What is compression clothing?
Compression clothing includes a number of popular clothing items including socks, shirts, shorts and upper-body garments. Compression clothing is mostly known for the characteristics of being skin tight, luminescent or brightly coloured and revealing. The compression effect that this type of clothing provides supposedly gives an array of biological benefits.
When should you wear compression clothing?
Compression clothing is supposed to provide the majority of its benefits being worn after a workout as the compression effect increases blood flow and lymphatic flow to the body parts being held. However, there are also benefits to wearing compression clothing during your workouts too.
Benefits of compression clothing:
- Faster recovery time following working out.
Increase in blood flow influenced by the compression clothing helps to speed up the recovery time of muscles after a workout; this is because blood provides muscles with oxygen, nutrients and amino acids needed for repair. A more plentiful flow of blood means faster recovery time, following workouts.
- Reduced post-workout muscle soreness
The compression effect also helps to alleviate muscle soreness and pain from previous workouts.
- Materials used in compression clothing help to keep you cool and dry
Wearing the compression clothing during a workout can reduce sweat accumulation, due to wicking properties provided by the materials being breathable and enabling sweat to evaporate from the skin easily. This allows the exerciser to feel dry and comfortable during their workouts. Athletes have also claimed that wearing the compression clothing under their sports gear allows them to maintain optimal body temperature in colder conditions.
- Materials allow for free movement
Compression clothing allows for free movement of the individual. The compression effect can be mistaken by some that the wearer may feel restricted, however, the materials are flexible and move as freely and naturally as your body does. This means compression clothing is ideal to wear during your workouts, as it will not hinder your movement, agility or flexibility.
- Gives you a fashionable and flattering appearance
Compression clothing items have become extremely fashionable, celebrities and bodybuilders such as Dwayne Johnson/ (“The Rock”) are wearing the flattering, tight fighting compression tops and shorts during their workouts; giving them a sculpted, chiselled look. There are many men who have followed in the footsteps of celebrities by wearing these fashionable workout attire.
Why has compression clothing become so popular with men?
The reason why compression clothing items have become more popular with men as opposed to women is due to predominantly men involving themselves in bodybuilding workout regimes. Bodybuilding workouts involve strenuous heavyweight lifting exercises which have considerably more wear and tear damage to muscles, as opposed to less intense exercises, this means that the body requires more energy to repair the muscles. As mentioned previously, wearing compression clothing items helps increase blood flow to the limbs you are wearing the clothing items on, therefore, wearing the garments are desirable for men as it helps them to recover torn muscles faster than they would without wearing them. Furthermore, compression clothing also helps to numb the pain of torn muscles, those that participate in strenuous bodybuilding regimes experience a higher sensation of muscle soreness after a high impact workout.
Does compression clothing improve performance?
The broad variety of benefits brought by wearing compression clothing have become popular with almost everyone in the sporting industry after athletes begun wearing them to help blood circulation after races, footballers and finally, actors also began jumping on this hot trending product.
The general public including workout warriors amongst us have now been influenced to follow this health and fashion related trend, with the desire to obtain a physique like those in the sporting industry. Although there is no concrete scientific evidence about the rates of recovery that compression clothing can influence, many of those who participate in high impact sport, have claimed that they have felt considerable improvements in the rates of recovery they have experienced by wearing the compression clothing items.
Moreover, the design and materials used in compression clothing are versatile in keeping you warm in cold wet weather and keeping you cool in the heat; therefore the products appeal to a variety of different sportsmen and women, who participate under different conditions. Due to these factors compression clothing can be deemed to influence improved performance in sporting and exercise.
Does wearing compression clothing help you to lose weight?
The process of losing weight (more specifically) losing body fat, is mechanised by muscles, to put it simply, muscles burn fat. Compression clothing can aid in the process of building muscles due to it actively participating in the process of building muscles during the tear and repair process. This means that compression clothing may indirectly contribute to the body fat reduction process.
Compression clothing overall has many potential benefits, although they are not bound by scientific certainty; it is safe to say that these garments are fashionable, comfortable and suitable to wear in all climates and temperatures. Many wearers enjoy the high-quality materials and the added benefits they experience from better blood circulation.
