like @ssholes. Everybody has them.

Suffice it to say, some are bigger than others.

Although men don't usually tell women that their butt is too big, especially when it isn't.

But when it is, they will. What happened to the mudflaps in your avatar?

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Acrotard, stop attacking ILM....did you show-up just to mess with her? That's sad.....but not as sad as this:

I was on Ebay checking-out a triathlon suit I sold and came across this. Please tell me this is some guy's idea of a joke.....



"MENS" suit....OMG, it's a woman's 1-piece bathing suit!!!!!

 

[i_love_muscle]

BSL, acretard is nothing more than a sh!t stain on my toilet. Don't worry about him. Once I've flushed, he'll be gone again. At least until the next time he takes a dump here.

Acretards posts don't warrant a response because they are so incredibly stupid. They only serve to reveal an infantile, bitter person with quite a few issues to deal with.

Who can actually take acretard seriously after that last post? It's hilarious.

 

[paulrc]

Acrotard, stop attacking ILM....did you show-up just to mess with her? That's sad.....but not as sad as this:

I was on Ebay checking-out a triathlon suit I sold and came across this. Please tell me this is some guy's idea of a joke.....



"MENS" suit....OMG, it's a woman's 1-piece bathing suit!!!!!

what a joke it not real it's a woman's 1-piece bathing suit that what the girl wear over here australia

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Paul,

Okay....now see: THAT guy who posted that in Ebay is a lycra-perv...he's the kind of guy I was "attacking" when I was previously accussed of taking the fun out of this thread. I'm pretty sure it was a joke, or at least I sure hope so!

 

[katkoay]

Recently my running mate advised me to put on a waste band/slimming belt when I jog. He said that the belt will help to achieve a slimmer body faster. It it true? He wears it too when he jogs and he showed me his abs after removing the belt. His abs seemed to have more sweat and according to him more fats around the waistline can be burnt more efficiently. I liked what I saw. Strong sweaty tight abs. Would like to get a second opinion.

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Recently my running mate advised me to put on a waste band/slimming belt when I jog. He said that the belt will help to achieve a slimmer body faster. It it true? He wears it too when he jogs and he showed me his abs after removing the belt. His abs seemed to have more sweat and according to him more fats around the waistline can be burnt more efficiently. I liked what I saw. Strong sweaty tight abs. Would like to get a second opinion.

Absolutely NOT true....

Compressing the abs/waist may cause a temporary slimming by driving hydration & bloodflow out of the region, but the key word is temporary AND this all comes back to the concept that you can not "spot-reduce".

Fat is stored energy and you only have 3 means to get rid of it: burn it through exercise/diet, have is sucked-out surgically or play games with that injection deal where they inject some stuff that causes the fat cells to be dissolved. Applying pressure through an ab-belt is not going to result in burning that fat. It's not like that added pressure prompts the body to burn fat from that region any faster then it would otherwise. Furthermore, it likely affects your breathing adversly:

In order to properly perform deep breathing, the abdominals should NOT be pulled in or kept tight. This advice is commonly given in error by exercise instructors. During inhalation, the lower rib cage expands and the abdominals will retract naturally. If you keep your abs tight or 'pulled in' it will only serve to hamper optimal breathing.

Now...if you breath shallow you get less oxygen into your lungs and your heart has to work harder and beat faster. If you wear a heart-rate monitor that has a calorie-counter, it pretty much uses your heart-beat and runs it through an algorithm to project your calories burned: an escalated heartbeat fools the monitor into thinking your burning more calories. Once I got my deep-breathing down I noticed my HR was about 10% lower AND my HR-monitor also reported about 10% less calories burned. So by this nature, a HR-monitor may be fooled into reporting high calories burned on account of the heart beating faster on account of an ab-belt being applied across the abs. Burning more fat? No. Oxygen is critical to aerobic activity and as such I'd think the ab belt is counter-productive to fat loss!

At the same time, I'd love to hear his version, complete with scientific explanation, as to why and how an ab-belt might increase fat loss in that region. Until then, my response in answer is a resounding NO, NO, NO!!

Or in symbols:

Ab belt --> :boxing_smiley: <-- Me

 

[katkoay]

Absolutely NOT true....

Compressing the abs/waist may cause a temporary slimming by driving hydration & bloodflow out of the region, but the key word is temporary AND this all comes back to the concept that you can not "spot-reduce".

Fat is stored energy and you only have 3 means to get rid of it: burn it through exercise/diet, have is sucked-out surgically or play games with that injection deal where they inject some stuff that causes the fat cells to be dissolved. Applying pressure through an ab-belt is not going to result in burning that fat. It's not like that added pressure prompts the body to burn fat from that region any faster then it would otherwise. Furthermore, it likely affects your breathing adversly:

In order to properly perform deep breathing, the abdominals should NOT be pulled in or kept tight. This advice is commonly given in error by exercise instructors. During inhalation, the lower rib cage expands and the abdominals will retract naturally. If you keep your abs tight or 'pulled in' it will only serve to hamper optimal breathing.

Now...if you breath shallow you get less oxygen into your lungs and your heart has to work harder and beat faster. If you wear a heart-rate monitor that has a calorie-counter, it pretty much uses your heart-beat and runs it through an algorithm to project your calories burned: an escalated heartbeat fools the monitor into thinking your burning more calories. Once I got my deep-breathing down I noticed my HR was about 10% lower AND my HR-monitor also reported about 10% less calories burned. So by this nature, a HR-monitor may be fooled into reporting high calories burned on account of the heart beating faster on account of an ab-belt being applied across the abs. Burning more fat? No. Oxygen is critical to aerobic activity and as such I'd think the ab belt is counter-productive to fat loss!

At the same time, I'd love to hear his version, complete with scientific explanation, as to why and how an ab-belt might increase fat loss in that region. Until then, my response in answer is a resounding NO, NO, NO!!

Or in symbols:

Ab belt --> :boxing_smiley: <-- Me

Thanks a lot for your review on the use of ab belt. The info you provided is very useful and scientifically, I seem to agree with you more. I'll bring your views to him when I jog with him this evening. I'll see how he will counter your views scientifically. By the way, are you a fitness instructor? Because you seem to know a lot about sport science.

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

By the way, are you a fitness instructor? Because you seem to know a lot about sport science.

By profession I'm an insulation contractor...we insulate homes so they're cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, BUT last weekend I got certified as a spin-instructor, but that's just a 9-hour course and hardly worthy of being a full-blown instructor. I'm afraid my credentials are limited to "know it all" status

What I am is OCD on information and I enjoy learning and understanding about what I do. Actually, it's OCG...the "G" being for "Gift"

The most simple basic concept is that fat cells are a means to store energy. We store fat around the abdomen...the fat is utilized EXACTLY like a gas-tank; if we eat too much it gets bigger, if we don't eat enough, it gets smaller. The actual process of fat metabolizing should not be affected by applying compression over an area. The body will 'source" fat from all around the body as it needs it AND it's been well established that "you can not spot-reduce"....which means to reduce or remove fat from any specific spot or area. LOL, I have a foreman who is convinced that doing sit-up's and bending-over will reduce his gut. The 'gut' is fat, the fat will go when you burn it...not when you compress it....or in other words, compressing the fat should not affect it's being metabolized or utilized.

I'm sure you're friend will default to the classic "I can't prove it, explain it or back it up with science....but I have results and I know it works"

I'll concede this much: I really wish it were that easy!!!! But from everything I've read and know, it shouldn't alter fat metabolizing and could only inhibit proper breathing...go figure. Let us know what he says.

On the flipside and keeping with the theme of this thread.....sometimes after I finish my workout in the morning (spin/run/swim)...I'll leave my triathlon suit on. It's very comfortable but more so I can feel it lightly compressing over my body...it reminds me of the athlete I want to mold myself into and inspires me to eat lean...like a gently reminder of which direction I want my body to flow. Now, to that extent, compression can help ya lose weight!

 

[paulrc]

On the flipside and keeping with the theme of this thread.....sometimes after I finish my workout in the morning (spin/run/swim)...I'll leave my triathlon suit on. It's very comfortable but more so I can feel it lightly compressing over my body...it reminds me of the athlete I want to mold myself into and inspires me to eat lean...like a gently reminder of which direction I want my body to flow. Now, to that extent, compression can help ya lose weight!

i'm thinking of get a trithlon suit but it getting a bit colder here in the morning when i go for run and ride what are they like in cold or should i stick to my long tight it does not get below 10 deg c

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Paul,

A triathlon suit is DEFINITELY warm/hot weather apparel. During the summer, when I ride the mountain bike, the suit is the coolest thing possible, even more so then wearing no shirt at all. The fabric gets moist and the evaporative effect as the wind hits it is excellent for cooling. Without a shirt the perspriation tends to drip-off and evaporate at a faster rate....so yeah, the thin material acts as a membrane to essential hold the moisture until it evaporates and that evaporative effect lends towards better cooling!

It also gets like a suana in the spin-room and even the gals are going down to cycling shorts and sport-bra's. There's one or two guys who will wear just a bib (cycling shorts with suspenders)...I think that looks entirely wrong and while it may be comfortable, it rather violates the gym policy that shirts must be worn. The bib just has peculiar coverage across the upper body, so there too I'll wear the trisuit in class.

When the weather turns hot, give it a try....once you get to know that kind of comfort, it's hard to go back to the old stuff. Oh, and be sure to end your workout near a pool; you can jump right in, swim some laps (or a mile or two) and you come out all clean. I just think it's hilarious that EVERYONE in spin-class goes home with damp, sweaty, smelly clothing....and I walk out of the gym as clean as I walked in. And yes, I shower with the suit on after spin so I don't get in the pool all sweaty, and I shower again after the pool to rinse the chlorine out. But yeah, one outfit does it all and don't be surprised to find yourself tossing-on a lightweight shirt over the suit and wearing it the rest of the day.

 

[katkoay]

The most simple basic concept is that fat cells are a means to store energy. We store fat around the abdomen...the fat is utilized EXACTLY like a gas-tank; if we eat too much it gets bigger, if we don't eat enough, it gets smaller. The actual process of fat metabolizing should not be affected by applying compression over an area. The body will 'source" fat from all around the body as it needs it AND it's been well established that "you can not spot-reduce"....which means to reduce or remove fat from any specific spot or area. LOL, I have a foreman who is convinced that doing sit-up's and bending-over will reduce his gut. The 'gut' is fat, the fat will go when you burn it...not when you compress it....or in other words, compressing the fat should not affect it's being metabolized or utilized.

I'm sure you're friend will default to the classic "I can't prove it, explain it or back it up with science....but I have results and I know it works"

On the flipside and keeping with the theme of this thread.....sometimes after I finish my workout in the morning (spin/run/swim)...I'll leave my triathlon suit on. It's very comfortable but more so I can feel it lightly compressing over my body...it reminds me of the athlete I want to mold myself into and inspires me to eat lean...like a gently reminder of which direction I want my body to flow. Now, to that extent, compression can help ya lose weight!

Spoke to my running mate about what you said regarding the use of slimming belt. Well he said that the belt is not supposed to be put on tightly to compress the abdomen. A very light compression will do and it aids in generating and maintaining more heat at the abs area. More heat - more sweat - finally more fats are burnt at that area. He has no scientific prove to it but he learnt from reading fitness magazines. Scientifically you have a better explanation. But I got nothing to lose, just fats around my waist and tighs. So I tried it on a few times already and it did have some warm effect on my abs. Due to the light pressure, I did not experience any breathing problem when I jogged. I think I'll just follow his advice and try it out for a month or two to see if it really helps.
By the way, what is a spin instructor and what kind of activity is a spin? Never heard of it before.